’Beyond the pale’: N.J. restaurant shuttered after NYC GOP club’s mask-free gala with Rep. Matt Gaetz
A swanky New Jersey restaurant was shut down indefinitely Friday after letting a New York City Republican club throw an event where dozens of attendants were seen schmoozing without face masks in apparent violation of local coronavirus restrictions.
Maritime Parc, located on the Jersey City waterfront with a sweeping panorama of the Big Apple skyline, hosted the New York Young Republican club’s annual gala Thursday night, and photos posted to social media showed sharply-dressed attendees cramming close together on a dance floor, their faces uncovered. Among the crowd was U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Trump-boosting Florida firebrand infamous for poking fun at COVID-19 restrictions on Capitol Hill.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop was not pleased.
The Democratic mayor ordered the restaurant shuttered immediately and said it won’t be allowed to reopen until it presents an operational plan detailing how it will comply with mask mandates and capacity restrictions going forward.
“In Jersey City, we take Covid enforcement very seriously, and this event appears to be an egregious violation of the governor’s executive orders,” Fulop told the Daily News in a statement. “This event blatantly disregards the protections put in place to safeguard the community from further contagion and has put Jersey City and countless others at serious risk.”
Gov. Phil Murphy was particularly perturbed by Gaetz jetting into New Jersey for the event at a time when the Garden State is advising residents against traveling because of a troubling spike in COVID-19 infection and death rates.
“It is beyond the pale that anyone would willingly endanger people in another state,” Murphy tweeted. “It is also beyond the pale that Rep. Matt Putz — I mean Rep. Matt Gaetz — would participate in this. What a fool.”
“Matt,” the governor added, “You are not welcome in New Jersey, and frankly I don’t ever want you back in this state.”
Gaetz, who showed up on the House floor this spring wearing a gas mask to mock COVID-19 restrictions, fired back at Murphy by pushing a tired trope about New Jerseyans.
“You’re gonna regret this tweet when you move to Florida like the rest of New Jersey,” the Sunshine State Republican tweeted at Murphy.
Gov. Cuomo backed up Murphy.
“I think it’s so irresponsible for an elected official who makes laws to encourage people to break laws,” Cuomo told reporters on a conference call. “They violated New Jersey’s laws and Gov. Murphy is right to point it out.”
The mask-flouting shindig was initially supposed to take place at an event space in Chelsea, but organizers fled across the Hudson after the Manhattan venue apparently declined to host.
Other prominent conservatives spotted at the event included Andrea Catsimatidis, the chairwoman of the Manhattan Republican Party, and James O’Keefe, the founder of the conspiracy theory-mongering Project Veritas outlet.
Casey Cotton, a spokesman for Maritime Parc, said the GOP club event was “a last-minute booking.”
“We did not have any role in the event other than to serve as the venue — this was a business transaction. There was no partnership nor should Maritime Parc serving as the venue be looked upon as an endorsement of the club,” Cotton said in an email.
Cotton said the restaurant’s in contact with Fulop’s office in hopes of resolving the issue.
Gavin Wax, the president of the New York Young Republican club, claimed his group’s gala didn’t violate local restrictions because “as far as we are aware, the First Amendment has not been repealed.”
“It’s shameful Governor Murphy would culturally appropriate Ashkenazi Yiddish culture with the word ‘putz’ when he is in fact acting like a ‘schmuck,’” Wax told The News.
New Jersey allows indoor political gatherings as long as no more than 150 people are in attendance. However, the state requires face masks to be worn at such events.
Fulop said the Thursday night event remains under investigation and did not rule out reprimanding the organizers as well.
Cuomo scoffed at Wax and his fellow Republicans posting incendiary tweets about Murphy and other local Democrats on Friday.
“I see these tough guys tweet from across the river,” Cuomo said. “That’s not what we considered a tough guy back in Queens.”
With Denis Slattery
