By Matt Rooney
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I could’ve told you we’d see an article like this at some point, Save Jerseyans. It was inevitable. There are two aspects of the Murphy Administration’s COVID-19 response which are completely indefensible whether you’re an obnoxiously-compliant Karen or a reliably-contrarian Libertarian: (1) the long-term care facility disaster and (2) the unemployment claims system meltdown.
Sure enough, hot off the presses Thursday morning comes a NJ.com story on an unearthed N.J. Department of Labor report from 2003 warning of… you guessed it… an inevitable unemployment system meltdown.
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None other than Jim “Rest Stop” McGreevey served as our governor in 2003.
You see what’s happening, right?
This wasn’t Murphy’s fault at all! Not really. He inherited a mess. Shame on us for making him feel badly about it.
There are two glaring problems with NJ.com’s rehabilitative narrative…
First, Murphy is the guy who has kept our state in shutdown mode for two months WITHOUT a clear plan or scientific basis to do so. Not McGreevey, or Codey, or Corzine, or Christie. Uncle Phil. When you’re the one whose questionable actions catalyzed over 1 million new unemployment claims since mid-March? You don’t get to point the finger at past governors for failing to tackle a hypothetical manmade disaster. It doesn’t work that way.
Second, Murphy has done NOTHING to aggressively tackle the problem. For example, he’s ignored calls to redeploy idled (read: still being paid) state workers to the NJDOL. He’s also ignored calls to expand access to the unemployment office for residents who can’t get a live person on the phone.
“Establishing an in-person appointment based approach will help families to get the unemployment benefits they deserve,” said Mike Testa, Jr., LD1’s state senator and one of the louder Murphy critics. “After weeks of failing to get through to the State’s unemployment systems electronically, the ability to schedule a meeting in person will provide much need relief to hundreds of thousands of people who are still waiting for help. If private stores like Shop Rite and Target can install protective shields at check out lines, our State can do the same at shuttered unemployment centers that should be reopened to serve New Jerseyans.”
I’ve never been Jim McGreevey’s biggest fan. I’m not a huge fan of ANY of Murphy’s predecessors going back to 1990.
This is MURPHY’S mess. He needs to fix it. “Period… full stop.”
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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).
