New York Democrats are calling out Cuomo. New Jersey’s Dems? Still silent on Murphy.

By Matt Rooney
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The Democrat Party is officially in civil war mode in New York, Save Jerseyans, with GOP officials pushing impeachment and a growing number of elected legislators in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s own party sounding like they’re inclined to support it. Oh yeah: the FBI and the DOJ are now investigating, too.

“It’s very ‘Donald Trump’ to divert, change the message, throw something out there like there is a whole other news thing,” Democrat Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou of Manhattan recently opined. “In reality there’s one news thing: A lot of people died. The numbers were hidden and a lot of people who had to make decisions couldn’t make those decisions because the information was wrong.”

There’s nothing worse in Democrat Land than to be accused of being Trump-like. It’s a double insult for Cuomo who, for months, was held out by Trumper haters including that portly toad George Conway as the perfect anti-Trump admidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, across the border in the great Garden State, Phil Murphy has also been playing fast-and-loose with COVID-19 nursing home information, the dealth count, and publicly reported case statistics.

Like Cuomo, his administration has been blasted for a lack of transparency.

Like Cuomo, Murphy’s early decisions directly contributed to the deadly environment in the state’s nursing homes.

Like Cuomo, Murphy’s administration has been accused by the DOJ of giving inadequate responses to inquiries.

Cuomo stands accused of a cover-up. The VFW (hardly a far-right organization) has accused the Murphy Administration of a cover-up.

The only real difference at the moment is that a Cuomo aide fucked up and admitted that the Cuomo Administration was hiding nursing home data.

Where are the New Jersey Democrats?? I recently gave Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin our ‘worst legislators of 2020’ award because they’ve acted like bumps on a log while Phil Murphy’s covid power grab grinds on, businesses continue to close and seniors continue to die. They haven’t spoken out. No Democrats in their respective caucuses have shown a willingness to speak out. No hearings. No subpoenas. No interviews demanding accountability. They’ve tabled GOP attempts to force Murphy to seek legislative approval to continue extending his emergency powers. The same people who called Donald Trump a “dictator” for mean tweets suddenly can’t find the words to call out Phil Murphy for actual textbook dictatorial behavior. 

Democrat silence is defeaning as New Jersey continues to pay dearly for the Murphy Administration’s incompetence and, depending upon what a grand jury finds as it probes one of our state-run veterans homes, wilful blindness in the face of possible criminality that got a lot of people killed.

As ever, we need to look at the calendar because there’s actually another “real difference” which probably answers our “why the silence” question:

2021 isn’t an election year in New York but it is here. New York also tends to get more media attention (and scrutiny) because of its status in the media world. New Jersey is considered a media backwater by comparison. 

The entire legislature is up this year whether or not the media gives these races due attention. Sweeney, Coughlin, and the rest of their ilk are on the ballot with Murphy this fall whether they like it or not. In his column! So they’ve clearly decided to keep quiet, keep their collective heads down, argue over weed legislation which, let’s be honest, most people pro or con aren’t too jazzed over, and hope that any anger the public may direct at Phil Murphy doesn’t trickle down the ballot.

It’s probably not the worst political calculation but it is a morally reprehensible one.

When the truth eventually comes out – and it will, even if it takes a new administration to peel back the layers – history will not remember those who sat on their hands with anything less than contempt. Silence is consent, folks. We will remember. 

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Save Jersey’s Founder and Blogger-in-Chief, MATT ROONEY is a nationally-noted and respected New Jersey political commentator. When he’s not on-line, radio or television advocating for conservative reform and challenging N.J. power-brokers, Matt is a practicing attorney at the law firm of DeMichele & DeMichele in Haddon Heights (Camden County).

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.