Nothing makes up for Ladies Night loss
BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL, Star-Ledger from the Web, September 27, 2004
Since New Jersey's top anti-discrimination officer declared Ladies Night illegal in June, the Coastline Restaurant in Cherry Hill tried a variety of alternatives to pump up a Wednesday night crowd accustomed to cut-rate drinks for women.
One strategy was to sell drinks for a buck -- to males and females alike. The bar also marketed Wednesday as Equal Gender Night, when half-price discounts were offered to all patrons and no one paid a cover charge.
But Christos Mourtos, the Coastline's owner, said the alternatives all flopped.
"Equal Gender Night didn't do anything," he said. "It was a huge financial loss.
I lost 50 percent of my sales."
Civil Rights Director J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo's ruling that Ladies Nights discriminate against male patrons drew late-night television ridicule and scorn from Gov. James E. McGreevey.
The Assembly quickly voted to restore Ladies Nights, but the bill didn't become law because the Senate didn't act.
As a result, bars across New Jersey just ended a summer season without Ladies Nights.
"One reason some of the Shore-area establishments had a slower summer might have been because of Ladies Night," said Deborah Dowdell, president of the New Jersey Restaurant Association.
"Most of the restaurants I know did stop the practice."
While the Assembly bill (A3005) to make Ladies Nights lawful again passed 78-0 in June, it hasn't gotten a hearing in the Senate yet, where it sits in the upper house's Judiciary Committee.
Sen. John Adler (D-Camden), Judiciary Committee chairman, said he believes the senators will eventually vote to restore Ladies' Nights, but he is not in a hurry to bring it up for a vote.
He noted that his agenda is dominated with counterterrorism and homeland security measures.
"While I do understand it has economic impact, it's not, to me, the most important issue facing me as the leader of the Judiciary Committee," Adler said.
"I'm trying to weigh homeland security (and) Ladies Night, and I keep coming up with homeland security."
McGreevey, who scoffed at the Ladies Night ruling in June, plans to sign the legislation allowing such promotions as soon as it clears the Legislature, said his spokesman, Micah Rasmussen.
But the governor, who will resign Nov. 15, does not intend to force the return of Ladies Nights by issuing an executive order, a tactic he has used to address other initiatives languishing in the Legislature.
Mourtos said he is still bitter over the legal hassle he endured after a male patron complained of discrimination in 1998 when he was not offered free admission that Mourtos offered women on Ladies Night.
An administrative law judge said the patron, David Gillespie, had been discriminated against on the basis of his sex.
Vespa-Papaleo, in a ruling that effectively turned out the lights on Ladies Night, agreed, saying:
"To interpret (the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination) to permit such 'minor' acts of discrimination would be to disregard its intended goal, which is 'nothing less than the eradication of the cancer of discrimination.'"
He sent the case back to the Office of Administrative Law for decisions on sanctions.
Lamenting the loss of Ladies Night, Mourtos said simple math shows bars lose more money if they give a discount to everyone.
He fears this forced suspension of Ladies Nights may have forever soured his male patrons on the whole notion of the promotion.
"Now the guys have gotten used to not paying a cover and getting discounted drinks," he said.
Dunstan McNichol covers state government issues.
He can be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341.
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