Report: COVID-19 Made Murphy 'Most Powerful Governor In America'

NEW JERSEY - Governor Phil Murphy has consolidated executive power to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Garden State and six months later has become one of the most popular governors in New Jersey history, according to Politico.

Lawmakers spoke to Politico about how Murphy has amassed power during the state of emergency by denying or delaying public information act requests, bypassing the Legislature, closing businesses, suspending evictions and foreclosures and ticketing and fining those.

They also said, however, that those powers are not infinite. “We shut the government down to get control on this. Clearly, the administration has a good handle on this now, and we need to go back to how we were governing prior,” state Senate President Steve Sweeney said in the report. “You don’t stay in a state of emergency forever.”

You can read the full report on Politico's website.

Murphy has taken unprecedented steps to shut down the state's economy while also taking a cautious approach toward reopening schools. The governor has said he's done it in the interest of "saving lives," but others have criticized him and called him "King Murphy" for presumably taking steps without consulting lawmakers.

Indeed, Murphy has a three-stage plan for reopening New Jersey that has been alternately praised for prioritizing health, but also criticized because the governor appears to make changes to his strategy on a whim. Read more: Gov. Murphy: NJ 'Well Into' Stage 3 Of Coronavirus Reopening

Murphy's handling of restaurants, in particular, drew fire after he planned to reopen indoor dining in early July only to reverse his decision at nearly the last minute.

Indoor dining did reopen last week, but lawmakers say the decision came way too late, and many restaurants are suffering from the economic impact of Murphy's orders.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading, or by visiting the Google Play store.