RAPID RESPONSE: Murphy’s gun attack is false and hypocritical.
RAPID RESPONSE: Murphy’s gun attack is false and hypocritical.
Goldman Sachs & Phil Murphy made a fortune off the manufacture and sale of firearms.
SAYREVILLE. N.J. — In response to widely mailed flyer falsely attacking Assemblyman John Wisniewski on guns, his campaign manager Robert Becker issued the following response:
“By claiming John Wisniewski is ‘siding with the gun lobby,’ Phil Murphy showed just how desperate and hypocritical his campaign has become.
“Let’s be very clear: John Wisniewski has served 21 years in the New Jersey Assembly and has never supported the manufacture of more machine guns or assault weapons.
“But, Phil Murphy can’t say that, because he has personally profited off guns. Murphy served in a position of authority at Goldman Sachs for 23 years and never once publicly spoke out about the manufacture of guns — despite Goldman making billions by investing and partnering with some of biggest gun makers in the country.
“Murphy’s desperate and hypocritical attack shows a politician in deep trouble. After two-plus years running for governor and spending $10 million of his Goldman Sachs fortune, Murphy finds himself in the FDU poll training ‘I don’t know’ (50%) and tied with ‘Someone else’ (17%).
“This race for the democratic nomination is wide open. False and hypocritical attacks won’t work. After seven years of Chris Christie, the last thing New Jersey Democrats want is another untrustworthy, hypocrital governor.”
Below is the full text of an email sent to Wisniewski supporters this afternoon:
Sisters, Brothers, and Friends –
We sent an unmistakable message to the establishment last Sunday when our campaign scored a decisive victory over our Goldman Sachs opponent in Princeton, taking 62% of the vote.
John Wisniewski was the only candidate with the courage to advocate for single-payer health care, tuition-free public college, and banning private, for-profit prisons. Princeton was an example of progressives coming together — in an open and democratic process — to support a candidate in line with our values.
Here’s what made the victory even more compelling: it came after our opponent sent a desperate last minute attack mailer — full of Trump-esque falsehoods and lies.
The people of New Jersey are sick and tired of hypocrisy, smears and untruthful attacks. Phil Murphy should be ashamed of his sleazy, fraudulent mailer. If this is the kind of campaign he intends to run, he will prove himself no different than our current governor and unworthy of the office.
Included with a dark and gloomy picture of John was a dishonest and false attack about his record on guns, an issue he has been a leader on in this state — so much so that the radical pro-gun NRA consistently targets John for defeat.
In contrast, our opponent has personally profited off guns as a Goldman Sachs executive. He never once spoke out about the manufacture of guns — despite his employer making billions by investing and partnering with some of biggest gun makers in the country.
In 1998, Goldman Sachs was hired by Remington Arms Company — the maker of the AR-15 assault rifle. According to a Mother Jones report: “… Remington — maker of the assault rifle used in Newtown — saw the annual return on its investment grow tenfold” following that massacre.
When Goldman Sachs was getting into bed with Remington in 1998, Phil Murphy said nothing. But he did speak out that year about the need to celebrate Goldman Sachs’ “elitism” in the Wall Street Journal, “booming” about how he and his banker colleagues were “elite in the sense the Marine Corps is elite.”
And it is not just Remington Arms. According to Nasdaq, Goldman Sachs owns stocks valued at $144 million in Vista Outdoors, America’s largest maker of bolt-action rifles, and is heavily invested in gun makers Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger.
Goldman Sachs and Phil Murphy have profited immensely from the manufacture and sale of assault weapons.
New Jerseyans are sick and tired of hypocritical, negative, and untruthful attacks. If that’s the kind of campaign Phil Murphy wants to run, then he will be like all the rest — hypocritical and untrustworthy.
Our campaign is different — we are about transforming our politics in Trenton and changing the way New Jersey’s government works.
It is time we put the values and dreams of middle-class, hard-working New Jerseyans ahead of Wall Street profits and transactional party bosses.
Donate to our campaign. Help us transform New Jersey >>
Some say it is impossible. We disagree. With the right kind of leadership, nothing is impossible.
In solidarity,
Robert Becker
Campaign Manager
