New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy — who was overseas for a wedding as a powerful nor’easter made its way up the coast to his home state — faced a barrage of criticism for his latest globe-trotting jaunt as his reps remained tight-lipped about whether he planned on cutting his trip short.
Saturday’s state of emergency declaration was made by Lt. Gov Tahesha Way — currently serving as acting governor of the Garden State — while Murphy and his wife, Tammy, were already long gone.
Spokesman Tyler Jones told The Post the state’s first couple were at a friend’s wedding in Europe and not coming home until Tuesday.
Jones declined to elaborate where in Europe the Murphys were traveling, nor whose wedding they were attending. The outgoing term-limited Democrat is known to have a villa in Italy where he takes frequent excursions with his family.
Murphy’s office didn’t return a request for comment Monday.
No public announcement was made prior to Murphy being out of town, although the governor’s office did send out his public schedule to a large number of reporters before the trip.
On Monday, Murphy’s post on X acknowledging Indigenous People’s Day — the woke left’s thumb-in-the-eye answer to Columbus Day — was met with a torrent of jabs over his frequent-flyer ways.
“Today, let us also honor New Jersey’s Indigenous communities – from the Ramapough-Munsee Lenape Nation in Ramapo to the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation in Bridgeton. #IndigenousPeoplesDay,” Murphy wrote.
“You’ve been MIA for days and then decide to show up and post this s–t?” one commenter said in response. “It’s Columbus Day.”
“Are you honoring them while in NJ? You seem to disappear a lot,” said another.
“Columbus Day! And are you doing this tweet from Europe?” a third snarked.
This week’s sojourn wasn’t the first time Murphy’s travel plans drew condemnation.
In Sept. 2023, Way, who serves as New Jersey’s secretary of state, was sworn in as lieutenant governor after the death of her predecessor, Sheila Oliver, who was serving as acting governor at the time because Murphy was out of the country on yet another vacation.
In December 2021, Murphy caught significant heat for traipsing off to Costa Rica as New Jersey was setting new records for COVID-19 infections during that winter’s surge of the Delta variant.
The Murphys had previously visited the country in 2019, then again in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
