Gov. Murphy’s Top 5 worst hires (Opinion)

For a businessman turned governor, you'd think Phil Murphy would be better at hiring. So far he has an awful track record of hiring people who are unqualified or outright corrupt. Looking back over his first 19 months, these are some of Phil Murphy's worst hires.

5. Jeffrey Dye

His most recent awful hire to make headlines just this week, Jeffrey Dye is head of the Passaic chapter of the NAACP. He was given a $56,000 a year gig at the Department of Labor & Workforce Development. Not anymore. The administration had to cut ties because this racist slob had so many anti-Semetic posts on social media. Some in which he was his mouthing off about Jews controlling media and Jews pitting blacks against blacks. "Ya'll keep thinking these people (Jews) are harmless against blacks." "Jews use a Willie Lynch technique to divide and conquer blacks and black and Latino people for power." "Jews At it again divide & conquering us." Just some of his prolific ranting.

4. Cary Booker

That's not a typo. Not Cory Booker, but his brother Cary Booker. Cary Booker co-founded a charter school in Tennessee and staff there described it as an absolute "clusterfxxx." Cary Booker ran the school into the ground having zero experience in early childhood education. According to state records there, the doomed school "continually failed to meet the most minimal of performance standards." The school offered its teachers no textbooks upon opening nor did it supply any curriculum. It constantly failed to make payroll. Teachers were missing paychecks then began to abandon ship. Eventually it was forced to close. Murphy hired Cary Booker at $150,000 to head up the state's division of Early Childhood Education.

3. Marcellus Jackson

Murphy made headlines with the horrible decision to hire an ex-con for a $70,000 a year position with the Department of Education. He was a former Passaic Councilman who went to federal prison for taking $26,000 in bribes. Murphy at first defended the decision, saying he hoped we see a lot more of hiring people who broke the law and giving them a second chance. Sure, but in a government role? Additionally, Marcellus Jackson also had worked for a firm that had been embroiled in a government scandal in Bermuda. Why did Murphy hire him for a vague position of Office of Civic and Social Engagement at the Department of Education? Probably because he had served as a liaison to the African American community, giving Murphy an in.

2. Lizette Delgado-Polanco

Phil Murphy appointed Lizette Delgado-Polanco to be Chief Executive Officer of the Schools Development Authority. This was presumably political payback for having helped him win the election. What did she do when she got there? She cleaned house and filled dozens of positions instead with friends and relatives with questionable qualifications. One staffer was a second cousin and had stepped down from a previous government position after sexual harassment accusations.

1. Albert Alvarez

If only for its infamy this has to be the worst of the worst. A guy who was a Murphy campaign staffer, Albert Alvarez was accused by Katie Brennan of sexual assault. Brennan went on to become chief of staff at NJ Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency and Alvarez went on to a plum job as chief of staff at NJ Schools Development Authority. All of this despite Katie Brennan coming forward to police, approaching top Murphy officials then approaching Murphy himself. Alvarez kept that job for months after the administration was made aware of the allegations and only lost it once the story was finally going public. The saddest thing in this was not a single person would admit to having hired Albert Alvarez for the position in the first place, and even Alvarez himself testified he had no idea who hired him.

More from New Kersey 101.5