CLINTON, N.J. – On behalf of shuttered businesses, unemployed workers, and the families of New Jersey, Hunterdon County Republican Assemblyman Erik Peterson announced he is filing a lawsuit against Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration. The lawsuit challenges Murphy for refusing to provide the public health information that is being used as the basis for his executive orders.
Peterson released this statement:
“As a state legislator and member of the Assembly Health Committee I have made repeated requests for the information which he publicly claimed he was using to issue his arbitrary and authoritarian edicts. I was forced to file a lawsuit because the Murphy administration is hiding public health information from the state Legislature and the general public.
“The governor is not above the law and the law requires him and his administration to provide information to the requesting public even when that information may be embarrassing or lead to questions of legality of the decisions made. Phil Murphy is wielding an enormous amount of power over the lives of every New Jerseyan, which requires that he be transparent and honest of how and why he is issuing his vast edicts which intrude upon our constitutional rights.”
“My message to the governor is simple, ‘Phil, come clean and voluntarily release all the information which you have based on your decisions over the last year so that people can decide for themselves whether the decisions were right and just under the circumstances otherwise I will continue to bring legal action after legal action to force you to understand that the people are ultimately in charge not you.’
“Now a judge will hear my case and I am confident that the court will order Phil Murphy to hand over the information I have requested. I am also confident that the information I receive will uncover the political manipulation of the pandemic and the edicts issued based thereon.”