More than a year before New Jerseyans choose a replacement for Republican Governor Chris Christie, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Philip D. Murphy has lost a major competitor for the Democratic candidacy.
Murphy, 59, who most recently was U.S. ambassador to Germany, secured the endorsement of Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat who announced Thursday that he won’t run for the state’s highest office. On Sept. 28, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a 39-year-old former investment banker, said that he, too, won’t run, and threw his support behind Murphy.
“The party is coalescing around Phil,” Sweeney said in a Thursday interview. “As a Democrat, I’m going to support Phil Murphy.”
Murphy’s rise parallels that of Jon S. Corzine, 69, the Democrat and onetime Goldman co-chairman whom Murphy has called a friend. Corzine, a multimillionaire who grew up on a farm in Illinois, was elected governor in 2005, declaring in his inaugural address, “Hold me accountable.”
He was defeated for a second term by Christie, 54, who ran on a promise to restore stability as New Jersey plunged into economic recession. Term limits prevent Christie from running for a third term in 2017. He abandoned his presidential campaign in February, became a surrogate and adviser to nominee Donald J. Trump and reached a new low in recent polls as voters disapproved of his handling of state finances.
Was Murphy involved with Corzine’s misbehavior at MF Global, leading to that company’s bankruptcy and, more significantly, the illegal seizure of its clients’ liquid accounts? Only after the deliberate destruction of the logic and integrity of the commodities markets have the affected MF Global clients now begun to get justice and recover the funds that were in their accounts. We don’t need another craven, amoral member of the DC/NYC uniparty elite nakedly using Drumthwacket to boost their political career.
Septic and sclerotic.
Another limousine liberal sprinkles his money around and buys an election. Didn’t we learn from he last mistake from a goldman Sachs wizard?