By Len Flynn, NJ Libertarian Editor

This article contains interviews with NJLP members who have visited New Hampshire, the home of the libertarian “Free State Project .” (FSP). The FSP encourages libertarians to emigrate and establish residence in NH with the goal to facilitate libertarian political action and reforms there–or at least by preventing or limiting socialist/statist developments. After all, what libertarian could argue with the state motto: “Live Free or Die”?

New Hampshire has two FSP annual events where visitors and residents can celebrate freedom. From January 3 to Sunday January 6 the 2008 NH Liberty Forum will be held in Nashua, NH. This event is immediately prior to the primary elections on January 8, and the final scheduled speaker is Presidential candidate Ron Paul. The 2008 Porcupine Freedom Festival PorcFest 2008 will take place on June 9 to June 15, 2008 at the Gunstock Mountain Resort in Guilford, NH.

The NJ Libertarian recently interviewed John Paff asking him why Libertarians should care about the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).  John's name and activities are well known to the regular readers of the NJ Libertarian.  John is serving as the Chair of the Open Government Advocacy Council of the NJ Libertarian Party.

On June 26, 2007, during a public meeting, the Evesham Township (Burlington County) suspended a kindergarten teacher, with pay, for "improper interaction with a student in her charge."

For the last several weeks, John Paff of the NJLP Open Government task force has been trying to learn the nature of the "improper interaction" so that he (and others--especially parents and taxpayers in Evesham) can be in a position to judge whether the paid suspension was appropriate. As expected, the Board has completely denied him access to any and all information regarding this matter.

By Mark Richards, resident of West Milford and guest contributor
Published in West Milford AIM on November 16, 2007 and also in Suburban Trends November 11, 2007

In a recent “Guest Contributor” column, a writer expressed are discussed with Congressman Scott Garrett’s voting record. She was also upset that three local candidates appeared in a photo in another newspaper with Congressman Garrett.

I have to be honest, I voted for Scott Garrett once in 2002, the first time he ran for Congress. I truly hoped that he would be another force for individual liberty, limited constitutional government and free market economics, like the truly great and principled Congressman Ron Paul of Texas (the only sane presidential candidate of those Republicans seeking the 2008 nomination.)

By Mark Richards, Guest Contributor
Published in West Milford AIM on September 28, 2007 and also in Suburban Trends September 23, 2007.

Our U.S. Representative in Congress, Scott Garrett, has been taking a lot of heat lately by not supporting the animal fighting prohibition enforcement act, which grew out of the frenzy over the Michael Vick dogfighting case. Far from being attacked by “animal rights” groups and the press, Rep. Garrett should be praised for his clear understanding and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. I have before me my pocket size edition of the Constitution published by libertarian Cato Institute.

On November 12, 2007 NJLP Chairman Lou Jasikoff and I attended the Eagleton Institute of Politics panel discussion on publicly funded elections in New Jersey. For this year’s experimental test of the so-called “fair and clean elections” (FACE) process, candidates in three state legislative districts were required to collect a minimum of 400 $10 contributions from residents of the district to qualify for “clean elections” labeling and funding. In the 14th District Libertarian Assembly candidate Jason Scheurer managed to meet that standard.

New Jersey 14^th District Candidate for Assembly Jason Scheurer alledged that News 12 New Jersey News Director Randal Stanley was politically biased by excluding Jason from an infomercial that News 12 produced and aired promoting only the Republican and the Democrat candidates. Jason's allegations are based not only by Stanley's actions, but also his words.

Some in the media have questioned Jason's assertion, mostly because News 12 is a news organization. The media seems to have trouble believing that News 12 crossed the line by promoting only the two major parties. We have the audio stream recorded prior to the "forum" where Jason tries to reason with Stanley.

Listen for yourself as Randal Stanley says he would invite a Republican that has no chance of winning while excluding a certified candidate. 

NJLP Chairman Louis Jasikoff received a written apology today from Gerald Pomper of the Eagleton Institute. Pomper claims that he his "prone to extravagant language to promote discussion" and reasserts his preference to keep "dissidents" out of general elections. His advice to work through the primary elections does not explain his inclusion of Dr. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich on his list, however.

Until this becomes the official NJLP site I shall use it to post Ron Paul stuff!!