News
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
At a special meeting to be held on January 14, 2009, at 7 p.m. the Rutherford Mayor and Council will discuss amendments to the Council's bylaws.
In its January 12, 2009 letter, the Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project offered some comments and suggestions regarding Rutherford's bylaws. That letter, along with a copy of the present bylaws, is on-line HERE.
I decided to get involved with Rutherford's
bylaws after reading an article in the local paper, which I've pasted below.
Anyone who wishes to make additional suggestions
to be considered by the Council at its January
14th meeting can send them to Clerk Mary Kriston
John Paff, Chair
Open Government Advocacy Project
New Jersey Libertarian Party
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Rules in Central Jersey towns vary widely as Edison weighs limit on public-meeting comments
EDISON —As the debate over curbing public comment at Township Council meetings continues, a survey of neighboring municipalities shows that most do not limit public comment at their meetings.
The portion of the proposed ordinance that has ignited public ire in Edison seeks to limit individuals to speaking just once on each of the categories of business on the meeting's agenda, with a limit of four minutes each time.
See full article. Includes comments of the NJ Libertarian Party Open Government Taskforce.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Candidates and Elections
When one election is over, the next one has already begun. Operation ELECT-US is a program by the Libertarian Party to recruit as many candidates as possible for winnable local offices in 2009.
In odd numbered years, most elections are local and quite a few of them take place in the spring. For example, filing deadlines for local elections have already begun in Maryland, and take place in Illinois in December.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Paterson pays $10,000 to settle vaguely worded police abuse case. On May 28, 2008, the City of Paterson paid $10,000 to a local man who had sued the City and Paterson Police officers John Plelan and Frank Motta in August 2007 for an alleged police "assault" occurring on October 6, 2005.
In his cryptically worded civil lawsuit, Alex Lopez claimed that the officers, along with other unnamed officers, "committed an assault and battery upon" him and "committed acts which constituted false imprisonment." No further details are provided in the lawsuit. Lopez was represented in his lawsuit by Alan Roth, Esq. of Bendit Weinstock, P.C. of West Orange.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Although Thomas Wachendorf's and Christopher Strobel's brutality lawsuits against the Readington Township police have received a fair amount of publicity (see, e.g. the January 4, 2007 Star Ledger article, which is set forth at the foot of this posting), the amount of their settlements with Readington have not been publicly disclosed until now.
Wachendorf
In a settlement reached January 23, 2007, Thomas J. Wachendorf settled his case against the Readington Township and officers Christopher DeWire and Scott Crater for $45,000. This figure has not previously been released probably because both Wachendorf and the Township agreed that "the terms and conditions of [their] settlement and the claims upon it was based shall remain confidential in so far as permitted by law." This confidentiality agreement cannot, however, defeat a citizen's right to gain access to it by way of an Open Public Records Act request.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
Looking back at 2008 the NJ Libertarian Party had many notable achievements.
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The number of registered Libertarians in NJ grew by 61%. See NJ Libertarians Pass Greens as NJ's 3rd Biggest Party. This growth can probably be most attributed to the success of Ron Paul's campaign and his libertarian message.
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NJ Open Government Taskforce takes on a record number of cases. Buena Vista, Edison, Elmer, Hoboken, Interlaken Borough, Lawnside, Long Hills School Board, Manasquan Township, Middletown, Mount Arlington, NJ Division of Law, Penns Grove, Roselle Borough, Sparta Board of Education, Upper Freehold Board of Education, Washington Borough, Watchung Borough, White Township and many other towns were taken to task on their lack of openness.
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Loitering and other "preempted" ordinances challenged in Belmar, Butler, Delran, Edgewater Park, Elmer, Lyndhurst, Manasquan, Millstone, Mount Olive, Newton, Ramsey, and West Milford Township. Most of these were successful. See the NJ Loitering Page for a summary.
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Sent 14 delegates to the National Libertarian Convention in Denver to represent New Jersey.
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Held a unique dual state convention with Pennsylvania that among other things featured a presidential debate of nine candidates.
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We opened our first statewide office in 30 years on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
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Jason Scheurer, our Senate candidate, campaigned throughout the state. Some of the locations where events were held included Atlantic City, Clark, Freehold, Montclair, Morganville, New Brunswick, Philadelphia, Sayreville, Sparta, Trenton, Westville, and Whippany.
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We hosted the first ever Presidential simulcast. Bob Barr was here in New Jersey while Wayne Allen Root was in Denver. We broadcast both locations over the internet.
See our newsletters and our website for more of our accomplishments in 2008.
We could not have accomplished this work without the help of our many donors, members, and volunteers. If you are not already a member, please consider joining the party as a member. Your membership will help us to continue the fight for freedom in New Jersey.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Selected Blogs
Since its creation as a Jewish state in the late 1940s, Israel has been one of the main sources of tension and unrest in the Middle East. Now, more than 50 years later, Israel once again finds itself at odds with its Palestinian neighbors, forcing the hand of the United States to show where it stands on one of the most polarizing issues in modern history.
The tension between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East goes back thousands of years, and there is no easy solution to the issues in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. Many U.S. presidential administrations have tried to act as brokers of power or arbiters of peace without any success.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project has commented on and made suggestions regarding the Edison Township (Middlesex County) Council's proposal to change its Administrative Code, which is up for a Council vote on January 14th. This is the code that governs the conduct at Council meetings and regulates public participation at those meetings.
Among the items questioned is a provision barring the public from making whatever the Council President determines to be "defamatory, insulting or inflammatory remarks" at meetings. I also asked for a precise definition of an "effective majority" of the Council. The letter to the Council and the full text of the proposal is available HERE.
The full text of the existing Code is on-line HERE.
John Paff
Somerset, New Jersey
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Mount Holly settles civil rights lawsuit
By: DANIELLE CAMILLI, Burlington County Times
MOUNT HOLLY &emdash; A federal civil rights lawsuit that pitted a Garden Street couple
against town hall has been settled with the township admitting no wrongdoing, but paying the residents $75,000 in a confidential agreement.The settlement between the township and Andrew and Alda Copeland was signed in September, but made public only this month after the chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project requested and received documents through the state’s Open Public Records Act.
Read the full story. The civil complaint and the confidential settlement agreement mentioned in the article are on-line HERE.
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- Written by: Lou Jasikoff
- Category: Latest News
One of the privileges of being Chair for the NJLP over the past year has been the opportunity to meet and become friends with some very interesting individuals. Not only was I in the middle of New Jersey Libertarian politics with the Jason Scheurer for U.S. Senate campaign , but I also became very involved at the national level with the Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root campaign. I wish to share one message I received from Wayne (see The Road Ahead), because it mirrors my view on the 2008 election.
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- Category: Selected Blogs
It has been an honor and privilege to serve all of my many friends, fans, voters, contributors and most importantly, the Libertarian Party as the nominee for Vice President of the United States in 2008. Thanks to all of you for your support and contributions to my campaign.
As a complete newcomer and outsider to Libertarian politics and the actual LP, many of you in the party welcomed me immediately and made me feel at home. Some of you recognized the potential I had to offer this movement and took the time to educate me in areas where I needed it (and I'm sure, still do). My knowledge grew tremendously and in many cases, my views changed dramatically. Many of you told me that I won you over as a result. I really appreciate the honest hearing you gave me and your willingness to bring me into the Libertarian fold. I'm in this for the long haul and it is my hope that I will eventually win over the few skeptics that remain.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Mad Money' host says federal entitlement program operates in the same manner as Madoff's scam
By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
12/18/2008 9:21:07 AMLove him or hate him, this time Jim Cramer makes a good point.
While some in the media have expressed fury over allegations that Bernard Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors up to $50 billion, CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer made another point.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Selected Blogs
Your home is your castle, right? Well, maybe not, as Institute for Justice client Lori Ann Vendetti explains in her battle against the city of Long Branch. Read more about this case.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Two of 17 Atlantic towns settle public records suits
By EDWARD VAN EMBDEN Staff Writer, Press of Atlantic City
A civil suit brought against 17 Atlantic County municipalities for alleged violations of the Open Public Records Act has resulted in two towns changing the way they conduct business.
Both Buena Vista Township and Folsom reached a settlement with John Paff, of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, earlier this month to provide the public with more details of their executive sessions.
Litigation against the other towns is ongoing.
Paff said he chose litigation against the municipalities after OPRA requests revealed violations regarding either the lack of details of matters discussed prior to closed sessions or withholding of minutes from those closed session meetings.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
Today the NJ Health and Senior Services Committee voted to move S119 out of committee. The vote was 6 to 1 (there were two abstentions). The bill now moves to a vote before the state Senate. There was overwhelming testimony from many patients who described how marijuana has helped them. You can listen to the testimony below. Testimony for S119 starts about 1/4 of the way in (37 minutes).
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
US Senator Frank Lautenberg sure loves his Ponzi schemes.
It is being reported that he is among the victims of a Ponzi Scheme, having invested $14 million of his families charitable foundation with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Madoff was arrested Thursday in a scheme to bilk investors. Maldoff had donated $13,600 to Lautenberg's 2008 reelection campaign.
It is ironic that Lautenberg refuses to accept any reform of the Social Security federal Ponzi Scheme. When asked by NJ Network newsman, Michael Aron, whether or not having American's decide for themselves where to invest their money, Lautenberg responded "the role of government is to not allow people to make financial mistakes."
According to the Social Security Administration's own projections , the federal Ponzi Scheme will begin to unravel in 2019 when expenses will be greater than income. They estimate that in 2041 the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted, leaving only taxed income to pay benefits.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Read the full article HERE.
By Philip Sherwell in New York
A Briton who has lived and worked legally in America for 35 years, married a US citizen and raised three children <here>, has been locked up in a New Jersey jail after falling victim to a draconian immigration crackdown prompted by the Sept 11 2001 terror attacks.
Paul Clements, 58, a permanent US resident and former tour manager for bands such as the Rolling Stones and Dire Straits, is threatened with expulsion from his adopted homeland after his passport and green card were confiscated following a work trip abroad.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
By JOSEPH P. SMITH • Daily Journal Staff Writer • December 9, 2008
BUENA VISTA -- The Township Committee is saying more about what members plan to talk about in closed session, thanks to a legal agreement with the New Jersey Libertarian Party.
The agreement was reached amicably over the last month, according to both parties.
Specifically, a seven-page, court-approved order requires the committee to be more specific about the topics it will discuss in private.
Read the full article HERE.