It’s good to be in New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s inner circle, even if you’re accused of sexism and “toxic” behavior by multiple women. Despite ongoing allegations of troubling behavior while managing Murphy’s 2017 campaign, recently-filed finance reports reveal that longtime Murphy aide Brendan Gill scored a lucrative $10,000 a month consulting contract from the Democratic Governors Association shortly after Murphy took over as the group’s chairman.
NJ Advance Media recently reported:
Two advisers to Gov. Phil Murphy — including one of his closest confidants — are drawing paychecks from the Democratic Governors Association that he chairs, according to newly released Internal Revenue Service disclosures. Brendan Gill, Murphy’s 2017 campaign manager, and the firm of Rafi Jafri, an adviser to the state Democratic Party and finance chair for the governor’s 2018 inaugural, both received $10,000 a month as consultants from January to March.
As Murphy’s campaign manager, Gill oversaw a “toxic workplace” that was the subject of complaints from multiple women, including veteran Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky, who accused Gill of using “the C-word” to refer to her and Murphy of doing “nothing.”
The Star-Ledger reported in January:
It came on June 23, she says, during a shouting match with Brendan Gill, the campaign manager. “Gill used explicit, misogynistic language to refer to me that would have automatically gotten him fired from any other organization,” she says. What misogynistic language? It was the C-word. She told Murphy about it, she says. And he did nothing.
Gill and Murphy have been accused of turning a blind eye to more than just misogynistic language. There were allegations from multiple women, including one of sexual assault by another campaign aide. The Bergen Record reported in February:
Those claims include an allegation of sexual assault by a top aide on a woman after a gathering of campaign staff, a deputy chief throwing a chair in the presence of a woman and, according to a lawsuit, the silencing of women who claim to know details of a “hostile and toxic” workplace.
Despite extensive media reports, multiple investigations, and complaints by at least four women, it’s clear that Murphy is keeping Gill close as he approaches his 2021 reelection campaign.
“Widespread allegations of sexism and toxic behavior get most people fired, but in Phil Murphy’s world it gets them a promotion. Instead of denouncing Brendan Gill’s sexist behavior, Governor Murphy rewarded him with tens of thousands of dollars in consulting contracts,” said RGA Communications Director Amelia Chassé Alcivar. “This is just the latest episode in Governor Murphy’s troubling pattern of standing by his men and ignoring or even discrediting women alleging harassment on his watch.”
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