Now, finally, I understand why Gov. Phil Murphy is enforcing his gag order on Julie Roginsky, who was once his senior advisor: He’s scared to death that we will hear her story about toxic behavior of men in his inner circle.
“Right now, the governor is preventing me and other women from publicly exposing men in his campaign who created what I believe is the most toxic workplace environment I have ever seen in 25 years of working on political campaigns,” Roginsky says.
This changes the discussion over gag orders. It’s no longer abstract. Roginsky has an explosive story to tell, and Murphy is blocking her from telling it.
“I think the governor will end up paying a price,” says Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, the senior woman in the Legislature, who has pressed Murphy to change course, and been met by what she calls stonewalling. “Now one of the people who was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement is giving us the reason why they are trying to gag her.”
The governor wants voters to believe he’s on the right side of the #MeToo movement, and in his big speech last week he mouthed all the right words about misogyny and sexism, and said he was “disgusted” by Trenton’s culture.
But at the same time, Murphy is enforcing his order against Roginsky and his lawyers sent her a letter in July reminding her of that. Plus, the governor is fighting in court against a motion that would free at least five other women who worked on his 2017 campaign to speak. This is hypocrisy on steroids.
For months, Murphy has been dishonest about this, saying women who worked on his campaign are free to speak about workplace conditions. And lawyers differ on the reach of these gag orders, so there is some ambiguity.
But ask yourself this: If you were a woman with a story to tell, would you step up and risk it, knowing that you might be entering a world of legal pain, that you’d have to start by hiring a lawyer, and be prepared for a court fight with a zillionaire like Murphy?
“I don’t want to spend the time in court, and I don’t think I should have to,” Roginsky says. “If the governor believes what he said in the State of the State, the onus should be on him to formally release me in writing to discuss workplace issues.”
Consider, too, that Roginsky has money and status. She’s managed several statewide political campaigns and owns her own business with commercial clients. She could spend the money and effort if she had to. She’s 46, a veteran of the game who can handle the heat she’s bound to get for making these explosive comments.
But what about the young women who worked on the campaign and don’t have those resources? What do they do when they are targeted by abusive men, and learn they might wind up being sued if they talk about it?
Katy McClure is the attorney for Katie Brennan, the Murphy campaign worker who claimed she was raped by more senior campaign worker during the campaign. Prosecutors didn’t lodge criminal charges, but Brennan has filed a civil lawsuit, which claims that a hostile work environment on the campaign contributed to the assault.
So, McClure filed a motion in July asking the governor’s campaign to free “at least” five women to speak about workplace issues, in writing. Six months have passed, and they still refuse to do so.
“With the mounting pressure on this, I have to think they have something really, really bad to hide,” McClure says. “If it was the most toxic work environment Julie has seen in 25 years, that sounds pretty bad.”
This is where the governor’s story falls apart. If the governor really believed his own claim that women are free to speak, and always should be, he could pick up the phone today and tell his lawyers to make that clear in writing.
Roginsky says she wants to reveal the reason she left the Murphy campaign, which remains as mystery. She worked for Murphy for nearly four years, so it was a shock when she left his staff in July of 2017, at the climax of the campaign.
In a statement released Saturday, the governor’s office said that Roginsky was ousted from the campaign due to professional differences and because of an unnamed conflict of interest. Roginsky said she has “extensive evidence” to describe what happened and will present if the governor releases her from her gag order.
“The ball is in his court,” she said
Roginsky says that Murphy’s people are slandering her with more specific charges behind her back. She won’t name the maligners, but says she heard back from several people who were on the receiving end of those rumors.
“There are people in the governor’s organization who have not only misrepresented but blatantly lied about the reasons for my departure,” Roginsky says. “I’d like to present my side of the story…Unlike the people who are looking to silence me, I have evidence, contemporaneous evidence, to back up my side of the story. This is not a he-said, she-said.”
“I am extraordinarily tired of men in his organization who are looking purely to protect themselves maligning me on a daily basis to the media, off the record…without the governor giving me an opportunity to rebut those incredibly defamatory and frankly sexist allegations.
“I don’t leave campaigns I’ve dedicated that kind of time to unless there’s a very good reason. And I’d like to detail that reason. I have been silenced on this matter.”
Why would Murphy fight this fight? Is he protecting the boys on his staff? Or is it even worse? Did Murphy himself know about it, and do nothing? He won’t discuss the issue.
When Katie Brennan went to the governor in June of 2018 asking for a meeting over a “sensitive matter” he blew her off. Did other women complain directly to him? Were any complaints made in writing? Does that explain his motive?
Right now, it’s impossible to know how serious the misbehavior was, or whether Roginsky is overstating the case by saying it’s the worst she’s seen.
But that’s the point. We need to know. And it’s the governor who standing in the way.
More: Tom Moran columns
Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.