Star-Ledger editorial page editor Tom Moran attempted to influence how Monmouth County Democratic leaders will vote in a contest to award the organization line by asking loaded questions, several party insiders alleged after a forum for U.S. Senate candidates on Saturday.
County committee members, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, told the New Jersey Globe that they got the impression that Moran was seeking to convince them to vote against Tammy Murphy based on the questions he was asking.
“This Moran guy comes up to me and asking me questions that sounded like anti-Tammy talking points,” a county committee member said. “I felt like he was trying to convince me to vote against her. He definitely wasn’t interviewing me.”
Another Democratic committeeperson said Moran “got in my face about Tammy.”
“He’s asking me if I wanted a Republican as my senator,” the Democrat said. “He told me she supported Bush for president.”
While others acknowledged that Moran identified himself as a journalist, one insisted he did not.
“He walked up to me and said, ‘Tammy Murphy used to be a Republican,” the county committee member said. “When I told him I did know, he came back at me with, ‘Don’t you know she gave money to George W. Bush? It felt like he was campaigning, you know, whipping votes.”
Moran denied that.
“Campaigning? I was reporting,” he said in an email.
But today’s Star-Ledger included no news story about Saturday’s Monmouth Democratic candidate forum.
Moran spent most of his time at the forum seated in the center section of the back on his laptop as candidates Murphy and Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) fielded questions separately.
On social media, Moran posted: “Tammy Murphy finished, unlike Kim, got tepid applause and no standing O… uninspiring.”
Another observer, Patrick Murray, the Monmouth University Polling Institute director, disagreed with Moran’s take.
“I may not be as observant as a columnist, but I would characterize her reception as warm and polite. Certainly not enthusiastic like it clearly was for Kim, but hardly tepid,” said Murray in response to Moran’s post. “(Patricia) Campos-Medina also won over some folks (but you left). Could be an interesting Monmouth convention.”
At one point, Moran was heard speaking with Monmouth University students in an apparent attempt to sway them.
“Did you know she donated to George W. Bush,” he was overheard asking.
“It was creepy, actually,” a Democratic insider said.