Opinion: Van Drew is Right — Murphy WANTS to Kill NJ Restaurants

For all of those who didn’t believe that Gov. Phil Murphy was as dangerous as he is turning out to be, I’m actually kind of glad that he has proven it today by prohibiting restaurants from opening for indoor dining in New Jersey after he promised them that they could.

It was easy to fool everyone into thinking everything that he was doing was about safety in the beginning. And then as the weeks and months went by if you came more apparent that everything Murphy was doing was out of power.

During a crisis, Murphy‘s numbers will continue to look better and better, so it behooves him to keep the crisis going for as long as possible. We are, after all, simply another steppingstone on his path to political greatness. That’s why he is taking his sweet time to open up the state again.

When he decided to allow indoor dining in New Jersey, I was not celebrating. Because the idea that he had the power to close or open a private business, especially one that’s been struggling for so long, made me sad. And the fact that he finally decided to open these restaurants based on some spurious and/or nonexistent data just made me mad. So i didn’t think it was anything to celebrate. Especially after people spent thousands and thousands of dollars to retrofit their restaurants for outdoor seating.

Now that he has decided to backpedal, prohibiting indoor seating at restaurants in New Jersey, he has truly shown his true colors. Especially when one of the justifications he gives compares us to other states, when our situation is completely different and he knows that. If there’s anyone who still believes that Murphy is doing anything for the betterment of New Jersey or to stop the COVID-19 crisis, I think you are either related to him or just plain old stupid.

Once Rep. Jeff Van Drew jumped parties and decided to admit that he was a Republican (and probably was the whole time), many people were dubious. That jump was met with much criticism by people who thought he did that just to garner favor with President Donald Trump and ride his coattails. But now that I see the angry, meaningful and truthful statements he has been releasing over the past few months regarding the nonsense closings in New Jersey, I can tell that, unlike Murphy, he truly does believe in that hackneyed old motto that’s emblazoned on the flag of New Jersey: Liberty and prosperity.

I would be doing a disservice to Van Drew’s latest memo to do anything but quote it here in its entirety because it resonates so strongly with me as well as so many New Jerseyans who are sick and tired of the power policies of our current Governor.

Van Drew’s statement:

"This is no longer about safety. This is Governor Murphy forcing businesses to die; businesses that just spent months investing and preparing to open at a time to which he gave his word. The restaurants placed food orders, bought PPE, hired staff back, and started advertising.

How is going to a busy big-box store any safer than a prepared restaurant?

To compare us to other states undermines the pain and the work that went in to keeping us at the diminishing virus levels we are currently at. It does not represent any sense of reality in New Jersey.

I am completely disgusted and my heart aches for the pain these business owners are feeling after their dreams are being smothered by Governor Murphy’s cruel change of mind."