New Jersey Politicians Find Meaty Issue

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 16, 2001 | by James P. Lucier, | John Berlau

New Jersey always has been the Garden State but, with the stroke of a pen, acting governor Donny DiFrancesco also made it the no-meat state -- at least for a day.

DiFrancesco, the Republican Senate president who became acting governor when Christie Todd Whitman was appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, signed a proclamation declaring March 20 the "Great American Meatout Day" in the state. By doing so, many say, he may have handed Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, his opponent in the June Republican gubernatorial primary, some red meat with which to rally conservatives.

"DiFrancesco's no longer medium rare for conservatives," says Mike Hardiman, a Republican political consultant who has been involved in New Jersey politics for more than 20 years. "He's overcooked."

Meatout 2001 is a series of state events organized by various animal-rights and vegetarian groups designed to persuade people to give up meat and dairy products. It is modeled after Smokeout Days that persuade people to give up smoking. The acting governor's proclamation echoes these groups' rhetoric by declaring that "A wholesome plant-based diet of whole grains, vegetables and fresh fruits reduces the risks of.... infectious diseases that can cripple and kill approximately 1.5 million Americans annually ... helps preserve our forests ... and reduces pollution of our waterways by soil particles, debris, manure and pesticides."

"There's nothing wrong with vegetables, but that's an antimeat statement," says Hardiman. "It's not clear if he's trying to pander to some left-wing group or if he just didn't read it before he signed it. In which case, somebody on his staff did, which is almost as bad."

Naturally New Jersey's dairy farmers and cattlemen aren't thrilled. Beef and dairy products are the state's seventh-largest agricultural product, grossing $60 million to $70 million a year, according to Robert Mickel of the New Jersey Beef Industry Council.

At press time, DiFrancesco's office had not returned phone calls for comment.