Camden County Freeholder Louis Cappelli, Jr. Responds to the ABC Special Ruling

“Reviewing the special ruling from the ABC I’m shocked to see the shortsighted obstacles and hurdles being mandated on one of the fastest growing small business sectors in the state. Since Congressman Norcross sponsored legislation in 2012 to cut the red tape and modernize craft brewing in New Jersey, small business owners have opened in almost every town in the county. Many have had tremendous impacts on their neighborhoods and have become a catalyst for economic growth in many municipalities. They have become the epitome of community spaces, created destinations for new visitors to the county and have employed many of our residents. In fact, many of these facilities have expanded from their original operations further investing their assets here in our county. And to further underscore the challenges created by this new measure there are indirect losses faced by other small business owners and downtown merchants who benefit from the success of our craft brewers.

In short, these capricious and arbitrary measures should be reassessed post haste to strengthen the industry and support these operations. This is not the kind of business climate our state should be promoting and we need to do more to support small business, not create restrictions for these local entrepreneurs.”