On Saturday night, Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was met with a deafening chorus of boos during a concert in his home state. At the Red Rock Tap + Grill in Monmouth County, just two miles from the governor’s seaside estate, the lead singer of Brian Kirk & the Jirks invited Murphy to join him onstage, but the mood rapidly went nasty.
SaveJersey.com founder and editor-in-chief Matt Rooney took video of Murphy’s embrace of the band members in the face of loud booing from the crowd and posted it on Twitter. Kirk, though, broke away from Murphy and spoke to the angry spectators himself.
I’ll say it again: “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, what did I tell you guys?” Kirk spoke forward and pointed towards the audience.
Raise your voice and “listen to me,” he said. He didn’t deserve that, hear me out. We’re good friends. We’re not talking politics here. He’s a good friend of mine. Be respectful. Please don’t do that to my pal out of consideration for him.
The opposition of Murphy arises from the fact that his government imposed new regulations on breweries last year, many of which were unpopular. These regulations covered things like how much food could be sold and how often breweries could organize private events. Murphy has yet to decide whether or not to sign a bipartisan bill that cleared the state Assembly and Senate last month and would remove these limitations.
Concerned that the increasing rules may compel breweries to shut down or move out of state, the New Jersey Brewers Association has voiced its disapproval.
The Red Rock bar, where Murphy heard the boos, actually asks its guests to be patient on its website since it is understaffed.
“We appreciate your patience,” the statement says. Since the service industry is experiencing a historic lack of workers, we are now understaffed in the kitchen.
Last week, Murphy also came under fire for signing a bill that gave a large tax credit to Danish offshore wind developer Orsted for the first of its two planned energy projects off the Jersey Shore. Republican State Senator Edward Durr estimated the worth of the tax benefit to be close to $1 billion, despite neither the firm nor Democratic politicians disclosing the exact amount.
The bill was signed just one day after Orsted’s Ocean Wind I project got approval to begin construction on a wind farm situated 13 to 15 miles off the shores of Atlantic City and Ocean City from the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.