By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy stopped in Princeton Monday to get the endorsement of former U.S. Sen. and basketball hall-of-famer Bill Bradley, who called him the "right change" for the state.
"I think it’s a great, great time for New Jersey, it’s a great opportunity for New Jersey," Bradley said while seated next to Murphy in the Tigerlabs office on Nassau Street. "If you look at the last eight years, a lot of people have kind of taken it on the chin."
He pointed to rising property taxes and mass transit costs, and recalled Murphy’s humble beginnings – growing up living paycheck to paycheck when he was young. Murphy later went to Harvard and then got an MBA from Wharton before going into finance during a more than-20-year-career at Goldman Sachs.
"We’ve just had some tough times that have been caused by bad political, governmental decisions and sometimes the failure to act," Bradley said. "I look at Phil’s background, he’s not going to have a problem with the budget or the financing of the state or about education in this state."
The setting for the endorsement – in a place aimed at helping businesses – was intentional on the part of the Murphy campaign, although there were no new proposals or policy ideas the candidate and frontrunner offered during his tour of the facility or in his remarks afterward.
Instead, Murphy criticized the Christie administration for the stewardship of the state’s economy, with average income down and rising costs for the middle class. He touched on the "meaningful underperformance – household income, the inequities, the lack of growth in the economy."
"This administration has been an outlier in the under-performance," he said before heading to a scheduled stop in Trenton.
In getting the endorsement of Bradley, a fellow Democrat, Murphy received the support of someone who has been on the state political scene since the 1990s. Bradley, 74, played college basketball for Princeton and then later for the New York Knicks, represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate for three terms, from 1979 to 1997, and then lost his primary bid in 2000 for president against Vice President Al Gore.
The Nov. 7 gubernatorial election is 50 days away, but Murphy is seen as the favorite to succeed incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
He is leading Republican challenger, current Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, by more than 20 points, according to a recent poll by Quinnipiac University. The survey, released Sept. 13, showed him ahead 58-33.
"He’s running strong, and I don’t think he’s taking anything for granted," said Mayor Liz Lempert, who attended the event. "Even though he’s ahead in the polls, I don’t think he’s being complacent about it."
A strong showing by Murphy could impact the outcome of down-ballot races, like in the 16th legislative district, a once traditionally safe Republican territory in parts of Central Jersey. Roy Freiman, a Democrat running for state Assembly in the 16th, attended the Murphy-Bradley event, and touched on the effect the governor’s race could have on his contest.
"It’s important that Phil does well, because I want a good governor," he said. "The more he excites people to bring out the vote, certainly, in all likelihood that will help down ballot and there will be coattails coming down as well. But we have to be appealing, regardless, to our voters."
For her part, Guadagno argues that Murphy would tax the state into being "uncompetitive," and hurt the economy.
"If you liked Jon Corzine than you will love Phil Murphy. Murphy has already pledged $1.3 billion in higher taxes and that’s just the start," said Guadagno campaign spokesman Ricky Diaz. "His agenda would make New Jersey the most anti-jobs state in the country and make us uncompetitive for projects like Amazon’s new headquarters."
