By Matt Rooney
This is just a sampling of the headlines over the past 24 hours, Save Jerseyans:
“The Case of the Missing House Republican” (HuffPost)
“New Jersey’s Most Vulnerable GOP incumbent is MIA” (Politico)
Or, “Radio Silence” (NJ Spotlight News and Mediate)
Now, to be 100% clear, I don’t blame the Media for being interested in the apparent weeks-long medical hiatus of an incumbent congressman (Tom Kean Jr.) running in a competitive House district (NJ-07).
What I can’t help but note is how differently the Media reacts to a Republican taking a breather to get healthy relative to a Democrat who isn’t showing up at work.
Naturally, I came armed with some topical examples for your kind consideration…
– Heading into Election Day 2025, then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill had missed more than HALF of the votes held in the 119th Congress. It’s not unusual for candidates to miss votes; 50%+ is next level. Not do to a medical reason; she was interviewing for another job (governor of New Jersey) so she simply decided to stop showing up at the job she planned to leave.
– The passing of former Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver provides an especially egregious example of this double-standard. From the best we can tell, Phil Murphy’s #2 was seriously ill while Phil Murphy remained on vacation in Italy. We still don’t know for sure who was running the state during that period – or if Oliver was sick during the 2021 reelection campaign? After a handful of folks (mostly me!) asked questions, Democrat stooges and members of the Media snapped back and insisted it was no one’s business.
– History repeated itself one year later – in April 2024 – when Congressman Donald Payne died but, prior to his passing, Payne’s staff initially lied about their member’s condition. We were told he had made “improvement,” enjoyed a “good” prognosis, and would make a “full recovery” following a cardiac episode when, in reality, he was STILL in a coma. Oops.
I’m not even going to touch the details of Jim McGreevey’s infamous February 2002 beach walk broken leg incident or Jon Corzine’s near-fatal crash. I don’t need to. You get the picture.
NONE of these Democrats received anything close to the level of scrutiny coming Tom Kean’s way today, and arguably, a governor’s responsibilities (and unavailability) present a much more pressing issue of concern.
Yes, transparency is king.
Also, yes: the double standard matters. A “double standard” is definitionally an oxymoron. We don’t have real standards if they’re applied selectively on the basis of arbitrary, capricious criteria like party affiliation.
