New Jersey has a long history of political corruption.
It dates all the way back to the colonial days when the state’s then-Governor Lord Cornbury was accused of embezzlement and accepting bribes.
According to the editor-in-chief of the College of New Jersey’s newspaper, The Signal, Jersey City mayor from 1917 to 1947, Democrat Frank Hague, died a multi-millionaire despite spending his 30-year career making just $9,000 per year.
In the early 1980s, the FBI busted former Garden State U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams – another Democrat – selling political favors to who he believed to be wealthy sheikhs.
The following decade, several leading Democrats in the city of Newark were caught in a corruption circle.
In 2009, the mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, two members of the New Jersey Assembly and the deputy mayor of Jersey City were all investigated for their parts in a black-market kidneys and fake Gucci handbags circle.
Former New Jersey Governor and current GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie was the centerpiece in Bridgegate – where he shutdown two lanes of busy traffic on the George Washington Bridge to gain retribution and send a political message to a rival mayor.
And, of course, there’s current Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, who have both been indicted, again, on bribery charges for allegedly receiving envelopes of cash and even gold bars.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, now, the Garden State’s sitting Democrat Governor Phil Murphy has been caught red-handed in a scandal of his own – and this scandal centers around Taylor Swift and football.
Politico first broke the story that New Jersey Gov. Murphy spent $12,000 in state funds attending sporting events and a Taylor Swift concert.
Now, Fox News is reporting that Murphy is asking the Democrat Party to reimburse New Jersey taxpayers for the funds Murphy and his team spent at MetLife Stadium.
According to a representative for the Governor, the team expected the party to pick up the tab, and when they realized the party hadn’t, the Governor’s state-funded expense account needed to pay the bills.
Public records show Murphy’s office spent $936 on food and drinks at a Taylor Swift concert in 2018; $2,095 at a Sept. 2018 USA vs. Brazil soccer game; $2,068 at a Nov. 2018 Jets vs. Patriots game; $1,413 at the Hot 97’s Summer Jam in June 2019; $2,856 for the Sept. 2019 USA vs. Mexico soccer game, and $2,479 for the Oct. 2019 Jets vs. Cowboys game.
Murphy was the heavy favorite to win the vacant gubernatorial seat in 2021.
However, his Republican opponent, former General Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, shocked the world and turned what was supposed to be a landslide in the dark blue state into a very competitive contest.
In the end, Murphy edged out Ciattarelli 51-48.
Murphy was already considered vulnerable for re-election in 2025, but this latest Garden State scandal could give the GOP an even better shot of flipping the seat.
