Gov. Phil Murphy’s performance in dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak — keeping New Jerseyans up to date and informed while taking decisive action to halt the spread of the virus — has been impressive.

Until now.

The participation of Congressman Tom Malinowski in Monday’s briefing was a mistake and exposed the governor to justifiable partisan backlash.

Malinowski is seeking a second term in one of the few competitive Congressional districts in the state and, whether he asked to be included in the briefing or was invited by the governor’s office, is irrelevant.

It was a campaign stop where the appearance mattered and the words did not.  Its sole purpose was to portray the Congressman as a principal player in the effort to overcome the most serious public health crisis in a century.

After taking a few obligatory shots at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Malinowski added nothing of substance to the discussion.

The optics (the currently in vogue term to describe the impact on public perception) were unfavorable.  The politics even more so.

Malinowski is locked in a close contest with State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-
Union), the Republican with whom Murphy will have to deal for the rest of the year in what will be a monumental effort to construct a new state budget and to assist in restoring some semblance of economic stability once the virus is brought under control and the statewide lockdown is lifted.

Awarding Malinowski a seat at the briefing table and 15 minutes of free commercial time was a glaring political misstep.

Not surprisingly, Republicans pounced instantly, accusing the governor of politicizing the state’s response to the pandemic.  It was a gift to Republicans, many of whom were growing frustrated and reflected the restiveness of increasing numbers of people over what they felt was an overreaction and a stubborn unwillingness to ease restrictions.

Republicans seized on the political overtones of Malinowski’s participation to voice their broader displeasure with issues like closing state and county parks and causing irreparable damage to small businesses struggling to stay above water.

It provided an opportunity as well for critics to voice their disappointment with Murphy’s plan for guiding the state to recovery as vague and lacking in  detail.

But more than that, it cut the ground from beneath what had emerged as Murphy’s greatest strength — a commitment to protecting the state from the deadly contagion without any whiff of using the crisis for partisan advantage.

Since the outset of his daily briefings more than a month ago, Murphy has been the epitome of candor and openness in relaying to worried New Jerseyans the perils involved and what would be required to overcome them.

It was, in fact, these qualities that convinced a notoriously cranky and often contrary people to accept his stay at home orders, closing schools and businesses, and generally upending normal life.

He spoke well of his dealings with President Trump and his Administration, expressing gratitude for their responsiveness and largely avoiding the kind of slashing criticism leveled almost daily by the Democratic Congressional leadership.

On those occasions when he did, he was more than justified, slapping back at McConnell for suggesting states like New Jersey facing fiscal disaster should consider declaring bankruptcy, or expressing his disbelief that Trump would muse aloud about the potential benefits of injecting or ingesting household disinfectant to kill the virus.

Inviting or agreeing to permit Malinowski to share the stage with Health Department Commissioner Judy Persichilli and State Police Superintendent Col. Pat Callahan was yet another political stumble by the Administration.

Its landscape is littered with politically questionable and often baffling decisions and actions; e.g. failing badly to deal with allegations of sexual assault and a toxic work environment or the patronage scandal at the Schools Development Authority.

It is an Administration more comfortable immersed in policy but considerably less sure-footed in operating effectively in a political environment.

In giving Malinowski a role in the briefing, either its impact on Kean was overlooked or was not considered sufficiently serious to be concerned about.   It was an unforced error, a thoroughly needless and pointless act whose consequences should have been easily foreseen.

It was evidence yet again that dealing with the political crosscurrents that wash constantly over a governor’s office is not the Administration’s strong point.

The episode certainly did not escape Kean’s attention and in the next few months when Murphy embarks on an effort to convince the Legislature of his plan to re-open the state, the Senate Minority Leader will gently — or not so gently — remind the governor of Malinowski’s 15 minutes of fame.

Carl Golden is a senior contributing analyst with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.