Murphy goons target COVID nursing home whistleblower
/By Sussex Watchdog
In a coordinated, one-two punch, Democrats allied with Governor Phil Murphy delivered a vicious attack on journalist/whistleblower Jennifer Jean Miller. She’s the former New Jersey Herald reporter featured in the New York Times and ABC News who broke the story that Governor Murphy’s infamous Executive Order 103 was causing the deaths from COVID-19 of dozens in nursing homes in Sussex County.
Eventually, the deaths from COVID in New Jersey’s nursing and veterans’ homes would surpass 8,000 lives. New Jersey would earn the terrible distinction of having the worst rate of death (per 100,000) in long-term care facilities (nursing/veterans’ homes) from COVID-19 among the 50 states. As the Star-Ledger pointed out, if New Jersey were its own country, it would have the worst rate of death from COVID-19 in the world.
The first attack came on Sunday – from a blogger known by the pseudonym Jabba the Angry Fat Man. Jabba is a big supporter of Congressman Josh Gottheimer and has bragged on his blog that his death threats against President Donald Trump earned him a visit from the United States Secret Service.
Jennifer Jean Miller is interviewed through this video by ABC.
Jabba has attacked this testimony, calling journalist Jennifer Jean Miller a “liar” and her articles in the New Jersey Herald, a “PR stunt”. When Miller, who is not only a courageous whistleblower but who served as a support system for many of the families of the victims, drew parallels between what her family suffered during the Holocaust (at Auschwitz) and the fear and isolation suffered by the those who died, she was viciously attacked by the Democrat, who called her a “wacko”.
These histrionics and the nastiness of the attacks lead us to wonder if Jabba is on the payroll of the highly insider, international Public Relations/ Lobbying/ Political Consulting group (Mercury) that was hired to protect the nursing home operators (and, by extension, the Murphy administration) from the families of those who died and their supporters. Is Congressman Gottheimer at all connected to these – or other nursing homes operators – or to their lobbyists? We’re just asking. Is the lobbyist/ public relations firm owned by the Congressman’s spouse and in-laws connected? And what about contributions to the master fundraiser’s campaign?
Given Gottheimer’s background as the Number Two executive at a similar insider international Public Relations/ Lobbying/ Political Consulting group, perhaps the Congressman hooked them up? Gottheimer’s was the firm that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called “the PR firm from Hell.” And remember what else Maddow said about Josh Gottheimer’s firm:
"When evil needs public relations, evil has (Josh Gottheimer’s firm) on speed dial."
Rachel Maddow
We wonder if Congressman Gottheimer and the members of his Problem Solvers Caucus believe that journalists who uncover misfeasance by government and/or private nursing home operators should suffer retribution by Democrat Party operatives in the form of being labeled “a lying, has-been, right-wing sleaze artist”? We will be asking them – each of them – directly about this, as they are all up for re-election next year (some having to pass through the filter of a Republican primary). We suspect, in turn, that Caucus Co-Chairman Gottheimer will be hearing from them.
Earlier today, the Sussex County Democrats issued their own attack in support of the one launched on Sunday by the blogger Jabba the Angry Fat Man. In it, they attacked people for asking questions. In a press release of more than a thousand words, they never once mention Executive Order 103.
Instead, the Democrats attack everyone who wants answers, everyone who has submitted an unfulfilled OPRA request to Governor Murphy's administration, everyone who has called for bi-partisan legislative hearings, everyone who has asked for an independent investigation into why more than 8,000 people died. In their fear for what the truth may reveal about Governor Murphy – the Democrats attack everyone looking for the truth.
Sussex County Democrats even attack the whistleblowing journalist who broke the story. In the most vicious way – mocking the suffering of her family in Auschwitz.
In their press release, the Sussex County Democrats claim that the nursing home operators “chose PROFIT over PEOPLE, which led to bodies being stacked up in makeshift morgues and families and employees left with enduring trauma for years to come.” They further state:
“The Sussex County Democratic Committee has been inundated with first-hand accounts from both current and former employees who want to set the record straight about the horror they witnessed.”
Good. But why are the Sussex County Democrats resisting the means to set that record straight? Why are they not supporting the victims’ families, the county government, and legislators like Senator Steve Oroho – who are demanding transparency from the Murphy administration. Why the cover-up?
Why have OPRA requests about those nursing homes gone unfulfilled? Does it have anything to do with the boast made by a nursing home operator to a local government official about their donations to Governor Murphy and his Democrats? This local government official would like to have a hearing at which to testify – on the record! Will the Sussex Democrats work to give him one?
Sadly, it doesn’t seem so.
Rather than uncover who is responsible for what happened, the Sussex County Democrats want everyone to accept their perspective that Governor Murphy and his administration acted perfectly, there is nothing to see here, so move on. They make this clear when they suggest that Republicans “should be exploring viable ways to make sure these examples of failure, negligence and mismanagement are never able to happen again under these circumstances.” Just so long as those viable ways do not include fact-finding of any kind – from OPRA requests to open public hearings into why more than 8,000 died – all fact-finding is strictly verboten!
The Sussex County Democrats want Watergate without the hearings. Someone should pull them back to reality and tell them it doesn’t work that way.
We have a suggestion.
The Sussex County Republicans should invite the Sussex County Democrats to debate this issue and how to address it. Openly, in public, with full transparency.
The Democrats could bring Jabba the Angry Fat Man as part of their panel. The Republicans could ask the whistleblower/ journalist the Democrats have attempted to smear, Jennifer Jean Miller. Perhaps the Democrats could ask Governor Murphy himself to attend… the Republicans, Jack Ciattarelli.
If they really want to get to the bottom of this, the Democrats need only look to their name and live up to it – democracy and the transparency that democracy is supposed to be synonymous with. Supposed to be… in practice, not so much. Not at all, these days.
