Democratic Governors Association Ignores Phil Murphy’s Hypocrisy On $15 An Hour And Gender Equality

Phil Murphy

Here’s a question to begin the work week: Is it hypocritical to scream about the mistreatment of women and then select a guy with a documented history of mistreating professional women soccer players as your Vice Chair?

On Saturday, the Democratic Governors Association did exactly that. According to a statement on the Democratic Governors Association website:

America’s Democratic Governors voted today to elect Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to serve as the new Chair of the Democratic Governors Association for 2019. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will serve as Vice Chair and Chair-Elect for 2020. The vote came at the DGA’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

So, governors in the political party that has been screaming about the mistreatment of women since the day Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States chose to make a man who co-owns a soccer team with a documented history of mistreating women their Vice Chair and Chair-Elect for 2020 and not one reporter in New Jersey questions it.

What the hell is wrong with these people? And, by people, I mean the Democratic Governors Association and reporters in New Jersey.

I have complained about New Jersey’s newspapers letting Governor Phil Murphy off the hook for his mistreatment of women soccer players a lot on this blog. I’ve written about it at least nine times since July.

Just last week the sports blog, Once a Metro, wrote a piece that the official supporters group of Sky Blue FC, the women’s professional soccer team co-owned by Murphy, is in “open revolt against the leadership at their own club.” Once a Metro explained:

Just to refresh your memory, Cloud 9 is protesting the treatment of players as written about here at Once A Metro and at Equalizer Soccer, revealing subpar living and playing conditions and a disorganized front office that had trouble handling player needs like travel reimbursement and health care paperwork. Now that we’re well into the NWSL offseason, Cloud 9 has made sure to put out regular tweets reiterating their deep dissatisfaction with Sky Blue’s leadership, hoping to keep the issue alive in the minds of NWSL fans.

Since Sky Blue’s original statement in July responding to the original reports, and an end-season interview with Howard Megdal at The Athletic, where Novo called the player complaints “noise,” Sky Blue hasn’t officially addressed the issue, nor have they responded to Cloud 9’s statements on social media, externally or internally.

Even the official supporters group of Murphy’s soccer team is still calling the team out for the continued mistreatment of the women who play for the team. Not the press in New Jersey, again he’s getting a pass. And, now the Democratic Governors Association is giving him a pass.

Make no mistake, Murphy is responsible for the mistreatment of women on the soccer team. Back in July, Murphy said exactly that. According to Politico:

Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday he takes full responsibility for the poor living and working conditions at the professional women’s soccer team he has co-owned for about a decade.

“The stories that have come out are completely unacceptable and at the end of the day the buck stops with me and my fellow owner,” Murphy said at an unrelated press conference Friday.

Granted, Murphy did try to get a deal for a new stadium for his women’s soccer team to play in which would have been an improvement, but he quickly decided against chopping down trees after getting a little pushback.

The official supporters group of Murphy’s soccer team knows he mistreats women on his soccer team and readers of this blog know it, Murphy’s past statement makes it appear that he knows he mistreats the women on his soccer team, but somehow national Democrats don’t know. Maybe they don’t care.

Knowing he’s put some women on his soccer team through hell, Murphy chose to ignore that fact by saying this in the Democratic Governor Association’s statement about him being selected Vice Chair:

“I’m honored to take on this new role with my fellow Democratic governors,” said DGA Chair-Elect Governor Phil Murphy. “We’re showing in New Jersey how Democratic leadership can bring real change on the state level, despite the mistaken priorities of Washington, D.C.  In the Garden State, we’re delivering real results for families, from strengthening economic security for working families to fighting for gender equality, and from combatting climate change to expanding access to higher education. I look forward to working with Governor Raimondo and my fellow governors to continue making significant progress in our states.”

Murphy actually used the words, “fighting for gender equality,” in that statement. And everybody is letting him get away with it!

Phil Murphy has forced women to live in deplorable conditions. Even the liberal Think Progress wrote, ““the living and playing conditions Sky Blue FC players have faced are nothing short of deplorable.”

The ThinkProgress article continued, “While some players dealt with makeshift windows, others were forced to couch surf with roommates during the season because of a lack of provided housing. The unluckiest, though, were forced to ‘live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable.’”

Murphy forced players to practice in horrible conditions. We also learned from reports that “Suburban recreation leagues for 8-year-olds have better accommodations” when it comes to the professional team’s practice facilities, no locker rooms, bathrooms or showers. Apparently, the team responded to those allegations by renting an RV and parking it on the field.

Not only that, we learned that basic math shows Murphy likely paid, at least some women soccer players, less than the equivalent of $15 per hour, while campaigning for governor on $15 an hour. And we learned that Murphy once tried to pay a professional with a master’s degree nothing, not one penny. That’s right, Phil Murphy wanted a sport scientist to come to his team as an unpaid intern.

Despite all this, Murphy still had the guts to use the words, “fighting for gender equality.”

The Bob & Steve Show knows different and so does the official supporters group of Murphy’s soccer team.

It’s obvious, when it comes to his bottom line, Phil Murphy doesn’t care about “gender equality” and sure as hell will do whatever he can to avoid paying $15 an hour. The only questions left to answer are will reporters in New Jersey ever call him out on it? And, will national Democrats ever call him out on it?