BRICK-After winning his re-election bid last year, Mayor John Ducey held a party. Many political allies and operatives were in attendance, but one man slipped by anyone’s attention until now. According to irate residents one of the attendees at last year’s victory celebration was JoelAllcock. According to Brick Shorebeat, Allcock is the Chief Operating Officer ofJersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care, the company lobbying township officials to build a marijuana dispensary in the township.
Ducey’s Democrats held the party at the River Rock restaurant. In a photo shared by a group of residents opposed to facility, Ducey is seen drinking a beer with the marijuana company executive.
Ducey had been under fire from opponents of the facility in recent weeks for his connection to other employees of the dispensary. Today, Patch reported that Michael White, Ducey’s brother-in-law also serves as the Director of Security for the proposed marijuana dispensary, making the close connections between the mayor and the medical marijuana facility come into public question.
Operators of a Facebook page, Brick Residents Say No to Rezoning, posted photos showing the owner of the dispensary celebrating with Mayor Ducey, pictured with lite beer in hand and feel the mayor has crossed the line of decency.
“As previously state in an article on Brick Patch some conflicts of interest. I wonder if Joel Chief Operating Officer of the Marijuana dispensary and Mayor Ducey at the Democratic Victory Party is also a conflict of interest,” the page wrote in a post.
Stan Schick, a prominent Democrat in Brick who has been at odds with Ducey and his ultra-progressive slate of liberal Democrats also expressed his concern over the photos released today, saying, “Looks like they got caught with their pants down. Ducey claims he has nothing to do with the Planning Board’s decision on re-zoning. He does all of his dirty work behind closed doors.”
In one of the photos from the party, Democrat state political operative Mitch Seim, who was recently named to several of New Jersey’s most influential political power lists can be seen in attendance. Seim ran Ducey’s campaign as well as failed campaigns in Jackson and Howell. Seim, whose mission has been to flip all of the towns surrounding Lakewood to be in favor of the Murphy Democrats is still reeling from this year’s election losses where his ultra-progressive candidates lost in November. This year, Seim and Ducey are hoping their Murphy-backed slate of Democrats can retain control of the township with a majority of council seats up for re-election.
Phil Murphy swore Ducey in as mayor of Brick after his election win in 2017.
A 2019 win for Republicans this November in Brick can turn the tide of the blue wave and stop Murphy backed Democrats’ reign over the municipal government.
The town’s zoning board of adjustment will continue to hear the application by Allcock’s company on January 9th to be held at 7pm at Civic Plaza, 270 Chambers Bridge Road.
The company is hoping to turn the former Ocean First bank building into a marijuana dispensary.
