The Future of NJ Under Phil Murphy

Brendan Gill, Democratic Strategist, Essex County Freeholder, and Campaign Manager for New Jersey Governor-Elect Phil Murphy, speaks about the success of their campaign. He also discusses some of the challenges he believes the new governor is going to face regarding issues in New Jersey.

12/16/17 #128

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome to State of Affairs. I'm Steve Adubato. Coming to you from the Agnes Varis NJTV Studio here in Newark, New Jersey. We are pleased to welcome Brendan Gill, he's a Democratic strategist, he was in fact the campaign manager for Phil Murphy, who will be the next governor of the state of New Jersey, and a freeholder in Essex County since 2011. Congratulations Mr. Gill. Thank you. Thank you Steve. Thank you for having me. Can you give us the... I'm going to go old-school on you, Reader's Digest version of how this campaign, which... I don't know, a year and a half ago, people said, "who's Phil Murphy?" Yeah. Now he's the governor. Yeah, I mean listen, I think really two years ago, Phil came on the scene in a real way, he was our US Ambassador to Germany under President Obama, a person who... involved in philanthropy in New Jersey, but not someone who was probably a household name on the political scene by any stretch of the imagination. A person who saw a problem in terms of where he thought this state was headed, raised his hand to lead, and yeah, on May 16th, 2016, we launched our campaign for governor, a year and a... probably almost a year and a half in advance of the primary, probably... among most pundits, probably would've considered to be at that time, you know, a long shot candidate. A very long shot. A very long shot candidate. Did you see him that way? I didn't. I always saw Phil as a person who had an unbelievable skill set, that I thought was the right person at the right time for this job. He was a person who had a deep policy basis, a person who took a lot of time to listen and understand the issues, had created an organization as you know, just dedicated to that purpose. I saw a purpose person who had tremendous retail political skills, a way to connect with people, which is very very important obviously in public life for sure. And I also saw a... just a person whose resume, really, was just so impressive. You know, a person who served, you know, worked on Wall Street, served as the US Ambassador to Germany, a person who pulled himself up, you know, came from nothing. If you've heard Phil tell his personal story, you know... Sure. He told it right there sitting... a few months ago. That story. Middle class on a... Middle class on a good day, graduate of a public high school, you know. Works his way through Harvard University, and takes off from there..."