Much of the talk in Jersey politics these days is about the massive, increasingly heated race to replace Phil Murphy as governor. But Murphy himself still has something to say as he navigates his final year in office.
So I had an exclusive chat with the two-term and term-limited Democrat a few weeks ago. We discussed everything from what it's like to know both Biden and Trump, which Republican gubernatorial candidate Democrats don't want to face in November, what his future plans might be, what his biggest regret is, and who would play him in a movie. Hint: It's not the "Batman" actor you might be thinking of ...
Is there anything you want to say to residents heading into your final months as governor?
PM: "We're not going to take our foot off the pedal. … We've not solved all of our problems and we haven't even always had the right answers. I think our batting average is very good, but no one bats 1.000. … (But) most of what we'll do this year is planting seeds that won't blossom until many years after we're gone."
What is something about Joe Biden that most people don't know and something about Donald Trump that most people don't know? Because you know them both pretty well.
PM: "I do. About Joe Biden — well, I'd say he plays much better one-on-one than he plays at a podium these days. I don't think that was always the case. But one-on-one, he's a natural ... incredible empathy. He’s 82, I'm not suggesting he’s behaving like a 22-year-old, but he plays incredibly well privately, even if his public persona has come under a lot of criticism and scrutiny.
"Trump’s incredibly charismatic and incredibly polite. In private. He's just a very gracious, polite individual privately. Which is something folks might find at odds with his public persona. But he is."
Who is the most intimidating political figure you’ve known?
PM: "It's a good question. I'll tell you, when I first became governor, Jerry Brown was at the end of his time as California governor, his second time. Jerry is an intellectual giant. And I was a pipsqueak. We were at a climate conference in early 2018 in California, and I felt like I was the kid going to see the Wizard of Oz. That’s the one guy that comes to mind — just incredible towering intellect, very opinionated. … You'll recall he served two separate eight-year stints as governor. And so I'm in my fourth month, and he’s finishing up year 16. And it was like me talking to Ted Williams."
What would you have done career-wise had you lost in 2017?
PM: "I had no plan B, honest. I continue to be fascinated by public service. Foreign affairs stuff was something then and continues now to be something that's a passion. … It would have been some kind of service, but I didn't spend any time thinking about that."
What do you see doing after your term is over in a year? I mean, could it be four years from now you pull a Jerry Brown and come back? The state Constitution says you can’t run for three consecutive terms. But you could run again in the future.
PM: "No. That I can say unequivocally — next Jan. 20 will be my last day as governor.
"I don’t know. I literally just started thinking … Chris Christie, to his enormous credit, came to both of my inaugurations. And I think he was the only Republican at both. … And I thanked him for that. I literally had a conversation with Tammy earlier today. I said, ‘Tammy, you know, Chris and Mary Pat I believe came to my inauguration and went right to the airport. … He went on some kind of vacation.’ I said, ‘We're gonna do a similar.” So we spent all of two minutes daydreaming about how we’d go to the airport or where we would we go. Other than taking a break, I've got literally no plans."
What do you expect to happen with the SALT deduction? Do you think Trump is going to follow through on his promise to bring it back?
PM: "I haven’t spoken to him about it since he got elected, but I did speak with him and his team a lot when they first put it in place. It sounds like he’s amenable to something. I just hope he goes as far as he should, because it’s a real burden on middle-class homeowners in our state. I'm gonna continue to fight like hell."
Onto the big governor’s race to succeed you. I think you’ve said you don't plan to make an endorsement in the Democratic primary for your replacement. Is that right?
PM: "I reserve the right, but I don't expect to."
Going to the Republican side, who do you think Democrats most want to face and least want to face in November?
PM: "I'm not sure I wanna get into speculation, but in a general election, (Jon) Bramnick is a very reasonable choice. I suspect his bigger issue will be getting out of a primary, but Jon is a very pragmatic, sort of classic New Jersey Republican in the mold of the Keans and Whitmans. And that, to me, is a very formidable general election candidate."
Do you have a big regret heading into your final year? Is there something you wish you’d have done differently?
PM: "Well, listen, when you lose 35,000 lives in a pandemic — and I'm proud to say we're the only state in America that did an arm's length soup-to-nuts, full-access, independent postmortem, the first words of which we read when it was published. Aside from that awful tragedy, I'm incredibly proud of that. And you’ll see in that document 30-something recommendations on how to strengthen the state in anticipation, God forbid, if something like this were to ever happen again. I’m honored we saved as many lives as we did, but the toll was overwhelming. And I think the report said this: At every moment through the process, I believe we made the best decisions given the facts we had at our disposal at that time. But that doesn’t mean you couldn't have done it better."
Let’s end with a few rapid-fire questions. If they were gonna make a movie about you, who do you think should play you?
PM: "I'm a former actor, so I’m gonna say me."
Some people have said you look like Michael Keaton.
PM: "I’ve been told that."
New Jersey doesn’t have an official state song. What should it be?
PM: "It's gotta be from one of the big guys."
You mean a Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen song?
PM: "It should be from one of them, I would think. … Invariably, there's ‘Livin’’ on a Prayer, ‘Born to Run.’ ‘Rapper's Delight,’ by the way, has to be on the list. ‘Can't Take My Eyes Off of You.’ Something by Sinatra. And something by Whitney."
What is the most underrated location in New Jersey? Everyone knows about Cape May and Asbury Park. What is a place more people should know about?
PM: "Island Beach State Park. Stunning, stunning, stunning."
What is the last movie you saw either at home or in the theater?
PM: "I'll give you three. We go stretches where we don't see any movies and then we go stretches where we see three in a week. We saw ‘End of Watch’ last night, from 2012. We saw ‘Plane’ over the weekend, from last year. We saw ‘Conclave’ probably 10 days ago. And because he's from New Jersey, we watched ‘Anora.’"
Yes, the director, Sean Baker, grew up here. (Since this interview, "Anora" swept the top categories at the Oscars, including Best Picture.)
PM: "Which was not the movie I was expected. It’s billed as a romantic comedy. We did not find it to be a romantic comedy."
If you knew you were about to have your last meal and you had to pick one restaurant in New Jersey to have it at, where would it be?
PM: "Oh, wow. Last meal, New Jersey. Let me just thing. I’ve gotta get this right. I'm gonna piss off some of my buddies from the restaurant business. … Edwards Steakhouse in Jersey City."
I've never been there.
PM: "It's worth it. Great bar downstairs. Not that I’ve noticed. And then a great restaurant both in the back room and upstairs."
And just because I’m pretty sure neither Bon Jovi or Springsteen would run, who would make a better governor — Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert? They both live here.
PM: "Oh, wow. You know how they did in Ireland a few years ago — the foreign minister and the prime minister agreed to split a term. I think that’s what they should do."
NEXT WEEK: More about the race for governor.
