refused to adhere<\/a> to the vax-or-test requirement, blowing through security without showing proof that they\u2019d been vaccinated or received a negative Covid-19 test. The rules, enacted by the State Capitol Joint Management Commission, apply to everyone entering the Statehouse, including lawmakers.<\/p>\nThe situation caused a stalemate, with Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) refusing to start the Assembly\u2019s voting session for nearly two hours as Republicans waited in the chamber for their Democratic colleagues \u2014 a situation that left many confused. There were no incidents in the Senate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big story from last week is not about security,\u201d Murphy said during his regular Covid-19 briefing, jumping in for a question directed at State Police Superintendent Pat Callahan on why troopers did not enforce the requirement. \u201cIt’s about the idiocy of these ring leaders who were putting their fellow members’ health and the families of those fellow members at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy, known for his imperturbable and at times avuncular demeanor, continued to gradually raise his voice while opining on last week\u2019s drama.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about freedom or civil rights,\u201d he said during the briefing, which was conducted virtually. \u201cIt’s about [Republican Assemblymembers] willingness to volitionally run the risk of infecting innocent, law abiding folks who have done the right thing during this pandemic. It is outrageous. absolutely outrageous, incredibly irresponsible. Unforgivable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Assembly is conducting its committee meetings remotely because of last week\u2019s incident. Murphy on Wednesday declined to answer repeated questions about future voting sessions or why the State Police did not enforce the rule \u2014 even when several questions from reporters were directed toward Callahan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity is… not something that we discuss as a general matter,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cAnd that includes in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his one statement on the matter during the briefing, Callahan said \u201cwe take that security of that Statehouse complex extremely seriously and will certainly continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debacle had put State Police in the crosshairs of the spat between Democrats and Republicans, the latter of whom argue the vax-or-test requirement is a violation of their rights under the state Constitution.<\/p>\n
Coughlin took the unusual step last week of criticizing the State Police, albeit not by name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a colossal failure of security here at the Statehouse,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is something we cannot tolerate.\u201c<\/p>\n
Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: Politics Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday lashed out against GOP lawmakers who refused to adhere to the Statehouse\u2019s vaccine-or-test requirement last week, though he stopped short of explaining why… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":29211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29210"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}