Well, that didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours into the general election battle between former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and Governor Phil Murphy, NJ.com ran a headline that blared: “Yes, I am New Jersey, Gov. Murphy says to Republican challenger Ciattarelli.”

Ciattarelli has already sent Massachusetts Murphy running for a safe space. Murphy, when asked about not being New Jersey made the claim, “It’s ridiculous” and channeled his inner Bobby Kennedy to Politico’s Matt Friedman (who might not live in Jersey but is way more New Jersey than Murphy will ever be). From the Politico piece:

“I’ll paraphrase Bobby Kennedy when he was running for Senate [in New York]: He said that if elections were judged based on how long a person has lived somewhere, we should elect the oldest living person in the state. I mean, come on. Let’s focus on the stuff people care about,” Murphy said in a phone interview with POLITICO.

As to Murphy saying “It’s ridiculous” is response to being called out for not being New Jersey. It’s not ridiculous. No New Jerseyan I know wants to be like California, but Murphy does. From the NJ.com article:

“He’s not New Jersey,” Ciattarelli added.

He also alluded to how Murphy told NJ Advance Media on the eve of taking office in 2018 that he wanted to remold New Jersey in the image of left-leaning California.

“This out-of-touch governor has the audacity and the arrogance to say he wants to make New Jersey the California of the East Coast,” Ciattarelli said. “Are you kidding me? Who says that? We’re New Jersey, and if that’s what Phil Murphy wants, then he should move to California.”

Alluded to? There’s no alluding! Murphy actually said it in a January 13, 2018 NJ.com article:

Which state should New Jersey aspire to be like and then try to surpass?

California. I had a conversation with Jerry Brown about two months ago. And I said — I think we were talking about offshore wind — "Governor, we aspire to be the California of the East Coast." And either a colleague or a supporter of mine said, "Murph, you need more attitude. You should say, 'If we succeed, California is the New Jersey of the West Coast.'" (laughs)

No New Jerseyan, not one born in Jersey nor one who came here from elsewhere, would ever answer that question with the name of another state because any actual New Jerseyan has too much of an attitude to ever consider somewhere else might be better.

This is New Jersey! We have the best pizza in the world. Ciattarelli was right to ask, “…have you seen this guy eat pizza?”

Murphy even whined about that question arguing, “I’ll eat a pizza with anybody.”

I call BS on that answer, I guarantee Murphy will never eat a pizza with me!

My question is, if Murphy is upset over being called out for not being New Jersey, how is he going to handle important questions like, forcing young female athletes to live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable?

How is Murphy going to handle the fact that while campaigning on $15 per hour he was paying professional athletes less than $15 per hour?

Or how about that time Mr. stronger and fairer tried to make a sport scientist work for free? Or the fact Murphy’s soccer team “paid part-time salaries for what amounts to full-time work.?”

Questions about Murphy’s treatment of women on his soccer team were never answered because the NJ press let him off the hook.

And, if Murphy being reminded of his record of mistreatment of female athletes isn’t enough to send him running for another safe space, what’s he going to do about another time a woman in his orbit was mistreated?

I, and many others, still want answers for why Murphy allowed Katie Brennan went through what she went through. I don’t think settling for a total of $1 million — with $600,000 going to a charity of Brennan’s choice and $400,000 to her attorneys with neither side admitting any wrongdoing is satisfactory.

Murphy leaving Brennan hanging was wrongdoing in my book!

And, then Murphy is going to have to find another safe space to run to because we still don’t know who hired Al Alvarez!

Conclusion: Phil Murphy is a mess with a lot of unanswered questions that we are going to continue to ask over the next 5 months.

And, no Governor, you are not New Jersey!