Middletown: Ex-Assembly member had 3 liquor licenses when 2 was limit

APP article

With the approval of the township, former state Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina illegally owned three liquor licenses for several years, a violation of state regulations, according to court documents released Wednesday.

Azzolina, who acquired the third license in 1999, received approval every year from the Township Committee until 2005, according to the documents. State regulations limit the number of liquor licenses a person or company can own at two.

On Wednesday, state Superior Court ruled against Azzolina, who had sought to sell the third license as a way to comply with state regulations.

The court ruled that Azzolina cannot be allowed to sell something he should not have been allowed to own in the first place.

"A seven-year ownership of a third license is not a mere technical violation," the court wrote, "but rather, a long-term, persistent violation of one of the chief evils the Legislature intended to prohibit."

Two of the licenses were listed under the name of Circus Liquors, Inc. while a third was listed under the name of Food Circus Supermarkets of Middletown, Inc. The stockholders of both companies were identical, according to court documents.

One of the licenses was never used, according to the documents.

Azzolina referred questions to his attorney, Larry S. Loigman of Middletown.

Loigman contends that Middletown provided Azzolina with "incorrect information" about the legality of his owning three licenses.

In an appeal brief quoted in Wednesday's court decision, Loigman alleges that Middletown denied renewing Azzolina's third license in 2005 after the former assemblyman publicly opposed the reappointment of William F. Dowd as chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Party in 2004.

Dowd is the law partner of Bernard Reilly, Middletown's attorney.

"There isn't any question about that," said Loigman of the connection between the two events.

Loigman's allegations are "absolutely not true," Reilly said. The township's clerk's office, which Reilly said was in charge of reviewing the details of liquor license renewal requests, did not realize that Azzolina owned three licenses until 2005, he said.

"This is not some massive conspiracy," Reilly said. "When it became known, there was no other choice than to do what was done."

The court's decision on Wednesday essentially means that Azzolina's third license ceases to exist, Loigman and Reilly said.

Azzolina has until March 18 to decide whether to appeal the court's decision to the state Supreme Court, Loigman said.