"They let the lawyers stay!" Murphy quipped as he descended an escalator.
Murphy and Bush can't talk much these days — not about strategy, at least, because the former runs Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting Bush's campaign for president. Federal election law bars a campaign from coordinating its paid media strategy with a super PAC.
But the rules leave plenty of leeway for the two sides to work in close proximity — including having a candidate appear as a featured guest at a gathering of super PAC donors. The ballroom crowd erupted in applause shortly after Bush made his way into the room.
"A candidate is allowed to be a special guest at events, and that's what he did," said a Right to Rise official, explaining the legal elements.
Super PACs, unlike campaigns, can collect unlimited donations from individuals and corporations. In 2011, the Federal Election Commission said candidates could attend super PAC events, as long as they do not solicit more than $5,000 from each donor.
"He didn't ask for money," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a private gathering.
In a recent interview with Sasha Issenberg of Bloomberg Politics, Murphy explained how the super PAC manages to make its donors feel connected to the candidate, noting that he cannot tell an anxious backer, “Hold for Jeb,” and connect him or her directly to Bush.
“Sometimes we'll do a briefing and then we all leave the room and he can go talk a little bit about what's going on in the campaign, but that's all,” he said. “There are a lot of lawyers around to make sure it's all done properly. We're so lawyered up I feel like a Clinton.”
The Bush super PAC event took place on the same floor where his campaign was holding its own events later Sunday and Monday. Outside the room, the campaign was selling merchandise, including vests, buttons and "western wear." Fifteen dollars would get you a trucker hat.
Of course, the side-by-side events didn't happen by coincidence. It's all part of a carefully choreographed effort to stretch the limits of campaign finance laws to maximize fundraising.
"The Federal Election Commission said you are allowed to talk to schedulers," the official said when asked how the PAC arranged to have Bush on hand.
Advocates of campaign finance reform have raised concerns about the closeness in these kinds of gatherings.
"The concept that there is independence between the super PAC and the campaign is nonsense," said Larry Noble, senior counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, an organization that wants to tighten restrictions.
With anxiety about the intersection of money and politics playing a role in the 2016 campaign, candidates and super PACs are being extra careful. It turns out that, technically, Murphy didn't even have to leave, the official noted.
But that person acknowledged: "There's an optics issue there."
Matea Gold contributed to this post