Murphy won’t say why he fired a top COVID-19 advisor (Opinion)

It’s all about transparency. Gov. Phil Murphy has often cited the need for transparency in many issues he’s dealt with as governor and claimed to provide such to all of us. But unfortunately we can’t get any “crisp” answers from Murphy about why he let a top coronavirus advisor go last Thursday.

Christopher Neuwirth was fired as assistant health commissioner last week, according to an article on newjerseyglobe.com.

Neuwirth, who according to the article believes that he was “scapegoated,” was important enough to have been featured — at least in the beginning — at Murphy's daily coronavirus presser. So one could assume that he made decisions that could have affected the COVID-19 curve and its direction.

Because of the nature of his job, Neuwirth was obviously involved in life-and- death issues, so it stands to reason so one of the obvious questions asked of the governor was why he fired Neuwirth. For instance, the piece raises the question: Could the firing in any way have to do with a mishandling of a life-and-death issue? Could anything Neuwirth might have done that precipitated his firing endanger the lives of New Jersey residents? Don’t we have the right to know why someone in such an important position during a pandemic was let go?

Murphy’s answer? “I hate to disappoint you; we don’t comment on personnel matters.”

So there you go. We’ll never know if Murphy would have accepted such an answer as Joe Ordinary Citizen. But we’ll have to.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.

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