Full name: Christopher Scott Murphy
Born: August 3, 1973
Residency: Born in New York, Lives in Connecticut
Current Position: US Senate, Connecticut’s 16th District (since 2004)
Background: Murphy graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has had a relatively lengthy political career both as campaign manager for other politicians and holding elected office beginning in 1997 when he won a seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission in Southington. He also held a seat in the House of Representatives before moving into the Senate.
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Why People are Listening to Him:
- Because the Murphy Bills are now seen as decidedly ‘bipartisan’ and with one Republican Murphy and one Democrat Murphy, the general public is associating the ‘bipartisanship’ with fairness, collaboration and positive direction overall
- Murphy has a relatively long political career during which he has taken many strong and well-respected (by many) stances on social issues such as same-sex marriage
- At least compared to Tim Murphy, his political career seems relatively low on scandal and corruption and (also unlike Tim Murphy) his top 5 donors are include neither the healthcare nor the pharmaceutical industries
Why People May Want to Think Twice About Listening to Him:
- In spite of his claims of having talked to ‘many people’ around his state about this issue, he is fairly ill-informed about about the topics in this bill
- Although Chris Murphy does not have the same questionable pharmaceutical/healthcare connections, he is essentially copying (sometimes just about word-for-word) the Bill of someone who is so influenced (which makes him influenced by association!)
- Living in Connecticut admist the aftermath of Sandy Hook, he is under an incredible amount of pressure to do something that ‘looks’ good (even if it’s not terribly well thought out or even harmful if one looks below the surface)
For more about Chris Murphy, see his Wikipedia entry here.
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