Who really has the juice in N.J. politics? | Editorial – NJ.com

Who really has the juice in New Jersey politics?

Don’t bother looking at those “100 most powerful ….” “50 most influential …” lists that magazines and websites compile, apparently to inform lobbyists whose hands they must hold to get things done.

Just head for the fourth-grade classes at Eleanor Rush Intermediate School in Cinnaminson, Burlington County. They’ve just finished a three-year, successful quest to make cranberry juice the official juice of New Jersey. It now says so, right on the official law (P.L.2023, c.134). that Acting Gov. Nick Scutari signed earlier this month, during the absence of Gov. Phil Murphy and after the death of Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver.

The skills of these youngsters are awesome. Instead of getting bogged down in partisan wrangling, they simply made good arguments for the beverage’s elevation. First of all, New Jersey is the third largest cranberry-producing state in the nation, and Burlington County is thick with fields from which the berries are harvested. Also, cranberries have been around New Jersey since the days when the Lenni Lenape people were the area’s only known inhabitants. Commercial production dates back to 1835. And that jellied sauce that comes out on the serving dish looking like a mirror image of the can that held it, has been a staple here since 1917.

What did all that cajoling and convincing by students earn them? Assembly passage, 75-1, and Senate passage, 35-1.

This is even though that what nearly all of us drink and call “cranberry juice,” is not 100% cranberry juice at all. A look at the front label of an Ocean Spray bottle (thank you, Federal Trade Commission) tells you that the product inside is called “Original Cranberry Juice Cocktail.” It’s got just 27% cranberry juice, mixed with lots of water and added sugars (23 grams per 8-ounce glass), because, you know, straight cranberry juice is awfully tart. Other, non-“original,” varieties substitute artificial sweeteners or sweeter fruit juices for the sugar. Nutritional profiles of store-brand clones are similar. Ocean Spray does put out a 100% cranberry juice product labeled “pure,” but that’s not the big seller.

The point of this is not to nitpick about ingredients, but to emphasize further the fantastic job that the fourth-graders did. Imagine how fast their cranberry juice designation would have sailed into statute books if they’d been pushing a drink that’s 100% what it says it is.

Know what drink is 100% real? Craft beer produced in brew-pub establishments, although it’s not meant to designed to be consumed by elementary school children. It just so happens a bill has been languishing (aging?) on Gov. Murphy’s desk, that would greatly aid the beer producers. The bill would repeal onerous, strict regulations on serving food and hosting events by these operations, which hold limited brewery licenses. The rules even require that patrons be forced to take tours. The restrictions have been employed like handcuffs by the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, apparently in deference to bar and restaurant owners who are ticked off that they’ve had to pay so much more for their conventional alcohol consumption licenses.

Although the brewery legislation passed by large margins in both houses in late June, Murphy has not taken action on it. That’s prompted protests and a recent “Sign the bill, Phil” drive by some of the craft brewers. Murphy is said to be trying to gain leverage for a more comprehensive, wholesale overhaul of the state’s alcohol license laws. We certainly need that and applaud it, but craft breweries could be dying on the vine if they don’t get some relief soon. The Death of the Fox in East Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, has sued the state, claiming that the rules have cramped its expansion plans.

So, since nothing else has worked, maybe the craft brewers can hire the Eleanor Rush kids to work on Gov. Murphy. The children don’t have to drink the beer, they just have to advocate for it just as effectively as they did for cranberry juice. No one is maintaining that an IPA with a 10% alcohol can clear up urinary tract infections, but it’s a legitimate, legal beverage just the same.

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