On rape scandal, Team Murphy cannot investigate itself – By Tom Moran (starledger.com) / Oct 16 2018
Gov. Phil Murphy concedes, at least, that he and his people terribly mishandled the complaint from Katie Brennan, a young woman who charges that a senior official in the administration who stepped down on Oct. 2 tried to rape her during the campaign. That admission is a start.
But it’s tough to have much confidence in the governor’s own investigation, at least for anyone who lived through Gov. Chris Christie’s expensive whitewash of his own sordid behavior during the Bridgegate investigation. Randy Mastro, the attorney who handled that case, will forever be remembered in New Jersey as the most expensive shill of all time. That left a scar.
Gov. Phil Murphy claims he knew nothing about the sexual assault allegations against one ofhis campaign staffers until press reports surfaced in early October. But is that because he willfully looked the other way? (Seth Wenig | Associated Press)
So, it comes as a relief that the state Legislature will conduct its own bipartisan investigation in this scandal, and that the panel will include several female legislators, with members drawn from both the Senate and Assembly. This is almost certain to be a more credible effort than the spectacle we just witnessed during the Kavanaugh hearings in Washington, admittedly a low bar.
It’s important for all parties to start with an open mind when wrestling with the core questions this case raises, and to avoid allowing this to become a farce, or a proxy for other political fights.
First, are the claims of sexual assault credible, and why did the Hudson County prosecutor’s office decide against pressing charges against Albert Alvarez? After the alleged assault, Brennan says she called her husband and her best friend, submitted to an intrusive rape examination at a local hospital, and notified prosecutors that she wanted to press charges, according to an account published in the Wall Street Journal. Yet prosecutors decided the evidence was not strong enough to even present to a jury.
Legislators need to question Esther Suarez, the top prosecutor in Hudson County, who has personal relationships with both Brennan and Alvarez. A key question is whether the handling of this case was contaminated by those personal relationships. If that’s found to be true – a big “if” at this stage — then the next step would be to consider impeachment of Suarez.
Next, the Legislature needs to examine Murphy’s failure to act on Brennan’s accusation.
The governor claims he knew nothing about this until press reports surfaced in October. But is that because he willfully looked the other way after receiving an email in June from Brennan asking to discuss “sensitive” matters? And if Murphy’s staff kept him in the dark for several months after they learned of Brennan’s charges, and after Alvarez was hired for a plum job paying $140,000, then the question is why?
Brennan volunteered to work on the Murphy campaign in the summer of 2017, several months after the alleged assault in April. She had previously sent a letter to Alvarez warning him not to ever contact her again.
After Murphy won the election in November, but before he took office, Brennan told a friend on the transition team about the alleged assault, and her friend told senior members of Murphy’s team. A spokesman for Murphy said a criminal background check was conducted at that point, and after it came back clean, Alvarez was hired as chief of staff of the Schools Development Authority. Brennan was hired in February at a different agency.
For reasons that remain mysterious, Matt Platkin, the governor’s chief counsel, told Alvarez’s supervisor in April to inform Alvarez that he should begin looking for a new job. So, what happened to turn the administration sour on Alvarez? And why would Platkin keep all this from the governor?
Stonewalled for too long, Brennan went public. And here we are.
All this has a horrible stink on it, top to bottom. Our hope is the Legislature uses subpoena power to call every key player to appear, including the governor, and to ensure that if any witnesses lie, they would risk criminal charges.
Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, is a political rival of the governor. But it’s baseless to say that’s his motive for convening this investigative committee. He may be enjoying the moment, but this investigation is unavoidable, and that is underscored by the fact that Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, agrees that an investigation is needed.
The governor’s investigation will be conducted by Peter Verniero, a former justice of the Supreme Court, and a partner at Sills Cummis & Gross, a top firm with deep political ties. He could make a valuable contribution as well. But it isn’t any more independent than the Mastro fiasco, and that underscores the importance of the coming Legislative investigation.
