Over Columbus Day Weekend, the East Coast was slammed by a nasty nor’easter that prompted a state of emergency in 21 New Jersey counties. Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way issued it because Gov. Phil Murphy is not around. I’m not kidding—the man is in Europe on vacation. Initially, it was reported that the governor was missing or AWOL, but that wasn’t the case. He was across the Atlantic and didn’t tell anyone (via NY Post):
Outgoing NJ Gov. Phil Murphy was not in New Jersey when a state of emergency was declared Saturday night, leaving Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way — now serving as acting governor — to make the declaration in his stead.
“In preparation for this storm, I am issuing a State of Emergency for all 21 counties out of an abundance of caution, authorizing our state’s emergency services personnel to activate as necessary,” Acting Governor Way announced in a statement Saturday.
The term-limited Democrat, who is known for taking frequent vacations, often to his luxe Italian villa, made no public announcement about his travel plans as the powerful nor’easter is expected to barrel through the state, with the potential to cause significant storm damage.
[…]
In Dec. 2021, Murphy was slammed for taking an eight-day Christmas vacation with his family to Costa Rica as the state was setting new records for COVID-19 infections. The Murphy family had traveled to the country in 2019, then again in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
That’s the thing: it’s been an issue before. Also, if Murphy were a Republican, this would be a national scandal. It’s no necessarily a Democrat problem. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was caught taking an ill-timed trip to Cancun when Texas was under a power crisis following a series of winter storms.
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I doubt Murphy, a Democrat, will face the same scrutiny.
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