U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is all wet when it comes to her claim that “Democrats” are responsible for charging admission to New Jersey’s beaches.
The firebrand Georgia Republican got angrier than someone with sand in their swimsuit when she saw a police body camera recording of cops arresting a man on the beach in Belmar, New Jersey.
“This surfer was arrested in Belmar Beach, NJ for NOT HAVING A ‘BEACH BADGE’ meanwhile American taxpayers are PAYING TO HOUSE, FEED, PROVIDE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS!!” she fumed Sunday on X, formerly Twitter. “Beach badge??? What commie idiot made that law? Answer: Democrats.”
This surfer was arrested in Belmar Beach, NJ for NOT HAVING A “BEACH BADGE” meanwhile American taxpayers are PAYING TO HOUSE, FEED, PROVIDE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS!!
Beach badge???
What commie idiot made that law?
Answer:
Democrats.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 25, 2024
But while Belmar has had a Democratic mayor since Gerald Buccafusco ousted Republican Mark Walsifer in the 2022 election, its history of charging for admission to the beach dates to 1933, according to a recent Facebook post by the Belmar Historical Society.
More recently, the late Republican mayor of Surf City, Leonard T. Connors, claimed credit for bringing beach badges to the Garden State’s Long Beach Island summer colony, the Press of Atlantic City reported in 2009.
Connors told the paper he announced the plan while running for reelection in 1966 and was repeatedly warned, “Get ready to get thrown out.”
But the ordinance was adopted and the voters returned Connors to office anyway.
An overwhelming majority of municipalities along the Jersey Shore have similar rules, with Atlantic City, Island Beach State Park and Corson’s Inlet State Park among the few places where access is free, according to lists compiled by local news outlets.
In New Jersey’s aptly named Ocean County, 14 governments with Republican mayors and GOP-controlled councils require beach badges.
The most expensive is issued by the borough of Point Pleasant Beach, which has an all-Republican government and charges $130 for a season pass.
In 2019, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law codifying the state’s so-called public trust doctrine, a legal theory that says that waterways including the ocean, bays and rivers are common property held by the state for the use of all people.
The move came after another Democratic New Jersey governor, Jon Corzine, enacted a regulation requiring public access points every quarter-mile along the shoreline — but it was overturned in court, the Associated Press reported at the time.
A spokesperson for Greene didn’t return an email seeking comment Monday.
Meanwhile, Belmar Police Chief Tina Scott said in a statement Thursday that the surfer who was arrested on Aug. 20, Liam Mahoney, 28, of Junction City, California, “was not arrested for not having a beach badge.”
“He was arrested because he obstructed the officer’s investigation by refusing to give his identification or pedigree information,” Scott said. “Mr. Mahoney was also advised he was not free to leave and continued to walk away during this encounter.”
Mahoney was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, and also issued a ticket for not having a beach badge, according to the Asbury Park Press.
