The 15 members of the state Senate Republican caucus sent a letter to Governor Murphy today, politely but urgently requesting that he make “smart and fair decisions to end the hardships that continue to impact many New Jerseyans.”
The Senators wrote that many of the restrictions that continue to be enforced on small businesses make little sense.
“We have heard repeatedly from our constituents,” the Senators wrote, “that the manner in which reopenings have been announced appears to be arbitrary and inconsistent, with no clear communication regarding the metrics or benchmarks that must be met for executive orders to be loosened or lifted.”
The Senators contrasted New Jersey’s lack of a clear plan to those of New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida, whose governors have issued guidance that pegs data against clear benchmarks to demonstrate how their states’ restrictions are only in the public interest. “The people of New Jersey deserve no less,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Republicans asked Governor Murphy to at the very least take into consideration several reopening plans that have been proposed to him, in the absence of his own plans being made public.
“We are especially concerned that very little has been done to support the thousands of small businesses on Main Streets across New Jersey,” they wrote. “We have heard from thousands of employers that they will need direct financial support to remain viable after suffering steep losses resulting from the extended shutdown. At this point in time, only 4% of the billions in federal CARES Act stimulus funding received by New Jersey has been dedicated for this purpose. We implore you to increase this allocation.”
Finally, the Senators urged the governor to lift his arbitrary limitations on gatherings of more than 10 people in certain indoor spaces. “If social distancing and other reasonable precautions can be maintained at any location, the 10-person limitation should be lifted. That includes at our indispensable churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues, which are as important now as ever.
“Given the benefit of time and what we have learned, we believe it makes sense to let New Jerseyans resume their lives without the continuation of arbitrary restrictions that do little today to keep them safe. If you believe public health data does not warrant that level of freedom, we encourage you to clearly explain why and to tell us, specifically, what must change. The people of New Jersey deserve to know.”
The letter was signed by Senators Kean, Pennacchio, Corrado, Bateman, Singer, Brown, Oroho, Bucco, Cardinale, Connors, Doherty, Holzapfel, O’Scanlon, Testa, and Thompson.
Can you guys please leave the Governor alone, he has no plan, so why are you bothering him.
Sorry he does have a plan.
He wants to make Trump look as bad as possible, so Trump should loose reelection.
Mr Governor, we are all big boys in this state, and we understand that we have to be safe and social distancing is important. We don’t need and don’t want a nanny state, and what you are doing is totally unconstitutional.
If the business, churches, mosques, synagogue, and schools are not opened ASAP, WE WILL GO TO COURT AND FIGHT IT.
AND WE WON’T FORGET WHEN YOU ARE UP FOR RE-ELECTION WHAT YOU DID TO THIS STATE.
While we wont forge, unfortunately many of our ‘askanim’ will endorse him.
Sad
I was watching Governor Knucklehead’s briefing the other day. The poor guy is fixated on his beaches -droning on & on how nobody was wearing masks but it wasn’t too bad because the weather was bad anyway blah blah. He is so fixated on this that his brain cannot comprehend that he needs to do something about Nursing Homes and that the inner cities can blow up at any second with kids being out of school, having no organized sports, parents not being able to get unemployment…..
Unfortunately, not one reporter has the brains to ask him for a shred of data showing any evidence that Covid can be spread on the beach (hint: there is none. due to the wind and the natural spread of people, the chances of enough viral load actually getting into someone’s respiratory system is nil)
So sad that we have such a clueless person at a time when we need real leaders.
He has a plan. The plan is wait until Governor Cumo does something then copy it.
With Governor Murphy’s leadership we are all on a sinking ship