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The consequences of teetotalitarianism

Good Thursday morning!

We’ll see if the Legislature goes along with Gov. Murphy’s conditional veto of what had been an uncontroversial bill to spare breweries from draconian state regulations to include certain aspects of liquor license reform.

But really, the big news to come out of the veto Monday was what wasn’t in it: Any attempt to do away with a law that limits towns to having more than one liquor license for every 3,000 residents. That was what Murphy had called for in his State of the State speech in January. It’s a third rail of New Jersey politics because there’s a lot of money involved.

The cap on liquor licenses dates back to the post-Prohibition era, and it last changed in 1969. I have to wonder if the legislators of that time knew that by creating this scarcity, they’d be driving up the prices of liquor licenses, creating a small class of people who spent hundreds of thousands, even millions, to get them and won’t easily let them go. I suspect this is a consequence of teetotalitarianist political ideology.

This was expected to be a big fight in lame duck. Murphy supposedly wanted to leverage the brewery bill, which would spare the businesses state regulations that limited how many events they could host and barred them from working with food trucks, to accomplish real liquor license reform. The idea was simple: Liquor before beer, the breweries would be in the clear.

Now, the governor is proposing much more modest changes after sitting on the brewery bill for five months. Those include a way for towns to free up inactive “pocket” licenses, as well as creating special permits for shopping malls.

TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at [email protected].

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Robert Hedden, Taylor Kenyon, Matt Rooney, Michael Venezia

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I know everybody in this room fully understands the need to invest in green energy and move in that direction. … However, to be practical about it, 2035 is not happening.” — Senate Budget Chair Paul Sarlo on the Murphy administration’s electric car mandate.

WHERE’S MURPHY? In North Bergen at 11 a.m. for the Gateway Tunnel groundbreaking project

MALDONA’DOH! — “Independent Senate candidate left off ballot in Hudson portion of 29th District,” by New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein: “An independent candidate for State Senate in the 29th district was left off the ballot entirely in two Hudson County towns, which could impact the election results certification if state election officials determine that voters were deprived of a choice between all candidates. Pablo Olivera, a perennial candidate who has run for office fourteen times, filed to run as the Labour Party candidate. He was listed on the ballot in the Essex County portion of the district, but not in Harrison and East Newark. Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) won a landslide victory in her bid for a seventh term. … No one noticed Olivera’s name was missing until election officials conducted a still-unreleased audit in Hudson County. … Hudson County Clerk Junior Maldonado declined to comment. Ruiz said she was unaware of the issue. … In a race for Atlantic County district freeholder in 2020, a judge determined that the apparent winner, Thelma Witherspoon, could not take her seat after finding that the county clerk mailed the wrong ballots to enough voters to affect the race’s outcome. The courts refused to allow Democrats to fill the seat on an interim basis and ordered it to remain vacant until a do-over election in November 2021.”

TRAFFIC’S TOLLS — NYC congestion pricing draft shows costly commute, especially for New Jersey drivers by POLITICO’s Ry Rivard. Drivers heading into parts of Manhattan may soon face a new $15 toll, according to draft recommendations from a group tasked with crafting New York’s congestion pricing plan. The tolls, which could be in place next spring, would be a historic move for a city long plagued by traffic. The tolls are meant to discourage driving and ease traffic south of 60th Street and to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But the tolls have set off years of controversy. Similar plans have come and gone.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE — “How the Elections Transparency Act’s fundraising rules benefited NJ Democrats,” by The Record’s Charles Stile and Ashley Balcerzak: “The sweeping Elections Transparency Act was sold by Trenton’s ruling Democrats as a necessary revision of New Jersey’s outdated campaign finance system. It would beam, for the first time, the purifying light of transparency onto some of New Jersey’s dark money groups, the law’s advocates contended. Complicated “pay-to-play” laws that bedeviled contractors for years would be streamlined. And donor limits would be increased to reflect the rising costs of running elections. But the law also had another brass-tacks purpose. It provided New Jersey’s Democrats, who hold majorities in both the Assembly and the state Senate, with significant cash to steamroll their Republican rivals… the Democratic candidates and their accounts poured close to $11 million into the contests, compared with about $4 million by Republicans, records show.”

SWIFT ACTION — GOP senator looks for annual disclosure of governor’s expense account, by POLITICO’s Daniel Han: A Republican state lawmaker is looking for proactive public disclosure on how the governor’s expense account is used. State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) introduced the bill following POLITICO’s reporting that nearly $12,000 was spent from Gov. Phil Murphy’s taxpayer funded expense account at MetLife Stadium events, including at a Taylor Swift concert, during his first term. “It’s perfectly reasonable for us to want transparency on how every dollar is spent,” O’Scanlon, the Senate budget officer, said in an interview. “By having that disclosure it’ll help keep everybody honest.” … The proposal is expected to be similar to one Democrats introduced in 2015, after it was reported that former Gov. Chris Christie used his expense account for around $82,000 on food and drink at MetLife Stadium, costs the state Republican Party reimbursed the state for.

— “Lawmakers put off consideration of psilocybin bill until new year”

—“Top NJ lawmaker proposes major reforms to fight temporary license plate fraud”

—“N.J. Supreme Court to decide whether township email lists are subject to public records law”

—“‘Like a vendetta’: State senator backs Lakewood rabbi charged in money laundering case”

NEP JERSEY — The real nepo-babies of New Jersey, by POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy: The Garden State has mastered the art of keeping politics in the family, as evidenced by a roster of politicians from prominent political New Jersey families. Two of the 12 members of Congress had fathers who served in Congress. GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s father was governor for two terms. Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross is the brother of one of the state’s most influential powerbrokers. And that’s just the House delegation. The all-in-the-family nature of New Jersey politics — and its reform-resistant, antiquated political ways — are suddenly the talk of the state again, now that yet another family-connected candidate has the inside track for a prominent office.

—“Tammy Murphy wins endorsements from Black ministers, activists”

—"Semper confirmed by Senate, becoming Biden’s ninth successful appointee to N.J. federal bench”

—“Henry Kissinger, America’s most influential diplomat, dies at 100"

GIVING A LEAK — “Jersey City police dispatcher charged with illegally accessing records; it was Fulop’s SUV crash report: source,” by The Jersey Journal’s Ron Zeitlinger: “An acting telecommunications supervisor who was arrested Tuesday is accused of illegally accessing a police report related to the crash in July involving Mayor Steve Fulop’s city SUV and leaking it to a local news website, a source with knowledge of the investigation said. Rose Davis, 58, described by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, was arrested by members of the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit, Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. She is charged with one count of computer criminal activity, a second-degree offense. … The charge stems from the leak a draft report of the July 13 “crash” in which Fulop’s vehicle (he was a passenger) and an e-scooter were involved in a minor collision in Hoboken. The report was leaked to Hudson County View, the source said. Hudson County View reported the incident on July 18, citing documents it had obtained.”

JERSEY CITY — “Bergen County man arrested in Downtown Jersey City assault, but it’s not being investigated as hate crime,” by The Jersey Journal’s Ron Zeitlinger: “A Bergen County man has been arrested in an assault outside a Downtown Jersey City restaurant that the victim described as a hate crime, but authorities are not investigating the incident as a bias attack. Fadel Abdallah, 31, was arrested within hours of a police report being filed Monday and he was charged with aggravated assault. The incident, in which Moath Hamzeh, a Palestinian-American from Jersey City, was left with a cut lip and facial bruises, occurred at 1:30 a.m. outside Grove Station restaurant at Newark Avenue and Grove Street, authorities said. In social media posts, Hamzeh said his assailants called him a ‘f---ing terrorist’ and ethnic slurs while beating, kicking and spitting on him. ‘At this time, it is not being investigated as a bias crime based on the current investigation,’ Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said.”

CHAIRMAN MAOCABE — “Former Edison candidate alleges ‘dictatorial rule’ by Middlesex County Democratic chairman,” by MyCentralJersey’s Suzanne Russell: “Former Democratic primary Edison Township Council candidate Robert Kentos isn’t taking his ouster from the party line earlier this year lying down; he’s taking it to court. Kentos, 48, representing himself, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the Middlesex County Democratic Organization and its Chairman Kevin McCabe for overriding the votes of the organization’s members in the Edison Democratic Organization over the selection of mayoral and Township Council candidates. … Earlier this year Kentos was one of four Township Council candidates selected by the Edison Democratic Organization to run on the party line in the primary. … While the Edison Democratic Organization committee people selected … Kentos, Brescher said McCabe decided to negate the vote of the committee and assign the line himself.”

THE POMPADOUR CENTER SPENDS MORE ON HAIR GEL — “Though city won’t say it, Pompidou X could cost over 1M a year to operate,” by Jersey City Times’ Aaron Morrill: “Yearly operating expenses for Pompidou x could well exceed $16 million according to data compiled by a leading arts organization, making its budget approximately 60 percent greater than the city’s expenditures for Health and Human Services or Parks and Recreation. And two and a half years after the plan for the Journal Square branch of Paris’s Centre Pompidou was unveiled, Jersey City has yet to produce an estimate of the cost to operate it, despite the mayor’s promise to do so. … According to Alison Wade of the Association of Art Museum Directors … in 2018 the average annual cost of operating an art museum in a mid-Atlantic state … was $155 per square foot. At that price the yearly cost to operate the 70,000 square foot Pompidou x could reach $10.85 million. Due to inflation since 2018, the average cost could well be substantially more … According to the 2021 Memorandum of Understanding, once the museum opens, Jersey City will pay Centre Pompidou an additional $5.4 million per year for use of the name, consulting and access to the Pompidou collection.”

PINA COLLUDER — “Bergen influencer accused of fraud wants to convert former Paterson school into apartments,” by The Paterson Press’ Joe Malinconico: “A social media influencer accused by federal authorities of stealing millions of dollars through real estate fraud is asking the city of Paterson for approval to build 61 apartments at a long-vacant school. The influencer, Cesar Pina, also is the target of numerous lawsuits in which real estate investors say Pina swindled them … One of Pina’s companies is scheduled to appear before the Paterson Board of Adjustment on Thursday night for its application to convert the former School 5 building at 385-391 Totowa Ave. into housing. … Current and former city officials said they don’t think Pina intends to build the project, especially considering his legal troubles. They said Pina likely is looking to get city approval for the housing to increase the value of his property before he sells it.”

—“After attempts to reach him, Neptune vacates seat held by Committeeman Brantley”

—“Cops ignored [Cresskill] woman’s complaints about man who later stabbed her 55 times, lawsuit says”

—‘We will not remain silent': Teaneck HS students hold walkout in support of Palestine”

—“Who is Mohammed Rashid, the newest member of Paterson’s Board of Education?”

—“[Hillsborough] will spend nearly $10M to block warehouses from being built on open space”

R.I.P. — “Beloved former Clifton police chief dies at age 74, five years after dementia diagnosis”

FIRST GHOST CANDIDATES, NOW GHOST FORESTS — “‘Ghost forests’ threaten New Jersey’s water, ecosystem,” by ABC News: “A disturbing sight is growing in southern New Jersey’s woodlands. Acres of ‘ghost forests’ have been popping up as an increase of saltwater in the soil has been killing what remains of the Atlantic white cedar trees that populate the area. The situation was part of a cycle where past climate change events, such as Superstorm Sandy, and logging created a situation where the soil lost its fresh water, according to experts.”

TACO BRUISEDAY — “Taco Bell workers beat N.J. woman when she complained about burrito, lawsuit says,” by NJ Advance Media’s Anthony G. Attrino: “An Essex County woman has filed a lawsuit against Taco Bell alleging she was beaten by three workers after she complained about a burrito she purchased. Leticia Rivera, 49, suffered a broken pinky and a deep cut to her head on May 17, 2022, when the workers allegedly beat her ‘senseless’ at the restaurant on Broad Street in Newark, according to a lawsuit filed Nov. 16 in Superior Court of Essex County. An argument over the food the woman was served preceded the alleged assault, according to Rivera’s attorney, Michelle M. Tullio, of Perth Amboy. ‘My client ordered a burrito, but she said it tasted funny, so she brought it back up to the manager,’ Tullio said.”

— “These Rutgers donors say they’re cutting the school off, citing antisemitism on campus”

—“Python removed from dorm room at Rutgers University: Police”

—“Romance scam by N.J. couple discovered after victim dies by suicide, cops say”

—“‘A real gift.’ 10 years after heart transplant, Long Branch woman is grandmother of 17”

CORRECTION: Yesterday I misspelled the name of Vote@16 activist Yenjay Hu