News
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On November 13, 2017, the New Jersey Local Finance Board (LFB) issued Notices of Violation to Ridgewood Village's (Bergen County) former Mayor and Manager for authorizing and appearing in a video that advocated only one side of a referendum question that was pending before Village voters.
The Notices of Violation, issued against former Mayor Paul Arohnson and former Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, both arose out of a June 21, 2016 referendum question which sought $11,500,000 in bonds or notes to finance the cost of constructing a new parking deck. Under New Jersey law, government officials may use public resources to educate--but not to persuade--voters on public issues.
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- Written by: Murray Sabrin
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in The Record, November 17th
Regarding: “If you want services, pay taxes” (The Record: Your Views, Nov. 15):
The letter writer asserts that people should stop complaining about taxes because they – taxes – pay for schools, police, garbage, pickup etc., but commits an egregious misconception about these services. Namely, that they must be paid for by using coercion, which is the essence of taxation.
New Jersey Libertarian Party General Meeting
Sunday November 12, 2017 – Killarney's 5:00pm
AGENDA
5:00 Call to order & quorum check [Chair]
5:00 Agenda review & approval [Chair]
5:05 Membership Report [VP of Membership]
5:10 Secretary's Report [Secretary]
Approval of minutes of prior board meeting
5:15 Treasurer's report [Treasurer]
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Letters to Editor
Imagine a horse race where the faster horses are given a head start. This is how New Jersey elections are run. The incumbent politicians have given themselves advantages in elections and have paid for it with your tax dollars.
As of October 12th, Democrat Phil Murphy has received $7.4 million in public funds, Republican Kim Guadagno has received just under $2.1 million in public funds. Libertarian candidate, Peter Rohrman, has not received any public funds. NJ’s matching fund program allows candidates to be given $2 from public funds for every dollar they raise. Candidates from other political parties and independent candidates are excluded by setting a minimum level of $430 thousand that must be raised to qualify for the program. The more successful your campaign, the more money you get from the government. In true Orwellian newspeak, NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission Chair, Jeff Brindle, says that these funds allow those who qualify to “mount competitive campaigns”.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in The Record, 10/4/2017
I wonder if the people making such a big deal over some players in the NFL not standing for the national anthem realize we didn’t even have an “anthem” until the 1930’s and the tune to which it’s played isn't even American, but the tune of an old English drinking song. The same could be said about the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, which wasn’t written until the 1890s and by a self-avowed Socialist named Walter Bellamy at that.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Press Releases
New Jersey Libertarian Party
PO Box 56, Tennent, NJ 07763-0056
(732)962-6557
njlp.org,
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McKnight –Chair, NJLP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NJ Libertarian Party Fighting For Lower Property Taxes
Tennent, NJ, September 20, 2017 –
I love New Jersey. My family has lived here for four generations. Unfortunately, New Jersey has become a difficult place to live for anyone other than the extremely wealthy. It doesn’t have to be this way.
In my town the average homeowner will pay nearly $150,000 in property taxes over the next 10 years. This fact represents a serious failure of public policy. A community should be more than a school district where its graduates can’t even afford to live.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in The Record, 9/14/2017, USA Today, 9/13/2017, and the Suburban Trends, 9/20/2017
While racism, bigotry and hate deserve to be condemned, I can't help but observe that many of the letter writers to The Record display an appalling lack of historical knowledge despite their noble intentions.
For example, I see the concept of secession being labeled as treason when applied to the South in 1860. If that’s the case, then the original 13 colonies should be condemned for seceding or breaking away from England in 1776. Keep in mind that the states brought the federal government into existence not the reverse.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in The Record, 9/7/2017, USA Today, 9/6/2017, and the Suburban Trends, 9/13/2017
In the three weeks since the violence in Charlottesville, not many people have taken note that the “Alt Right” white nationalists and the “Antifa” counter protesters actually have some things in common. For example, both groups are hostile towards a free market economy, in that they both oppose free trade. Recall the “Occupy Wall Street” rallies of several years back, when many of the same people and organizations that were in Charlottesville were also involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Both groups believe in censorship of those they don't agree with. If either side ever got in power you could kiss the Bill of Rights goodbye. Can anyone imagine the white nationalists, the Ku Klux Klan, or National Socialists (Nazis) allowing blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians or people in the LGBTQ community the right to own guns or have First Amendment rights? The other side would do the same thing in a heartbeat.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
NJLP Board Member, Dorit Goikhman, interviews John Paff.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
While "personnel records" of public employees are mostly exempt under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10 makes certain types of personnel information expressly available to the public. Specifically, a public employee's "name, title, position, salary, payroll record, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor, and the amount and type of any pension received shall be a government record" and must be disclosed to the public.
As one can see, one of the items within the public domain is an employee's "payroll record." But, what exactly is a payroll record and what information must it contain?
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On June 5, 2017, the Borough of Tuckerton (Ocean County) quietly paid $8,225.36 to settle a lawsuit brought by a suspended Borough police officer who was indicted on January 13, 2015 for allegedly causing his K-9 canine "Gunner" attack a 58-year-old female motorist on January 29, 2014 and then falsifying an arrest record to cover his actions. Under the terms of the settlement, Tuckerton also agreed to forgive $16,774.64 in health premiums that the Borough said the officer owed and also gave full ownership of Gunner to the officer.
Tuckerton officer Justin M. Cherry filed two lawsuits against the Borough--one each in federal and state court. In both complaints, Cherry claimed that he was deprived of some training opportunities and that when he complained he was met with "demeaning and harassing" conduct by Chief Michael Caputo. Cherry said Caputo's harassment was retaliatory and that Caputo "has been determined to terminate [Cherry's] employment by any means." Caputo's alleged harassment consisted of refusing to compensate Cherry for his "at home" care of Gunner and accusing Cherry of hacking Caputo's e-mails.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On August 3, 2017, Libertarians for Transparent Government (LFTG) filed a lawsuit against the Wall Township Board of Education challenging its refusal to disclose an invoice from Jostens, the high school's yearbook vendor.
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- Written by: Todd McHale
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Originally published by Burlington County Times, republished under Creative Common License
FLORENCE -- The police chief has come under fire from the municipality and from rank-and-file members of his department.
Chief John Bunce was taken off the job earlier this week until the conclusion of an investigation concerning his conduct.
Township Administrator Richard Brook said Bunce was placed on paid administrative leave Monday afternoon, effective immediately. Bunce could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On October 15, 2015, both Keith Brown of NJ Advance Media and Isaac Avilucea of the Trentonian reported that State Police Detective Doug Muraglia was one of the two officers who together fired as many as eighteen shots at Radazz Hearns, then age 14, on August 7, 2015. The other officer who fired at Hearns was identified by the newspapers as Mercer County Sheriff’s Detective James Udijohn.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On June 5, 2017, the Town of Dover (Morris County) paid $382,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by an officer who said that he was retaliated against for complaining about ticket-fixing and for reporting that officers were "stealing time" by leaving work early or taking days off.
In his complaint, Timothy Thiel claimed that during a 2011 traffic stop of a car driven by a campaign worker for Mayor James Dodd and which carried Alderwoman Carolyn Blackman as a passenger, he "was pressured to not write tickets because of who was in the car." Thiel said that after he wrote two summonses despite the pressure, he learned that the tickets were improperly dismissed by the municipal court without his knowledge or approval. Through a police sergeant, the ticket-fixing allegation was reported to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
July 26, 2017
Internal Affairs Unit
Neptune Township Police Department
25 Neptune Blvd.
Neptune, NJ 07753
(via fax only to 732-774-0982 )
RE: Officer Aaron Lay
Dear Sir or Madam:
I chair the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Police Accountability Project and ask that you accept this letter as an Internal Affairs complaint. Note that this is the second complaint we have filed regarding a warrantless strip search. Our first complaint was filed on March 18, 2013 and reported that Lieutenant Robert Mangold had conducted a warrantless strip search that resulted in two glassine bags of heroin being suppressed by the court. Notwithstanding the court's finding, your Internal Affairs Unit exonerated Mangold after finding that he "followed the appropriate department policies and procedures."
NJLP Board Member, Dorit Goikhman, interviews LNC member Arvin Vohra.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
On December 9, 2016, the Burlington County Institute of Technology (BCIT) quietly paid $65,000 to settle a former African-American student's lawsuit which claimed that he was repeatedly racially harassed by other students and that school officials took no corrective action.
In his suit, Venice Samuel, III of Willingboro, who was a minor at the time the suit was filed but an adult at the time it was settled, claimed that he suffered several incidents of racial harassment during his junior and senior years at the BCIT's Medford Campus. Samuel claimed that he was repeatedly called a n****r during October 2012 by a student identified in the lawsuit only as "D.D." He said that Assistant Principal Michael Parker failed to take any action after receiving Samuel's complaints.
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- Written by: Kevin Lowery
- Category: Events
The New Jersey Libertarian Party and I would like to cordially invite you to join us for a night of comedy relief in support of your favorite Garden State political party.
The first annual Laughs for Liberty will be held June 24, 2017 at the Atlantic City Comedy Club. This event features some of the best area comics, see the attached flyer.