The fall of top Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has dominated the news. A fixture of the movie industry, Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment spanning decades, paying off accusers, enforcing codes of silence, and barring any employee from criticizing the Weinstein Company in a way that could hurt its future business prospects. The stories about asking Ashley Judd to watch him shower, or give him a massage, or masturbating in from of then-Long Island 12 reporter Lauren Sivan were already bad enough. There are now allegations of rape. And there’s a tape from a NYPD sting operation in which Weinstein is heard confessing to groping a model. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges. This was in 2015. It’s now making it’s way into the political arena, as Weinstein gave oodles of money to Democrats.
In the New Jersey gubernatorial debate, Democrat Phil Murphy responded to allegations lobbed against him by Republican Kim Guadagno that Murphy had worked with Weinstein to raise money for Democrats, and that he has contributed to his gubernatorial campaign.
“I didn’t ask for and I didn’t get one dime from this guy. What he’s done is completely outrageous and heinous. I call on anyone who has gotten contributions from him to send them, as some have already done, to organizations that are focused on women’s rights in our country, responded Murphy quite adamantly. Yet, he did admit that there was going to be some event involving Weinstein, in which he was dropped when his campaign caught wind that something was happening—whatever that means. Eventually, the whole event was cancelled when more revelations were made public.Murphy then pivoted to something that could only resonate with the brain dead liberal voters of New Jersey, which was to somehow equate the NRA’s contributions to the Republican Governor’s Association to Harvey Weinstein.
“The Republican Governor’s Association, which is running a lot of ads against me, have gotten at least $60,000 from her [Guadagno] friends at the NRA this year. And I find that unconscionable particularly since what happened over the past nine days. So, let’s make sure we’re focused on the facts; I don’t have one dime from this guy. And anybody who does should give it back, but let’s all make sure we understand all sides of this.”
Yeah, owning a firearm is a constitutionally protected right; sexually harassing and assaulting women is not. Harvey Weinstein has damning evidence of wrongdoing against him. The NRA does not. The NRA did not cause Stephen Paddock to murder 58 people in Las Vegas, even Sen. Dianne Feinstein admitted that no gun law could have prevented this attack since Paddock passed background checks, had no history of mental illness, or a criminal record. The NRA is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. They can give money to whomever they want. This is a bizarre apples and oranges argument that support for the Second Amendment is somehow on the level of depravity as sexually harassing women over a period of decades. Then again, this is deep blue New Jersey. Logic need not apply.
Also, Murphy had to have worked with Weinstiein, or at least saw his receipts. He was the Democratic National Committee's finance chair from 2006-2009 (via Star Ledger):
...Murphy confirmed that he was scheduled to appear at a political event with Weinstein later this month and that his campaigned "canceled it" when they heard he was going to be involved.
Plus, Guadagno noted that Murphy was finance chair of the Democratic National Finance Committee from 2006 to 2009 -- a period when the group received $28,500 from Weinstein.
And Guadagno called Murphy a "coward" for not condemning Weinstein until her campaign brought up the issue earlier in the day.
"Shame on him for not coming forward earlier," Guadagno said.
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