On ‘Radio Times’: Phil Murphy’s opponents say he’s buying influence to win the NJ gubernatorial primary

 Phil Murphy arrives at the New Jersey Division of Elections with 43,000 petition signatures to get on the June Democratic primary ballot. (Phil Gregory/WHYY)

Phil Murphy arrives at the New Jersey Division of Elections with 43,000 petition signatures to get on the June Democratic primary ballot. (Phil Gregory/WHYY)

New Jersey voters are set to go to the polls in three weeks to pick their party’s general election nominee for governor. Despite the rapidly approaching primary election day, a recent poll shows that around 60 percent of N.J. residents remain undecided, so frontrunner status is coveted among an unenthusiastic electorate. 

Currently, Phil Murphy is leading the pack on the Democratic side. He’s a former ambassador to Germany, and a former Goldman Sachs banker, who also spent many years in N.J. state government. His opponents, including Jim Johnson, Ray Lesniak, and John Wisniewski, claim that Murphy is buying endorsements and represents big money interests.

On Monday’s “Radio Times,” guest host Mary Cummings-Jordan discussed the race with Matt Friedman from Politico and Brent Johnson from NJ Advance Media. Johnson laid out some of Murphy’s spending that his opponents cite as examples of buying political influence, saying that “it really ramped up in the last three years.”

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Later, Friedman talked about what he saw as hypocrisy coming from Murphy’s opponents, saying “there’s something especially rich about John Wisniewski and Ray Lesniak being champions of the common man here. The senator and assemblyman go very far back in New Jersey politics.”

Listen to more of this interview on Radio Times.

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