Phil and Tammy Murphy founded and funded 2nd Floor, a confidential and anonymous helpline for kids and young adults in New Jersey — an organization that appears to have made a significant impact on peoples lives. That’s why it was surprising to learn from Matt Friedman in Politico Playbook this morning that Busta Rhymes, a rapper with a “history of assault charges” will perform at Murphy’s inaugural concert Sunday at Middlesex County College.
This isn’t very consistent with the type of candidate Murphy tried to be.
Since this website is particularly lenient when t comes to second chances and a strong belief in the opportunity for redemption, there is a level of violence to Rhymes’ legal history that remains startling.
Politically, this isn’t the smartest move to open an administration. Middlesex County has built their recent successes – they delivered Murphy a 30,000-vote plurality after Chris Christie carried the county twice – by figuring out how to appeal to middle class families that had been rapidly losing. This isn’t the right county to bring in a controversial rapper whose hit singles include “I Love My Bitch.”
Some reporter is going to ask Murphy to explain this, and the new Governor can go in a few different directions on this. Hopefully Murphy say something like: “You want an inaugural concert, run for Governor.”