By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy campaigned with former Vice President Al Gore during two stops in Mercer County Sunday, first at a church in Trenton and then at a business incubator in Princeton.
Gore, who predicted Murphy would make a “fantastic governor,” was the second former vice president to stump for the front-runner, with Joe Bidden appearing in Middlesex County a few days earlier.
“I do want to say, from my heart, I believe in Phil Murphy,” Gore said in Princeton before about 75 tech investors and others. “If you all give him the chance, he will do amazing things for the state of New Jersey.”
The two men, friends for nearly 20 years, sat side by side in Tigerlabs, the same place on Nassau Street where Murphy had appeared for an endorsement event last month with former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, Gore’s opponent in the 2000 Democratic presidential primary.
For about an hour, they touched on the economy and took turns criticizing Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, Murphy’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 7 election some three weeks away.
Murphy, a former executive with Goldman Sachs, offered his vision for how he would seek to steer the state’s economy. He said he would welcome large companies to New Jersey, and in particular he threw his arms open to Amazon to construct its second headquarters in the state. Gore revealed that six hours after Amazon announced its plans, Murphy had contacted him asking if he put could Murphy in touch with Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos.
“I want Amazon here,” Murphy said, “but on terms that work not just for them but for us.”
Murphy, though, sounded critical of the way the state has used tax incentives, and called for New Jersey to be “smarter” with big companies.
“It’s only to large companies, so small businesses are completely ignored,” he said in adding the state puts out tax credits to the “tune” of $160,000 per job.
Gore faulted what he called a “misguided reliance on hefty tax credits for the big guys.”
“The Christie-Guadagno approach is really mired in the past,” Gore said. “It has failed miserably. And everybody knows it.”
Neither man mentioned, however, that Goldman Sachs, during Murphy’s time there, got a tax abatement for its building in Jersey City.
“Listen, if we can get them on our terms, I want all the big companies we can get to be in New Jersey, to stay here, to come here,” said
Murphy also said Amazon would require a “competitive tax deal.”
He also reiterated the need to invest in education and infrastructure. He has proposed fully funding public education – something he said the Christie administration has shortchanged by $9 billion – and providing free community college. He also pointed to how “Christie and Guadagno” cancelled a proposed rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
“Well, at least the bridge is open,” Gore joked in a reference to the Bridgegate scandal.
“Just at the moment we could least afford it, this administration turned its back on science, fact, evidence, and we’re paying a big price for it,” Murphy said.
Guadagno has countered that Murphy’s proposals would cause taxes to soar and lead people to leave New Jersey. She has proposed capping property taxes at 5 percent of residents’ household income, to help lower the nation’s highest property taxes.
“The inconvenient truth is that Phil Murphy is going to increase taxes on all New Jerseyans if elected governor, forcing families to move out in droves,” said Guadagno spokesman Ricky Diaz on Sunday. “From increasing sales taxes to even adding tolls on freeways, Phil Murphy will always follow Murphy’s Law – if any tax can be raised, it will be raised.”
Murphy found himself back in Mercer County at a time when a Monmouth University poll has him up 14 points. Yet in recent days, Murphy has found himself having to distance himself from Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, accused of alleged sexual assault, and drop a fundraiser Weinstein was going to do for him. He has also come under fire from Guadagno on his proposal to make New Jersey a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, who attended the Murphy and Gore event, said beforehand that he thinks Guadagno does not have a “positive message of what went on in the last eight years.” He predicted that Mercer County would give Murphy a “fantastic plurality” on Election Day, including in Republican towns, like Hamilton.
State Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-16) said Murphy has shown “what it means to take the challenges, to understand policy, to understand politics, to run an issues-driven campaign that makes all so very proud.”
Earlier in the day, Murphy and Gore were at Shiloh Baptist Church, in Trenton.
