Updated 5:25 p.m.
The NJBIA says an old government affairs account was hacked, Save Jerseyans, after the Twitter profile in question defending Phil Murphy on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, our friend Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) offered a full-throated condemnation of Governor Murphy’s “micromanaging” and “ridiculous rules.” The State Senator’s relatively uncontroversial tweet earned a suprising rebuke from… the government affairs account of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA)?
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Here’s the tweet:
The tweet was subsquently deleted.
NJBIA’s GA account is also now restricted.
After posting about the tweet, Bob Considine (Chief Comms Officer at NJBIA) reached out via email to explain that the account – which last retweeted Obama’s endorsement of Joe Biden in April 2020 – had allegedly been hacked.
The organization’s stated goals include “championing a competitive business climate, both locally and globally.” Consequently, it’d be awfully curious for NJBIA to defend a man who raised taxes and with his arbitrary, anti-science COVID-19 regulations. It’d also be odd for them to take on a relatively influential legislator like O’Scanlon on social media.
We’ll update this post when we have more information.
Typically, The NJBIA less so, but it did hire Chrissy Buteas as Chief Government Affairs Officer back in 2018 who previously served on the Murphy Administration transition team. NJBIA also backed the Christie-era gas tax scam which continues to drive the Garden State’s previously cheap gas through the roof.
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