June 5, 2005 John Murphy is now being compared to whom?
By Fred Snowflack
DAILY RECORD
John Murphy is Jim McGreevey. There is nothing beyond the imagination of the fertile mind of a political operative.
In this case, the operative is Rick Shaftan of Sparta. He's working for Steve Lonegan, the most conservative of the seven candidates seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Tuesday's primary.
The Lonegan campaign is mailing a "newspaper" to Republican primary voters that ridicules the other candidates. Some may see it as a cheap shot, but the paper includes some amusing things.
For one, Bret Schundler, one of the front-runners, is pictured wearing a turban, something Shaftan said he did when he appeared at a Sikh event while running for mayor of Jersey City.
One of Shaftan's political axioms is, "Never have your candidate wear a funny hat."
That may be a good line, but a turban has cultural significance and really isn't a hat. So much for sensitivity.
Murphy, a Morris County freeholder, pops up on page three. The headline reads, "Why do they call John Murphy the Republican Jim McGreevey?"
A series of six photographs running vertically down the page makes the point. The top one is of Murphy. But his facial appearance slightly changes as the photos descend until -- at the very bottom -- he has morphed into McGreevey.
The paper was distributed at a gubernatorial debate on Thursday in Denville. Most in the Murphy camp thought it was funny, not spiteful.
"It's a fun grass roots effort for the last week of the campaign," Shaftan said.
The paper makes one substantive point about Murphy. It noted that property taxes have gone up significantly during Murphy's tenure on the freeholder board.
Lonegan said that himself at the debate.
Murphy acknowledged that, but he said the county tax rate actually has gone down.
"Some of that is skill," Murphy said. "Some of that is luck."
In truth, it's probably more luck than skill. There is so much growth in Morris County that ratables increase every year. That means there are more people paying property taxes. That allows the freeholders to raise taxes without increasing the rate.
For the freeholders, it's a great situation. The point, of course, is one that Lonegan didn't make. And that is that the state is hardly as lucky as Morris County. If Murphy is fortunate enough to become governor, he'll have to make real budget decisions in terms of what gets cut and what stays.
His experience in Morris County, which this year has a $25 million unused surplus, has not prepared him for that.
Thursday's debate, which was moderated by Paul Mulshine of the Star Ledger and myself, was a freewheeling affair. The candidates were given more leeway to say what they want than they usually are in such settings.
That prompted candidate Robert Schroeder to proclaim that, "The next governor of this state is sitting up here right now." That would be bad news for Schroeder: At the time, he was standing.
Full disclosure: The man who noticed that from his spot in the rear of the room was John Sette, the Morris County Republican chairman.
Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio, R-Montville, is back with his "Stinky Fish" award. And it has to do with a high-priced lobster. He gave the award to Annette Knox, the superintendent of schools in Camden, for charging the taxpayers for a $65 lobster at a Philadelphia restaurant. Pennacchio is right that such dining exploits abuse taxpayers.
And to his credit, Pennacchio gave a "Stinky Fish" to himself a few months ago after he retracted a misguided idea to allow local municipal officials to get special state license plates.
That said, it's so, so easy for a Morris County official to castigate Camden. Pennacchio's fish would have more bite if he used the award to highlight foolishness and wasteful spending in his home county.
Here's a suggestion: give it to the freeholders for keeping a surplus of $25 million. A portion of that money should be returned to the taxpayers, or be spent on needed programs.
Odd doings in Hanover. Incumbent committeemen Ronald Francioli, who also is the mayor, and Howard M. Olsen are being challenged in Tuesday's primary by Henry Kafel. Neither incumbent would talk to the Daily Record about the race. That's a peculiar way to run a campaign.
