Candidates Booted From NJ Supermarket Lot

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- The parking lot at a supermarket in a southern New Jersey shore community is a no spin zone.

Management told Democratic Cape May County freeholder candidate Robert Jackson to stop greeting voters in the Acme parking lot in Lower Township on Monday.

Republican Congressman Frank LoBiondo got the same treatment last month.

Store manager Brett Katsiff told The Press of Atlantic City the store does not allow candidates of any party to campaign on its property.

"We can't be partisan,'' he said. "It's all politicians (who are banned), because we can't be seen as being for or against any particular candidate.''

That policy does not sit well with Jackson, who also recently caught flak for approaching voters in the parking lot of a Wawa convenience store.

"I can't stand in a black asphalt parking lot without permission from the Acme?'' he asked. "A parking lot should be a common place. The general public is losing its ability to have discourse in a public place. It's about open access to the public where they meet. It's shocking to me that this is the way things are going.''

Katsiff said the supermarket recently bought the parking lot from the shopping center of which it is part. He said the store gives permission to community and scholastic organizations to use space in front of the store to raise funds.

Last month, the store let various groups use the space to promote breast cancer awareness.

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