Phil Murphy has been the governor of New Jersey for over a year now, and still he doesn't enjoy the name recognition that usually comes with such a high post. That may be about to change, and not in a good way. Ignoring centuries of empirical evidence that the cover up is worse than the crime-although not in this case- Murphy is insisting on enforcing gag orders on former campaign workers who made complaints of sexual and workplace abuse. A disturbing pattern of abusive behavior in the Murphy campaign has been emerging over the past several months and the governor's efforts to keep it quiet aren't helping matters.

There have been a number of accusations made against campaign staffers. From the horrifying- like rape- to the boorish- like flinging a chair across the room- that need to be investigated and discussed in an open and transparent way. That can't and won't happen until Murphy frees the victims from their non-disclosure agreements and allows them to speak freely about what happened. If Gov. Murphy wants to maintain his "good guy Phil" persona then it's time to let the women who worked to get him elected tell their stories.

I have no idea what the governor is hiding but I'd bet it has something to do with how the women who made these accusations were silenced while the men accused were promoted and named to prime jobs within his administration. I know Governor Murphy is new to politics, but promoting sexual abusers and silencing their victims is a bad look. He should get one of those important staffers to explain optics to him.