Is New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy the next major national COVID-19 scandal waiting to happen?

Shore News Network

TRENTON, NJ –  With the national spotlight on his good friend, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is the next major scandal waiting to happen.  In March of 2020, like Cuomo, Murphy and his Health Department Commissioner Judith Persichilli signed an order forcing nursing homes to take in COVID-19 infected patients. That led to a reported 7,000 plus nursing home deaths in New Jersey, but like Cuomo, Murphy has dodged the question.

Last week, Murphy was once again pressed for data by Republicans on the House Select Committee, refusing to provide information and his response, “I don’t have to”.

You can see the order Murphy signed here.

“I remind you that, as stated in a 2017 opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice, ‘[i]ndividual members of Congress, including ranking minority members, do not have the authority to conduct oversight in the absence of a specific delegation,'” Murphy said in a response to House Republicans. “Further, a comprehensive response to your letter, which contains gross mischaracterizations as well as broad requests for privileged material, would necessarily require essential staff to divert their attention away from addressing the present public health emergency.”


“NJ Gov. Murphy says that he won’t answer questions about his nursing home order because he doesn’t have to. What is he hiding? Why won’t Democrats join us in trying to get this information? 40% of U.S. deaths were nursing home residents; grieving families deserve answers,” the House Select Committee said in 2020.

 

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