TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The wealthy Democratic front-runner in the race for New Jersey governor is reporting on mandatory disclosure forms that he has income from investments in hundreds of companies and owns residences in Berlin, Germany and Terni, Italy.
Former Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy, 59, told The Associated Press he and his wife will put their investments in a blind trust if he is elected later this year to succeed two-term Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
Murphy made his forms available Friday. The state will publish the disclosure forms of all six Democratic candidates and five Republican candidates Monday. The primary is June 6.
Murphy reported dividend income from nearly 300 companies and earnings from more than 200 other firms.
Candidates must report sources of income but not the amount of their assets.
Murphy, who is loaning his campaign $10 million, previously disclosed he earned just over $7 million in 2015.
He was U.S. ambassador to Germany for about four years of the Obama administration and has broad support from Democratic Party leaders and influential interest groups.
But he is casting himself as an outsider, having never been elected to political office. Assemblyman John Wisniewski, one of his rivals for the Democratic nomination, has been in office for two decades. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who is running on the Republican side, has served with Christie since 2010.
“After years of insiders gaming the system in Trenton to their own benefit, New Jerseyans deserve to know that they will have a governor whose sole priority is to have their back,” he said Friday.
Republicans have sought to portray him as another candidate in the mold of former Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, also a Goldman Sachs alumnus, who had a tumultuous four years in office before being ousted by Christie.
The Election Law Enforcement Commission requires personal financial disclosure documents to be made public but doesn’t call for great detail.
Murphy’s disclosure shows he reported dividends from companies including Apple, Intel and Public Service Enterprise Group, which runs the state’s biggest electric and gas utility, but not how much he earned. The commission form requires income sources that exceed $100 to be listed when all of them combined are more than $1,000.
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