News
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On September 18, 2013, the City of Bridgeton (Cumberland County) agreed to pay $19,500 to a local woman who sued the City's police department and municipal court for failing to note in their computer systems that she had already posted bail, causing her to be arrested and processed twice for the same offense. The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office, which was also named in the lawsuit, separately paid $3,000 to the woman.
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- Written by Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
There are many economic theories that are debatable. The Law of Supply and Demand is not one of them. All reputable economists from all schools of economic thought agree - a high supply of a product results in lower prices. This is true of all goods that can be bought and sold - gasoline, food, labor, home services, and medical care. When there are more hospitals, hospital beds, medical services, and doctors that are willing to compete for your health care dollars there will be lower prices and better service. In a competitive market the consumer wins. When the supply is constrained the consumer loses.
New Jersey is one of 36 states that provides protectionism to existing medical suppliers by restricting capital improvements in health care by requiring all new facilities to obtain approval from a state board.
CATO Institute: The Cronyism of ‘Certificate of Need’ Laws
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Once again the Tax Foundation has ranked NJ dead last among the 50 states for business climate. Contributing to NJ's awful business climate were our high property taxes (50th), high income taxes (48th), high sales taxes (48th), high corporate taxes (41st) and our high levels of regulation.
Tax Freedom Day Arrives on May 9th in New JerseyTax Freedom Day is the day when Americans finally have earned enough money to pay off their total tax bill for the year. In 2014, New Jersey taxpayers worked until May 9th (latest nationally) to pay their total tax bill. The Tax Freedom Days of neighboring states are: New York, May 4th (ranked 3rd latest nationally); Pennsylvania, April 21st (ranked 15th latest nationally); and Delaware, April 18th (ranked 19th latest nationally). |
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
By way of background, Atlantic County Judge Nelson C. Johnson, on June 10, 2014, required Galloway Township to disclose e-mail logs showing the sender, recipient, date and subject line of each e-mail sent by a specific government employee during a specified period of time. On September 4, 2014, Galloway appealed from that ruling. More information and case documents are on-line here.
The NJLP is proud to announce a forum on urban issues. Join us for a discussion of issues including education, the war on drugs, and corruption. The event will be held at the Trenton Public Library beginning at 1:00 PM on October 25th 2014.
More information is on our meetup page. All are encouraged to attend. The event will also be streamed live below.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On November 19, 2010, the City of Bridgeton (Cumberland County) agreed to pay $442,500 to a local man who sued members of the Bridgeton Police Department for allegedly beating him and fabricating charges against him. In addition, the city also paid $87,500 to the man's two co-plaintiffs.
In his suit, Thomas Bard, along with co-plaintiff's Donald Thomas and Jay Hall, all of whom are African-American, alleged generally that the Bridgeton Police Department "entered into a conspiracy to deprive minority residents of the City of Bridgeton of their civil rights under a pretext of combating drug trafficking and 'gang activity.'" According to the lawsuit, Bridgeton Police had a long history of routinely profiling racial minorities and targeting them for motor vehicle stops, arrests without probable cause and physical assaults. $442,500 was paid to Plaintiff Thomas Bard. and the city's insurer confirmed that co-plaintiffs Donald Thomas and Jay Hall, Jr were paid $7,500 and $80,000 respectively.
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- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
NJ Television also covered the issue in an article here.
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- Written by Jay Edgar
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
As a result of a request from the NJ Libertarian Party, the Borough of Paulsboro has repealed Chapter 28, Curfew of the Code of the Borough of Paulsboro.
The repeal passed 5 to 1. Several councilmen stated objections. Councilman Corradetti expressed concern that police wouldn't be able to stop people from congregating on the streets. Councilman Stevenson, the lone no vote, blamed the illegality of loitering ordinances on the ACLU.
The NJ Libertarian Party strongly believes that the police should not have the power to stop people from congregating on the streets at all. All local loitering ordinances in New Jersey are invalid and unenforceable.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In 2007, the New Jersey Legislature enacted N.J.S.A. 43:15A-7.2, which was intended to curtail the participation of professional service providers such as attorneys and engineers in the New Jersey Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS). The law, which became effective on January 1, 2008, made these professionals ineligible for PERS participation as of the expiration date of their existing contract or annual appointment.
Despite this mandate, the New Jersey's Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), in a July 17, 2012 report entitled "Improper Participation By Professional Service Providers In The State Pension System," (on-line here) found that "an overwhelming majority" the municipalities and school districts it surveyed had "failed to comply with the statutory requirement to remove independent contractors from PERS." This failure, the OSC report noted, has the potential to cost the state millions of dollars in inappropriate future pension benefits."
According to the report, the OSC developed a list of 332 professionals, retained by 228 municipalities and school districts, who remained in the PERS system after the law took effect. The OSC then conducted a survey of 58 of the 228 local units and several of those municipalities surveyed are mentioned in the report.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On July 16, 2014, the Township of Lacey (Ocean County) agreed to pay $10,000 to three brothers who sued members of the Lacey Police Department for allegedly applying excessive force, falsely arresting them and searching their premises without a warrant.
In their suit, Daniel, John and Joseph Samoles said that on May 27, 2010, police were called after Bessie A. Patten "attempted to extort money from Plaintiff Daniel Samoles at gunpoint." Daniel said that he called police after disarming Patten and that Officers Brian Flynn, Adam Ewart, Gerald Noda, Paul Sullivan, Thomas Bruce, James Veltri and James Wood arrived at the residence. The officers, with guns drawn, ordered the brothers out of the house and told them to get on their knees and raise their hands. The men, who claimed that their home security camera recorded the event, said that the officers arrested them and applied excessive force even though the brothers complied with all police commands. The brothers said that the officers then went into the house without a warrant and searched the family's personal belongings. They also claimed that $2,000 was stolen.
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- Category: Police Accountability Project
Police Accountability Project of the New Jersey Libertarian Party
Paul Morrison, Chief
Roselle Park Police Department
110 East Westfield Avenue
Roselle Park, NJ 07204
via e-mail only to
Dear Chief Morrison:
I chair the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Police Accountability Project and ask that you accept this e-mail as our Internal Affairs complaint. I am forwarding this complaint to you, as Chief of Police, because there is nothing on your web site identifying the person within your Department to whom an Internal Affairs complaint should be directed.
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- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
See the editorial written in support of repealing outdated loitering laws on The Press of Atlantic City website.
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- Written by Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Today the Reason Foundation released their 21st Annual Report on the Performance of the State Highway System. This report ranks the quality and spending on the state highways based on data reported by each state for 2012 and part of 2011. Our legislators should be hanging their heads in shame while the taxpayers should be sharpening their pitchforks.
The condition of New Jersey highways ranks very low while spending per mile far outpaces the rest of the nation. New Jersey spends 12.5 times more than the national average per mile. This is over 3 times more than Massachusetts, the next lowest spender.
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- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
As a result of pressure from the NJ Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project, Manville has repealed three loitering and curfew ordinances.
An article announcing the repeal has been published by The Manville news. A recent letter sent by by committee chair, John Paff to the Borough of Manville is below.
Manville was originally scheduled to repeal this ordinance one year ago.
Does your town have an outdated ordinance? If so contact us and we will see what we can do.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Asserting that "the criminal investigation has concluded," Gloucester Township (Camden County) municipal attorney David F. Carlamere has disclosed police reports of a "theft of services" allegedly committed by former Township Public Works Director Len Moffa. I have previously blogged about this lawsuit here.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In a September 3, 2014 letter, Perth Amboy (Middlesex County) City Attorney Mark J. Blunda, provided a redacted copy of a two-page police report regarding an alleged sexual assault by one Perth Amboy school teacher against another. The letter and the report, on-line here, bring my lawsuit, which I blogged about here, to an end.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
Hon. W. Jeffery Hamilton, Mayor, and members of the
Paulsboro Borough Council
1211 Delaware Street
Paulsboro, NJ 08066
Via e-mail only
Dear Mayor Hamilton and Council members:
For the reasons that follow, I believe that Chapter 28 of Paulsboro's Code, establishing a juvenile curfew, is unconstitutional and that a person against whom enforcement is sought may have a viable lawsuit against the Borough.
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- Written by John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I just learned today that Roy Rogers, the Gloucester Township Housing Authority's (GTHA) former director, filed a lawsuit against the Authority earlier this year alleging that he was improperly fired on February 27, 2013 and that he "was terminated for his objection to unethical GTHA policies and actions." The lawsuit is on-line here.
The most specific allegations start on page 9 and include charges that Mayor David Mayer "became visibly angry and frustrated" when Rogers objected to awarding a contract for a development project to a person who did not submit a bid. He also charged that he upset Township officials when he "refused to request campaign donations at fundraisers from private contractors for GTHA commissioners and Township officials and candidates." He also claimed that he verbally objected to a land transfer made by GTHA Commissioner Cindy Carlamere and her husband, who is Gloucester Township Attorney David Carlamere, stating that it was "unethical and procedurally improper."