Mike Halfacre, the Acting Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said that combating underage drinking will be among his top priorities as he takes the lead of the agency.
“I am honored and excited by this opportunity and I am grateful to Governor Christie and Attorney General Chiesa for the chance to serve the State of New Jersey,” Halfacre said. “From the outset, I will make combating underage drinking a priority, and strive to make our division more efficient and user-friendly to both the public and alcoholic beverage industry.”
The ABC is charged with protecting and furthering the public welfare by fostering moderation and responsibility in the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The agency also ensures the economics of the alcoholic beverage industry to New Jersey by maintaining the stability of the industry and securing state revenues derived from the commerce of alcoholic beverages.
In announcing Halfacre’s appointment, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said, “Michael Halfacre brings an outstanding record as a municipal legal professional that will be vital to leading the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. This is an important division with dedicated and expert legal and professional staff which regulates the commerce of alcoholic beverages within New Jersey.”
Additionally, the former Fair Haven Mayor will be responsible for implementing recent legislation that allows New Jersey wineries that produce 250,000 gallons or less of wine annually to ship directly to consumers. The new law also permits small wineries to operate up to 16 retail outlets each throughout the state.
Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre was nominated by Governor Christie today to become the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The nomination requires the advice and consent of the State Senate.
Halfacre, who is expected to resign as Fair Haven’s mayor and from his prosecutor jobs in Rumson and Little Silver, is replacing Jerry Fischer who has held the ABC job since 2000.
Halfacre will be leading the 50 person division which regulates nearly 10,000 liquor licensees throughout New Jersey. The division is charged with implementing the new law that allows New Jersey wineries to ship their products to out of state customers on a limited basis and that allows out of state wineries to ship into New Jersey.
When reached for comment, Halfacre said to pull his ad. He referred all other questions to the Governor’s office.
…and special guests Senator Joe Kyrillos and Congressman Chris Smith
Despite some technical difficulties and a shortage of phone lines (sorry if you tried to call in and got a busy signal) we managed to have an informative and entertaining show.
Thanks to Mike Halfacre who kept the show going when I got flustered with the technical glitches.
For those who missed the live show or would like to hear it again, here is a recording:
Highlights: Kyrillos referring to a Chris Christie presidential candidacy as “when” not “if” (though it won’t be in 2012) and Smith speaking about the budget negotiations going on in Washington as a fiscal conservative, overriding his reputation as a fiscal moderate.
This afternoon at 5, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre will be my guest co-host for LaRossa and Gallagher: Real Jersey Guys on the Radio broadcast on WIFI AM 1460 and world wide on the Internet here.
Yesterday there were four real Jersey guys on the radio from 5PM-6PM for what might have been the last LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show on WIFIAM1460.
I’m not knocking THE Jersey Guys, Casey, Rossi and Bob Ingle on Fridays, formerly of 101.5 FM. I enjoyed their show and listened to it whenever I was on the road in the afternoon. My favorite all time show was Casey screaming, “YOU’RE LOSING VOTES RIGHT NOW” at gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie during the 2009 primary campaign while Christie was trying to finesse an answer to a particularly blunt question.
I think 101.5 was nuts to cancel the show that they themselves promoted as the most successful afternoon radio show in the country. I doubt the petition to get the show back on the air will make any difference, but if you want to be part of it, you can do so here.
As good as the show was, my friend Tommy DeSeno is right. As talented as they are, Casey, Rossi and Ingle are not really Jersey guys. Casey’s from California, Rossi from Brooklyn and Ingle from Georgia. They’re not Jersey guys like the four natives who were on the radio yesterday afternoon, my partner Senator Dick LaRossa born in Trenton on July 1 (Happy Birthday Dick!), Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre, and yours truly.
Straight Talk On The Pension and Health Care Reforms
While our show was not nearly as funny as THE Jersey Guys, it was the most informative and honest report of the pension and benefits reform package anywhere to date, if I do say so myself.
My hat is off to Declan O’Scanlon for coming back on the show for second week in a row knowing that I was not buying the hype of the “landmark” nature of the reforms and for answering our questions frankly.
O’Scanlon is high on the impact the reforms are making compared to what would have happened if the status quo continued. However, with only a little dancing, he did acknowledge that without significant economic growth, New Jersey will be in deep doo doo as the taxpayers increase their state pension contributions by $500 million each year over the next seven years. That doesn’t include the municipal pension contributions that come from property taxes.
Botton line…there is a very real possibility that the pension reforms in particular will lead to large tax increases on the state and local levels and/or draconian spending cuts. O’Scanlon did not dispute that. He argued things would be much worse had the administration and legislature done nothing.
During the second half hour Halfacre was upbeat about 1) the fact that the deal could have been done at all given the historical nature of things in Trenton, and 2) the savings Fair Haven taxpayers will realize from the health care end of the reforms.
The highlight of the show was Halfacre’s explanation of how he and the Fair Haven Council have been able to lower property taxes three years in a row and counting: 1) Saying no, 2) Pissing people off, 3) Standing firm when the pissed off people are yelling at you, 4) Doing all of that and getting reelected.
Why was Tuesday’s show perhaps the last LaRossa and Gallagher Show? Dick and I are thinking of changing the name of the show to The Jersey Guys or The Real Jersey Guys. We’re hoping Millennium Radio will issue and cease and desist letter or maybe even sue us so we can get lots of free publicity and beat out Deminski and Doyle on Tuesday afternoons.
The members of the Redistricting Commission must be appointed by June 15. The Auditor says he/she was told that Democratic State Chairman John Wisniewski plans to void the appointment of Belmar resident Maggie Moran to the commission. Moran, former Governor Corzine’s deputy chief of staff and campaign manager, was appointed to the commission by former Chairman Joe Cryan, at Pallone’s urging, as one of Cryan’s last acts before turning the chairmanship over to Wisniewski.
Moran, who is the wife of Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, is supposed to be Pallone’s eyes and ears on the commission. Her removal would be a blow to Pallone, according to The Auditor, this year in particular as New Jersey is losing a congressional district. One incumbent congressman will lose his job regardless of the electoral outcome. The Auditor implies that Democratic boss George Norcross and Republican Governor Chris Christie would like that incumbent to be Pallone.
How would that work?
Pallone’s 6th district borders the 4th, 7th, 12th and 13th districts. He resides in Long Branch which is in the south east coastal part of the district.
While it is entirely possible in New Jersey that a gerrymandered district that includes Long Branch of Monmouth County could be combined with Clinton Township in Hunterdon County, home of 7th district Republican Congressman Leonard Lance or West New York, Hudson County, home of 13th district Democratic Congressman Albio Sires, neither scenario is likely.
Combining Pallone’s 6th with Rush Holt’s 12th would make sense based on geography as the 12th shares the largest border with the 6th. Even though neither Pallone or Holt is particularly well liked by Democratic leaders in New Jersey or Washington, it is unlikely that the Democrats would surrender a district without a fight.
Which would leave a match up between New Jersey’s two most senior congressmen, Pallone who has been in Congress since 1988 and 4th district Congressman Republican Chris Smith who has served since 1981. While it would be unusual that seniority be discarded as an incumbent protection consideration during a redistricting battle, an argument could be made along the lines of “continuity of representation.” Pallone first went to Congress as the representative of the 3rd district after the death of Congressman James Howard. Much of the pre-1992 3rd district is now part of the 4th.
Even with his $4 million war chest, it is hard to imagine Pallone beating Smith in a combined district that includes southeast Monmouth and portions of Republican Ocean and Burlington counties. Smith would dominate in his Mercer home turf.
Pallone vs. Smith would be a great race. It probably won’t happen. I’ll explain why at the end of this piece. But first let’s have some fun speculating about the fallout of such a district.
If Long Branch and Pallone are moved south into a district combined with portions of Smith’s (of Hamilton in Mercer County) 4th district, it would make sense that the Northern Monmouth portions of the present 6th district would be folded into the Rush Holt’s 12th district.
That would create an interesting race for the GOP nomination in the 12th. Diane Gooch, Mike Halfacre, Anna Little, and Scott Sipprelle could all be contenders for that nomination.
Little beat Gooch for the 6th district nomination primary by 83 votes before losing to Pallone by 11% in the 2010 general election. She declared that a loss of only 11% was a victory and launched her 2012 race against Pallone in the weirdest election night concession speech ever. Since election night 2010 Little has alienated herself from both her local Tea Party and establishment GOP supporters. She’s chomping at the bit for a rematch with both Gooch and Pallone, but she’s referred to as a “coo coo bird” by former supporters. A Pallone-Smith match up would wreck havoc on her delusions. Only Little, her family and Larry Cirignano, her escort/handler/manager/driver/tenant, believe Anna Little will ever be nominated for congress again.
Halfacre, the Mayor of Fair Haven, has been kicking himself for bowing out of the race for the 12th district nomination since Tea Party candidate David Corsi beat Sipprelle in Monmouth County in the 2010 primary. Sipprelle won the nomination by virtue of his margin of victory in Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon before losing to Holt by 7% in the general.
Halfacre was the Tea Party favorite during his contentious race against Sipprelle for the party lines in 2010. Sipprelle won all the county party lines and Halfacre correctly concluded that a primary against Sipprelle without at least the Monmouth or Middlesex lines was not winnable. Corsi’s Monmouth victory naturally lead to “what ifs?” Little’s narrow victory over Gooch created additional “what ifs?”
But the self funding Sipprelle did not spend any money to defeat Corsi. Gooch took victory over Little for granted in the primary. Given how contentious the Sipprelle-Halfacre county conventions/screenings were, it is likely that a primary between to two would have been bloody and expensive. Halfacre couldn’t have matched Sipprelle’s money.
Halfacre would have a heavy lift to regain his Tea Party support. If either Gooch or Sipprelle seek the nomination, he would have a heavier lift to raise the money necessary to compete. After Little’s victory in the 2010 primary, it will be a long time before any candidate or county party organization takes a Tea Party challenge for granted. Halfacre’s best hope for a nomination against Holt is for both Gooch and Sipprelle to conclude that 2012, a presidential year with Obama leading the ticket, is not the year to take on Holt.
Both Gooch and Sipprelle are staying in front of the party faithful. Gooch with Strong New Jersey and Sipprelle with the Lincoln Club of New Jersey, organizations each has founded since losing their respective races. Gooch has been open about wanting to run for congress again, depending on how the districts are drawn. Sipprelle has been coy about a future candidacy.
A Gooch-Sipprelle primary defies imagination. Given the money both could spend on such a race, a deal would likely be brokered by the state and county party chairmen before it would occur. But if ego got the better of either of them, it would be quite a race. A more sensible sceanario would be for one of the millionaires to take on U.S . Senator Robert Menendez while the other takes on Holt.
So while redistricting Pallone and Smith into the same district could make the Republican nomination contest in the Holt’s district more interesting, a Pallone-Smith battle is unlikely even should a district be drawn that way. Should such a district be drawn look for Pallone to retire from the House and use his hefty war chest as a down payment for a statewide race for Governor in 2013.
Pallone’s $4 million war chest would clear the field of Democratic candidates for Governor, unless Chris Christie isn’t a candidate or has anemic poll numbers, neither of which is likely. Christie would love to defeat Pallone, which he would but it would probably be a close race. Pallone would then run for U.S. Senate in 2014, assuming Frank Lautenberg finally retires.
I am following with interest the piece posted yesterday and its comments on the lack of By-laws for the Monmouth County Republican Committee. First, let’s clear up some nomenclature. Most think “by-laws” and think “candidate selection”. It is clear, however, that the by-laws don’t have to cover candidate selection. The statute contains nothing about what the by-laws should contain, only that there should be by-laws.
However, as someone who spent a considerable amount of time looking at County Party by-laws and their candidate selection procedures last Spring, I can tell you unequivocally two things:
1) By-laws don’t matter in candidate selection.
I spent the better part of four months familiarizing myself with the by-laws of the Mercer and Middlesex County Republican Parties, where there are, in the case of Mercer, relatively minimalist by-laws, and in the case of Middlesex, relatively byzantine by-laws. I also spent time trying to divine what the selection process would be in Monmouth County, where there is nothing in writing. Suffice it to say, the ultimate decision on what candidate would get the “party line” in the race I was interested in, the 12th Congressional District, was the same in all three of those counties.
In Mercer County, the Chair came out early and often for their hometown candidate, (look where that got him) and regardless of by-laws, that “nominating convention” was a home game for the candidate. (As it should have been, by the way.) But “rules” had nothing to do with the outcome. Mercer County is not under Republican Control, and hasn’t been for years.
In Middlesex County, the candidate selection process is complicated, multi-part and ultimately, wide-open. If you pay your entry fee, or if someone else pays your entry fee, you get a vote on whom the candidate will be. Middlesex County has not had Republican county control in twenty years.
In Monmouth County, the “Screening Committee”, is a loosely defined body of past and present County and higher elected officials, past and present County leaders and current Municipal Chairs. No actual list of the Screening Committee was made available. (At least, not to me) We had to make one up. But these people made the decision. Sometimes it is a secret ballot, sometimes it is not. Historically, Monmouth County is dominated by the GOP.
In the 12th Congressional District, in each of these three counties, the candidate selection outcome was the same. (But so was the election result)
By-laws don’t matter in candidate selection.
2) By-laws matter a great deal.
From a purely public perception stand-point, by-laws matter. To not have by-laws sends a message to the interested public that you don’t care about process, that the same group of Old Boys/Elitists/career politicians/whatever are making the decisions about who will run for office. To people with a Tea Party-type background, not having written rules to follow is anathema.
For example, in the past 18 months, there has been a resurgence of interest in politics thanks to the Tea Party. It should be a priority of leadership to welcome and encourage participation on the Republican team. The first question often heard is “How can I get involved?” the answer usually is, “Get in touch with your local County Committee. Run for a Committee seat. Then you get to help pick candidates and steer the party.”
Except often, that is not the right answer at all. In Monmouth County, the County Committee may have no voice. In the case of Congressional or Legislative Districts, the Past and Present elected and past and present County Party leaders often outnumber the Municipal Chairs. Where the Municipal Chair vote is thus diluted, the County Committee vote is even further diluted. And this assumes the Municipal Chair accurately reflects the feelings of the County Committee people he or she represents.
Why would we want to send this message? If we only welcome their votes in November, and not their participation all year long, we will soon lose their votes in November.
We should write it down, so everyone knows the process.
Today, Governor Christie will deliver his State of the State Address, wherein he will lay out his accomplishments over the past year, and set forth his agenda for the coming year. He faces many challenges, as do the taxpayers of the State of New Jersey. Unfortunately, many elected officials still don’t get it.
Case in point: On January 6, 2011 New Jersey once again took steps to safeguard its reputation as a laughingstock. No, I don’t mean the introduction of Snooki’s friend Deena, an actual New Jersey native on MTV’s Jersey Shore. Instead, I mean the introduction of A-3657 by Assemblywoman Tucker (28-Newark) in the New Jersey Legislature. Yes, once again NJ reality TV pales next to reality of NJ politics. New Jersey would be the first state in the nation to require bicycle registration.
In the midst the toughest public budget time in memory, when all of Trenton is buzzing with talk of education reform, civil service reform and arbitration reform, and when, for the first time in decades, there is real hope for New Jersey’s taxpayers, Assemblywoman Tucker’s bill takes on the difficult and pressing issue of…unregistered bicycles. Yes, Assemblywoman Tucker wants us to register our bicycles with the MVC. Just like our cars.
I am not making this up. Under the proposed legislation the Director of the MVC will start to issue license plates to bicycles, for a registration fee not to exceed $10.00 per year. Whenever a bike is sold, the buyer must go to MVC and transfer registration and pay sales tax, just like on a car. If you ride an unregistered bike, you could be fined $100.00. (Word is that Assemblywoman Tucker is coming after running shoes next)
I admit, I am a little biased against this ludicrous law. I own bicycles. I have two road bikes, a triathlon bike, a mountain bike, a cyclocross bike, a fixie and a cruiser. My wife has a mountain bike and a cruiser. I have three kids, each with at least one bike. That makes about 12 bikes in my home. Add in the frames without wheels, and the wheels without frames, and I could probably piece together a couple more. Under this law, I’ll have to register each one of them.
A fellow Fair Haven elected official picks up old bikes put out in the trash, fixes them up and donates them to kids who don’t have bikes. At any one time he has dozens of bikes in his garage. Under this law, he’ll have to register each one of them.
Another friend of mine is an avid cyclist, who easily has 25 bikes in his garage. Under this law, he’ll have to register each one of them.
When is enough? When will the nanny-state Democrats “get it”? We are sick and tired of these petty and frankly, stupid laws.
What possible purpose could this law have other than to add another fee or tax onto the backs of New Jersey’s already over-burdened taxpayers? Is there some massive sales tax loss being suffered by the State on the sale of second hand bikes? Or is this a devious attempt to track and identify illegal immigrants?
None of the above. It’s worse.
Here’s the angle: Imagine all the new MVC employees that will be required to handle the volume of paperwork this requirement will generate. All union members.
The storm of December 26-27 2010 was more than a significant weather event. Published reports have called it one of the top six snow storms in New Jersey history. Many veterans of the DPW in this and other towns do not recall conditions as severe as the ones encountered overnight on Sunday and into the early morning hours of Monday. The magnitude of the storm is illustrated by the fact that snowfall rates of 1 inch per hour are generally considered too heavy for plows to keep pace with, and this storm had periods of 4.5 inch per hour accumulations. Add in the strong, near hurricane force winds and the resulting snow drifts, and this storm will be recorded as one of our area’s worst.
In Fair Haven, our DPW had two men in sand trucks on the road by 11:30 am on Sunday. By 3:30 p.m. Sunday, 7 more employees were on the road plowing. Fair Haven had 9 men, including two who came in from vacation, as well as the DPW Supervisor, operating up to 7 plows and 3 loaders through out the duration of the storm. These were all of our resources. All continued to work until Monday evening, with the last crew and DPW Supervisor leaving at 10:30 p.m. Monday. At that time, late on Monday, almost all streets were open with at least one lane.
The sheer volume of snow required the DPW to remove snow with front-end loaders, slowing down the removal and making it a street-by-street process. This takes a long time, and was the reason most streets had only one lane open while the front end loaders, trucks and plows cleared one street at a time.
Our DPW regular schedule resumed at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday with continuation of snow removal. By 10:00 a.m. 2 trucks were picking up trash, all of which was picked up by 5:00 p.m. Snow removal crews continued until 3:30 p.m. A sand truck continued to operate, to hit the critical areas until dark.
On Wednesday recycling was picked up town wide and completed by 4:00 p.m. Snow removal crews continued throughout the day, with the sand truck again continuing until dark. Thursday saw continued snow removal, as well as an additional town-wide garbage pick-up.
There were no incidents or mechanical failures during this event. The most significant struggle was the snow plows repeatedly getting stuck on Sunday night.
I am very proud of our dedicated DPW employees, who worked in excess of 30 straight hours from Sunday afternoon until Monday night clearing the roads. The fact that there were no major incidents, injuries or accidents is a testament to their dedication. Further, three employees have voluntarily switched their scheduled day off on New Years Eve to Monday, so they could work to get the streets as clear as possible for when school to resumes on Monday. (I know it is a huge burden, but please make every effort to clear sidewalks in time for the walk to school on Monday)
I am also proud of and grateful to all of those who helped their neighbors; our volunteer fire and first aid squads who were repeatedly called out in terrible conditions; and our police employees who were on the road in the worst of the conditions.
Although we believe we performed admirably under the circumstances, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, we will be conducting a complete and thorough review of all of our processes and decisions, and will make adjustments where necessary, so our performance will be better during future events.
Thank you for your patience, and please have a Happy and Safe New Year!
Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre was nominated by Governor Christie today to become the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Pallone’s 6th district borders the 4th, 7th, 12th and 13th districts. He resides in Long Branch which is in the south east coastal part of the district.