George Helmy won’t be in the U.S. Senate for very long, but while he’s occupying Bob Menendez’s old street during the waning days of Election 2024, Save Jerseyans, he’s playacting as a federal legislator.
On Thursday, Phil Murphy’s former chief of staff delivered his first floor speech on the topic of youth mental health.
“I’m committed to breaking this negative cycle,” Helmy told his colleagues. “I’m committed to preventing our most precious national asset, our next generation, from falling further in this downward spiral […] The youth mental health crisis is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is, and must be, an American priority.”
But Helmy has brass balls to even talk about this. Seriously. While working for Murphy, the Democrat served as the architect for the state’s disastrous Covid-19 lockdown policies.
“I don’t know where we would be without George,” Governor Murphy explained last September. “Simply put, you cannot write the history of our Administration without recognizing George’s singular role in leading our team for over four and a half years. His unique mix of public and private sector experience, strong management skills, and deep relationships across the political spectrum made him uniquely capable to excel in this job. From managing our all-of-government response to a once-in-a-century pandemic to driving nearly every single one of our legislative goals to completion, George has put his heart and soul into serving the people of New Jersey.”
Meanwhile, New Jersey kids are still hurting, well behind in academic performance and continuing to suffer from mental health challenges, and the lockdowns clearly played a leading role. The numbers are staggering. Anxiety and depression have soared in the post-lockdown years, and social skills haven’t progressed normally.
According to University of Washington researchers, “Covid lockdowns, such as school closures, canceled sports activities and stay-at-home orders, prematurely aged teen brains by as much as four years.” Some experts have suggested it will take a generation for the damage to heal.
So George Helmy complaining about a youth mental health crisis is sort of like a major drug kingpin griping about addiction… insane and insulting.
Here it is in case you missed it:
