MIDDLETOWN, NJ – Tucked away in a corner of Middletown is Governor Murphy’s vast carbon footprint of an estate. His 6 acre Edwardian Era mansion boasts 7,000 square feet and sits overlooking the beautiful Navesink River. Some say it even boasts a natural gas-powered driveway warming system to melt the snow so the Murphy boys don’t have to shovel dad out so he can get to work in Trenton.
That’s unconfirmed, but the green progressive who calls Middletown his home is getting a wake-up call in a few days by his township leaders. The Township Council of Middletown has approved an ordinance condemning the governor’s extended pandemic emergency powers.
“The Governor’s temporary emergency powers at the outset served the purpose of managing the COVID-19 pandemic at the time when the virus was spreading rapidly, vaccines and treatments were unavailable, and our healthcare system was being overwhelmed,” the township council declared in an ordinance opposing Murphy’s latest emergency powers extension. “Despite these conditions subsiding through the development of vaccines, therapies and a better understanding of the science behind the virus, the Governor has unilaterally renewed this public health emergency every 30 days thereafter until June 2021.”
Then, on June 4, 2021, Governor Murphy signed legislation and an Executive Order ending the public health emergency. That was just a bait and switch to get the Democrat-led legislature to grant a 7-month extension for his powers. After that extension ended in January, Murphy asked for an additional 90-days but was rebuked, even by Democrats. He then went on to sign two more 30-day extensions using his emergency powers authority.
“The Governor made a request for a 90 day extension of these emergency powers and the Legislature refused to extend the Governor’s emergency powers,” the council stated. “But the Governor ignored the will of the Legislature and announced on January 12, 2022, that he was reinstating a statewide public health emergency, thereby allowing himself the ability to continue statewide mandates without the proper checks and balances required under State Constitution.”
Now, Senator Vin Gopal, one of the enablers of Murphy’s 7 month emergency powers and a close ally of the Governor has introduced legislation attempting to restore legislative oversight of the governor’s executive powers.
“The Township Committee of the Township of Middletown in the County of Monmouth, State of New Jersey that it hereby opposes Governor Murphy’s continuing unilateral declarations of a public health emergency and supports the enactment of Senate Bill No. 1200 to restore legislative oversight of the Governor’s emergency powers,” the town committee wrote.
On February 24th, the committee will hold a final vote on the order calling for an end to Murphy’s pandemic overreach.