Noting Covid-19 case increases in states that have rushed to reopen while failing to put a premium on public health, Governor Phil Murphy jumped feet first on the back of the Asbury Park City Council at his afternoon War Memorial briefing.

Texas, Georgia and Florida are seeing increases in hospitlizations and patients going on ventilators, he noted, even as Asbury Park similarly rushed to swing wide the doors, by Murphy’s reckoning. In defiance of the governor, the local governing body of the seaside cultural mecca last night voted to allow indoor dining starting on June 15th.

“We have lived this already, folks,” a frustrated Murphy said. “We’ve gone through hell, please, let’s not go back through it.

“My job is not to worry about the next headline or frankly the next election,” the governor added.

He wants to protect the public, he insisted.

“It’s about keeping that rate of infection down; it’s about saving every single life that we can save together.

“The actions of the Asbury Park governing body – a great community in this state – bless their hearts, are inconsistent with my executive order,” Murphy added. “We cannot have one set of rules for one town, and another set of rules for another town. We move as one state guided by science, period.”

From WHYY:

On June 3, Gov. Phil Murphy signed Executive Order 150, which allows outdoor dining on June 15, subject to health and safety protocols. Restaurants are currently only allowed to offer delivery and take-out service.

But the governor was not the only one identifying inconsistency this week as New Jersey attempts to hold together amid volatile social forces and an ongoing pandemic.

Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) criticized Murphy for participating in weekend Black Lives Matter events in violation of his own executive order prohibiting mass gatherings. The governor subsequently reversed his stay at home order and altered his orders to update allowable numbers of individuals seeking to publicly gather.

NJ.com’s Brent Johnson asked Murphy if cops will crack down on Asbury Park eateries that reopen for indoor dining in defiance of his exeutive order.

“We’ve been engaging actively with the governing body,” he said.

Also, the governor noted:

“We’re not going to have police officers at the doors of temples, churches or mosques over the weekend; this is going to be overwhelingly self-regulated.”