Went to a Phil Murphy 4 Governor Event; Quite a Turnout.
Somehow, about a year or so ago, I found myself on Phil Murphy's mailing list, before he announced he was running for Governor.
I asked myself, who the hell is Phil Murphy, and why is he crowding my inbox.
It was all "Christie sucks" stuff, and I said, "I know, Christie sucks, but, um, who's Phil Murphy?"
A recent email invited me to an event near where I live. It was at a West Windsor Athletic Club, owned by a Chinese American immigrant; the mayor of West Windsor is a very popular Chinese American immigrant; 76% of West Windsor voted for Ms. Clinton.
He came with Bernie Sanders son, Levy Sanders. (For the record, I don't actually like Bernie Sanders.)
Anyway. There were about 300 people there, maybe a few more, standing room only.
Phil Murphy spoke and he's quite an engaging guy; despite all the Sanders praise, I rather liked him, well informed, clearly bright, enthusiastic and as he made clear, despite his (Goldman Sachs generated) wealth, he came up from a lower middle class family. Like me, his father didn't finish high school.
Criticisms: The staff had people write out questions in advance so that they could go through them and make sure they were all "soft ball" - questions which would allow him to make responses that the audience, 100% democratic, would all approve.
I had the privilege of chatting with three other people outside, one of whom, like me was a scientist, who as it happens is working on solar energy projects. (I do not approve of solar energy.) I was gratified though that this scientist agreed with me that nuclear energy is a critical tool that we must have to fight climate change. We both felt Phil soft balled it; wind and solar...wind and solar...blah...blah...blah.
All four of us though liked Phil, including a nice woman who immigrated from a foreign country, Kansas, who agreed, as the four of us did, that New Jersey is the best state in the Union and that Phil Murphy might prove a wise choice to lead the state.
(I have to check out the other candidates though.)
Turnouts have been pretty good at his events.
One note of optimism:
It seems that since the election of the orange nightmare, political events are becoming more important for everyone, and attendance is rising. Three hundred people at a political event early in the gubernatorial process is impressive. This I think is because many of us around the country recognize that turning our country over to right wing traitors who care not a whit about America but only there own power - including the leadership of our awful congress - has made us recognize that our country could, indeed, be destroyed. We are looking for leaders.
Phil Murphy I think, although I have some reservations, could be an fine leader for New Jersey. Even if he's hanging out with the Sanders crowd - probably to deflect from the Goldman Sachs history which he shared with Corzine - my impression is that he's more like Hillary Clinton inasmuch as he's bright, and he cares.
I'm seriously considering a primary vote for him.
Phil Murphy for Governor.
