By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Phil Murphy sought Thursday to link his Republican rival Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno with President Donald Trump by saying they “practice the politics of division,” in an appearance in Princeton with the Gold Star father who had criticized Trump at last year’s Democratic National Convention.
“Unfortunately, too many of our state and national leaders do not believe in the values of fairness or inclusion,” Murphy said with Khizr Khan seated near him in the Princeton Arts Council. “The president spreads fear in a desperate attempt to turn our diversity into a threat.”
Murphy claimed that Guadagno and Gov. Chris Christie have been “largely silent while President Trump tramples on New Jersey’s values of inclusion and openness.”
Khan, a Muslim native of Pakistan who lost a son in the Iraq War, gained notoriety with his speech at the convention in Philadelphia. Khan, who since has gone on to become a political activist, urged the crowd to “set the direction of this country straight.”
“On the day of election, you will be casting the vote to strengthen your democratic process, your democratic way of life, to show to the rest of the nation this is the right way to support democracy and live in a democracy,” Khan said. “That is (the) added burden on all of us, especially New Jersey because you have been chosen to lead this charge in this election.”
Murphy hit back against Guadagno, who has slammed Murphy’s plan to make New Jersey a “sanctuary state” to protect illegal immigrants. She has promised to ban sanctuary cities in the state, if elected, and require law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
But Murphy said “enough of this knowingly crossing wires that should not be crossed, implying that all immigrants are criminals … crossing law enforcement policy with immigration policy.
“I believe with all my heart and I’ve got a lot of law enforcement support that says when folks are comfortable stepping out of the shadows into the sunlight and engaging with other residents and community leaders and, importantly, with law enforcement, we have safer communities,” he said.
Towns like Princeton limit their police department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities by refusing to honor civil detainers, or holds, those authorities place on those believed to be subject to deportation. Princeton officials, for example, maintain they want to make the illegal immigrant community comfortable to deal with police.
Speaking to reporters as he was leaving the venue, Murphy said Guadagno, a former federal prosecutor and Monmouth Count Sheriff, is “putting politics over public safety, and she knows it.”
But earlier in the day, Guadagno sought to again criticize Murphy’s plan with an event in Middlesex County, where federal immigration authorities last week arrested 36 “criminal aliens” in an operation targeting people who had been let out of the county jail, which does not honor immigration detainers.
“Phil Murphy is getting desperate to distract from his plan to increase taxes and make New Jersey a sanctuary state,” said Guadagno spokesman Ricky Diaz on Thursday. “As a working mom, Kim will bring Main Street values to the governors office, not the out-of-touch Wall Street values Phil Murphy is offering voters.”
With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, Murphy enjoys a commanding lead, according to a poll out this week by Quinnipiac University. He is ahead 57 percent to 37 percent among likely voters, with a large edge among women voters, the poll showed.
In his latest stop in town, the former ambassador to Germany and Goldman Sachs executive appeared at ease, making jokes in his remarks, as he spoke before an audience of Democratic supporters. He slipped in a little Arabic, before a crowd that also included Muslims.
Khan’s appearance with Murphy came amid a contretemps involving Trump and the widow of a serviceman over a condolence phone call he made to her. Murphy, though, said the appearance was planned “many, many weeks ago and it was not planned in reaction to anything that’s happened over the past couple of weeks.”
