NJ Spotlight: Sweeney Seizes the Mic, Holds His Own Town Halls, But Where’s Murphy?

Hitting the town-hall circuit to pitch the latest big policy initiative is a time-honored tradition in New Jersey, and in recent years governors from both parties have crisscrossed the state to drum up support for everything from property-tax reform to privatizing state highways.

But this year, it’s Senate President Steve Sweeney, the veteran Democratic lawmaker from South Jersey, who’s making the rounds, as Gov. Phil Murphy has so far been reluctant to use the town-hall format as a way to sell his priorities to New Jersey residents.

Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has been whirling around the state to generate support for a series of ambitious fiscal-policy changes that he believes are crucial to fixing New Jersey’s longstanding budget problems, including the troubled public-worker pension system.

“Let’s fix this before it’s too late,” Sweeney said earlier this month during a town hall that drew a big crowd at Rowan University in Glassboro.

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