TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Health is in a complete meltdown according to a letter released from within the department. Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso expressed their distress and concern over a letter sent to Senate leadership alleging serious and dangerous mismanagement of the pandemic response by the Department of Health and Murphy administration leadership. A letter, which has been confirmed as authentic by the Star-Ledger claims Governor Phil Murphy and DOH Commissioner Judi Persichilli are both responsible for the loss of thousands of lives in the state.
“[Murphy and Persichilli] are making things up as they proceed, or making decisions and justifying them on the back end. That is both dangerous and the worst type of cynical politics — right smack in the middle of the worst pandemic in modern history,” the DOH employees said. Despite the governor’s slogans, there are, in fact, no established thresholds to this effect that came from the public health experts in his state government. In reality, his own public health officials in the health department have no idea what inputs he is using to make opening decisions.”
On Tuesday, Murphy refused to discuss the letter saying it’s below his dignity.
“I don’t spend any time in replying to anonymous anything, so I’m not going to deign that letter with any comment, period, full stop,” Murphy said.
When pressed again on the letter, Murphy said there’s nothing for him to say, “I said, I’ll repeat what I said a minute ago, we’re not going to respond to a letter from three anonymous people. It’s just not going to happen.”
“This is the single most concerning leak/letter from sitting public employees that I’ve ever seen,” said O’Scanlon. “This is a department in meltdown. At a time in our history when our health department is singularly the most essential department to be functioning properly and competently, this is devastating.”
“If the allegations in this letter are true, it’s horrifying,” DiMaso said. “We vocally expressed concern about how long-term-care was being handled, but this letter goes beyond what we even thought. With all of the leaks and allegations in the news and now in this letter, it is clear there has been a dire failure in leadership within the department and administration. We need an immediate investigation into these claims.”
“We must form the senate investigative committee, and it must have subpoena powers, as soon as possible. It has become an urgent, imperative need. Apparently, lives, and livelihoods, hang in the balance.”