NJ shutdown: Al Gore, Democratic stars ride to rescue Phil Murphy in Trenton budget battle

Charles Stile | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Charlie Stile asks about celebrity pressure on budget impasse. Charlie Stile asks about celebrity pressure on budget impasse.

Al Gore took a break from trying to save the planet Thursday to help rescue Gov. Phil Murphy in his budget battle in Trenton.

The two-term vice president pumped some of his political capital into a 42-word tweet, urging Murphy's Democratic Party foes -- such as Senate President Stephen Sweeney -- to stand behind Murphy's proposed tax hike on millionaires.

"Under the strong leadership of @GovMurphy, New Jersey is primed to become one of America's biggest turnaround stories,'' the Nobel Laureate said.

Murphy said he didn't ask the former vice president to help but was "thrilled" to learn of it. "He's a close friend of mine,'' Murphy said of Gore, who stumped for him in Monmouth County during the governor's race last fall. "I'm happy to hear it. I'm a big fan of his,"

Under the strong leadership of @GovMurphy, New Jersey is primed to become one of America's biggest turnaround stories. All of NJ's elected officials must stand with him & finally deliver on the promises they’ve made, including asking millionaires to pay their fair share. — Al Gore (@algore) June 28, 2018

Gore is among an A-list of Democratic Party luminaries, the big thinkers who raise big money, who are coming to Murphy's aid in his first real moment of political peril.

Murphy networked and befriended them in the mid-2000s as he transitioned from Goldman Sachs into a top Democratic Party fundraiser. Murphy served as the national finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee when former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean ran the party.

Dean also joined the Murphy lobbying effort. He penned an op-ed for NJ.com on Monday extolling the virtues of Murphy's plans and urging readers to press holdout lawmakers to "pass Murphy's budget package and stop New Jersey's decline now."

Terry McAuliffe, the former Virginia governor and close ally of the Clintons, also pushed out one of Murphy's talking points on Twitter.

"Asking millionaires to pay a little more to protect schools & grow the middle class is just smart policy. Protecting values Trump puts at risk,'' McAuliffe wrote.

And at least one progressive celebrity is also jumping into the rescue mission. Chelsea Handler, the Livingston-born comedian and best-selling author of "My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands," also expressed her incredulity that Democratic lawmakers in Trenton are blocking his millionaires tax.

"What am I missing?" she wrote in a tweet and then urged readers to call a hotline that patched them directly to their local legislator's office.

Wait. #Progressive NJ @GovMurphy protected @PPACtionNJ, voting rights, toughened gun laws, sued Trump over Dreamers & immigrant kids. But now Dems are blocking him on a millionaires tax to fund public schools? What am I missing? Call 609-400-4763 to get your legislator on board. — Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) June 28, 2018

Murphy appears to be hoping that a tweet-storm from the Democratic Party elite will somehow sway the very local Democrats in the Legislature who have forced this standoff with Murphy. It's a long shot at best.

Sure, Gore and Dean and a raunchy late-night star might stoke the enthusiasm with the party activists who have been flanking Murphy at news conferences over the past two weeks.

They are heroes of the left. But this budget fight is being fought in the party's political center, Senate President Stephen Sweeney's turf. And it's where Sweeney has dug in his heels. He is adamantly opposed to the millionaires tax and has countered with a slew of other revenue raisers that Murphy has largely dismissed. The logjam continues, and if a deal isn't reached by midnight Saturday, the government could be shut down for the second year in a row.

MORE: Phil Murphy squandered a chance to sell his tax increases and budget plans

Sweeney, the ex-iron worker and bouncer, is not likely to be easily moved by the moral authority of an Al Gore tweet. Sweeney could barely conceal his sarcasm when asked about the Gore tweet Thursday night after leaving a negotiating huddle with Murphy and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.

"I'm honored that Al Gore knows who I am now,'' Sweeney said. But when told that the Gore tweet didn't mention him by name, Sweeney replied, "Oh, then I don't care."

This budget fight isn't about policy and moral authority,

It's an under-the-dome power struggle over who gets to dominate the course of New Jersey's Democratic Party over the next four to eight years. It's about dispensing patronage, steering contracts, shaping the contours of future budgets. This is not the place for a TED Talks symposium featuring Gore. This is no place for outsiders.

In this battle, Murphy needs to line up names like Sen. Joe Cryan, D-Union, Sen. Nick Sacco, D-North Bergen or Sen. Brian Stack, D-Union City, grizzled Democratic Party legislators who know how to broker deals and steer the spoils back to their home district fiefs.

No one has any idea who these legislators are beyond their home turf, but these are names of utmost importance to Murphy in the next few days.

"Chris Christie is no longer governor, but his legacy lives on in terms of the horse trading and the gimmicks and the Band-aids," Murphy complained Thursday at a news conference. "I didn't come here for that. And I'm not being holier than thou, by the way. I understand this is politics and you have to find common ground. And that's cool. I get that. But the 9 million folks who are out there watching, scratching their head, deserve better than what they've gotten."

Those 9 million happen to be New Jersey residents. And Al Gore isn't one of them.