In his recent column, “With my layoff looming, a final word on Gov. Phil Murphy,” Tom Moran (the Star-Ledger’s editorial page editor) asserts that Phil Murphy has been “an inconsequential governor.”
But Moran omits among Murphy’s accomplishments the implementation of legal adult-use cannabis in New Jersey.
During his eight years as the previous governor, Chris Christie did everything he could to avoid making recreational marijuana available, even though legislation legalizing it had been signed by Christie’s predecessor, Jon Corzine.
In his 2017 campaign to replace the term-limited Christie, Murphy promised to get the dispensaries open, while his Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, opposed that. Murphy’s 2021 opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, said he might slow down the rollout of the enabling regulations.
Democrat Murphy transformed hundreds of thousands of New Jersey cannabis users from criminals to law-abiding, marijuana tax-paying citizens. That probably would not have happened under a Republican governor.
Now that the state’s legal cannabis industry has matured to the point of doing $1 billion in yearly sales, it is time for Murphy to enhance his legacy by asking state Senate President Nick Scutari to advance S-1393, Sen Vin Gopal and Troy Singleton’s bill to authorize home cultivation of medical-use cannabis.
Real and beneficial reforms like this help individuals, societynd the state’s economy, and can hardly be called inconsequential.
Neil Vincent Scheck, Belmar
Coverups still haunt Catholic church
Concerning the Star-Ledger editorial, “Why is Seton Hall hiding this sex abuse report?,” which questioned why the university hired as its new president a priest who had been accused of covering up such abuse by other clergy in the Archdiocese of Newark:
As a proud and grateful alumna of Seton Hall, and also as a weekly Mass attendee, I am weary, angry and sad that sexual abuse and its coverup continue to hobble and embarrass the Catholic church.
The first two sentences of its mission statement read, “Seton Hall University is a major Catholic university. In a diverse and collaborative environment it focuses on academic and ethical development.”
Really? Those within both the archdiocese and the Seton Hall administrations should be held to a high standard of ethics and accountability: Please move beyond obfuscation, and clean up another mess of your own making.
Margaret O’Hara, West Orange
New president, new push on climate action
After inaugurating a new president, we can all come together on one issue that most of us agree on. Yes, it is climate-change concerns.
In the most recent polling from the Yale Climate Opinion survey, a large majority of us agree climate change is a concern, a larger percentage of concern than for most policy issues. Almost 75% of us agree that “Global warming is happening,” and the same percentage agree that “Global warming will harm future generations.” And, 58% say they think global warming is already harming citizens in the United States. Plus, 79% agree that “schools should teach about global warming.”
Let us encourage our elected officials to move ahead with renewable energy, along with reductions in greenhouse gases.
Mark Thompson, Bernardsville
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com
The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.
Other readers write about climate change and errant priests. Read More
