Original headline: “Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre to head NJ Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control”
New one: “Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre considered for Alcoholic Beverage Control post”
Uh-oh. Somebody might need a drink.
Sometime in the span of a few hours Wednesday, the Asbury Park Press’s scoop on Halfacre’s new job became less scoopy.
The original story, published online in the late afternoon, said Halfacre had announced on his Facebook page plans to resign as mayor so he could start a new job as head of the ABC early next month.
Links to that article now lead to a different version.
The newer one is now conditional, saying that Halfacre will resign as mayor “if” he is appointed to the Christie administration post, for which “he is being considered.”
The Press article does not allude to the newspaper’s earlier report and explain why it was changed.
But a source tells redbankgreen that the original article was published while Press reporter Larry Higgs was awaiting confirmation from the Christie Administration. And when Higgs finally got someone in the administration press office on the phone, he was told that the Halfacre appointment was not a done deal, and that the Fair Haven mayor was under consideration for the job.
Higgs was also told that Halfacre had jumped the gun by going public.
Where the original article quoted Halfacre saying he “will make a formal announcement at Monday’s council meeting to the public and my last day as mayor will be Feb. 3,” the current one says, “If the nomination comes through, Halfacre said, he will make a formal announcement at the Borough Council meeting Monday.”
Halfacre also would have to resign as municipal prosecutor in Little Silver and Rumson, the Press reports.
redbankgreen has not heard back from Halfacre on a request for comment.
I respectfully submit that the headline “Press backpedals” doesn’t accurately reflect the situation since:
1. The initial online update published came from a reputable source.
2. The attorney generals office referred our questions to the governor’s office. A call to the governors office was the second call made after a message was left on Halfacre’s work voice mail.
2. It took one e-mail and two phone calls to the governor’s spokesmen, including a reminder call made at 6:02 p.m., after they sent out a list of nominations that did not include Halfacre’s name. It took some cajoling to get an e-mail response to the most basic question from the governors office – is he (Halfacre) being considered. That came at 6:49 p.m. And as you know, I had a planning board meeting to cover at 7.
In conclusion- the backpedaling was on the part of public officials, not the APP, which did its due diligence and reported the most up-to-date facts as they became available. I hope this clears up any confusion.
Wait, what??? Does he have the job or doesn’t he?