Jack Ciattarelli arrived late for Wednesday night’s Tony Bucco lobsterfest in Mount Arlington, but that could have been because he was following the day’s political news closely.

A few hours before the event, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office endorsed the findings of Hudson County prosecutors in the Katie Brennan alleged rape case. Like Hudson, Middlesex said it would not prosecute Al Alvarez, who Brennan said sexually assaulted her in April of 2017.

There are continuing questions about what happened here, and a special Legislative Committee is looking into them. The next hearing is set for Friday.

But there is also the political component. A number of officials in Gov. Phil Murphy administration have testified that they never told the governor about the rape allegation. Additionally, no one has said why Alvarez was given a top state job with the Schools Development Authority. Or even who actually hired him.

Ciattarelli said that at first, it was possible to chalk up the administration’s missteps to “rookie mistakes,” But as time goes on, “this seems like incompetence,” he said.

This is all relevant, because Ciattarelli is an early, announced GOP candidate for governor in 2021. He also ran in 2017, but lost in the Republican primary to Kim Guadagno, who went on to lose to Murphy.
As Ciattarelli’s comments indicate, this issue is doing the governor and his administration no good. Sure, it could be forgotten about in two years, but it also could get worse in the months ahead.

It makes you wonder. Why doesn’t the administration just explain exactly who hired Alvarez and why? How hard can that really be?

As for Ciattarelli,  he said he’s all in for the 2021 gubernatorial race, noting that he had a “good time” running in 2017, his loss notwithstanding.