TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is in a pickle. The progressive liberal side of him wants to lock everything down and roll out a vaccination passport statewide. That side of the governor also wants stricter penalties for COVID-19 workplace violations and ways to force more New Jerseyans to get vaccinated. It wants to create more roadblocks for the unvaccinated.
The problem is, in 7 days, Murphy has to win an election and all of those policies make for bad politics, even in the Democrat stronghold of New Jersey.
Many have speculated that Murphy will begin his second COVID-19 crackdown days after next Tuesday’s election, should he win.
Now, the Star-Ledger editorial board, who recently met with the governor one on one for their pre-election news coverage appears to let the cat out of the bag.
Phil Murphy is going to roll out a vaccine passport shortly after the election.
In an editorial by the newspaper’s editorial board about vaccination passports, the newspaper predicts Murphy will get back to his old self and return to being New Jersey’s COVID-19 Protector-in-Chief.
“We should not expose more of them to this virus, while using them as an excuse not to do something political. Here’s a prediction: We’ll get passports after the election,” the editorial board wrote.
The board also criticized Murphy’s decision to hold off on rolling it out before the election campaign politics.
“So, if a gap still exists, why not take a page from these cities, and fix it, instead of using it as an excuse to sit around and do nothing on vaccine passports. This reeks of politics, a safe play during an election campaign. And that’s bad public health policy,” the board said.