News
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
The recent stories regarding Anna Gristina and Catherine Scalia have once again brought up the issue of prostitution in the Empire State to the forefront. These women feel that they have done nothing wrong and they also feel that they have a right to engage in this activity, regardless of what others may think. While I personally find the thought of any adult man or woman selling his or her body for the purposes of sex disgusting and abominable, I also feel that these women should not be prosecuted and that the practice of prostitution should be decriminalized.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Is it at least an appearance of impropriety for a Township administrator to have his home's roof replaced by the same contractor who was awarded a construction contract by the Township? My letter to Fairfield Township (Cumberland County) Mayor Michael Sharp and the Township Committee, which is referenced in the article below, is on-line at http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2012/2012130Yr//Fairfield.pdf
Letter raises possible accusations of 'impropriety' against former Fairfield Township administrator Joe Veight
Published: Tuesday, May 08, 2012By Jason Laday/The News of Cumberland
FAIRFIELD TWP. — A statewide watchdog group on Tuesday released a letter to the township committee regarding what it describes as possible impropriety on part of former Fairfield administrator and clerk Joe Veight.
Written by John Paff, of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project, the letter states that Veight had contracted a local firm for repairs at his Upper Deerfield home a month before that same company was awarded a $14,052 contract with the township.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
After receiving my notice of an intended lawsuit, the Downe Township (Cumberland County) Committee passed a May 7, 2012 resolution promising to make draft copies of both its public meeting minutes and the nonexempt portions of its nonpublic (closed or executive) meeting minutes publicly available "the sooner to occur of thirty (30) days after a meeting or prior to the next scheduled meeting, whichever occurs first." My threatened lawsuit, Committee resolution and cover letters are on-line here.
Downe Township is a rural township of about 1,700 inhabitants that borders the Delaware Bay. Some towns, due to their small size, claim that they don't have the staff or resources to keep their minutes up to date. The fact that Downe is able to promise to make both its open and closed minutes publicly available prior to the next meeting challenges the "we're too small" excuse.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
There was once a time in America when we all praised the open mind. That we praised hearing open, honest and thoughtful debate on all sides of an argument; that we looked at all information, data and evidence; that we listened and read openly what people had said and wrote; that we would test our hypothesis over and over again always with the open mind and the come to our own conclusions.
Since the late 1960s and early 70s, most Americans have abandoned all that considering it all passé. They replaced it with their own prejudices, ideology and their own beliefs. In short, since that time, there has been a deliberate closing of the American mind.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I have threatened to sue the Clinton Township (Hunterdon County) Board of Education for violating the Open Public Meetings Act in a way that is new to me - by passing a verbal, closed session motion/resolution during a public meeting that differs substantially from the version of the motion/resolution that is recorded in the meeting's minutes.
By comparing the audio of the Board's meetings with the written minutes, I have found several examples where the Board passed a simple motion, in the nature of "I move that we go into executive session," but then recorded a much more verbose version of the motion in the meeting minutes. One of the main purposes of N.J.S.A. 10:4-13, which requires that public body pass a resolution in public before going into executive or closed session, is to inform the members of the public in attendance of nature of the matters that the body is going to privately discuss. For a public body to simply say that it's going into executive session and then include the details of what topics were privately discussed in the meeting's minutes--which won't be publicly available until weeks later--works against that purpose.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Thanks to CATO's Police Misconduct Reporting Project for pointing me to this story.
A Passaic County police officer sent a 12-year-old girl explicit photos of himself in uniform and tried to set up a sexual encounter with her, days after meeting the girl while assisting her family in an unrelated police matter, authorities said today. Woodland Park Police Officer Steven Vigorito Jr. pleaded not guilty in Superior Court in Paterson to charges ranging from attempted aggravated sexual assault to luring and enticing a child
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- Written by: David Schneck
- Category: Student Rights
When in the course of national affairs, it becomes necessary for one generation to dissolve the political and financial bondage which have connected it with others, and to assume among the powers of our republic, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitles it. A decent respect to the opinions of society requires that it should declare the causes which impels it to generational divorce.
We hold this truth to be self-evident, that the rights of people all generations are equal, that we, as young people, are entitled to inherit the same free and opportunity-filled country that the generation currently in power inherited.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Police Accountability Project
In April of 2011, Bogota officer Regina Tasca called for backup assistance in taking a mentally disturbed man to the hospital. Two Ridgefield Park police officers arrived and immediately rushed in to the scene and started beating on the victim. Officer Tasca attempted to intervene.
Neither of the Ridgefield Park officers have been punished.
Tasca described what we see on the videotape: "The Ridgefield Park officer automatically charges and takes him down to the ground. I was quite shocked. As he's doing that, another Ridgefield Park officer flies to the scene in his car, jumps out and starts punching him in the head."
On the tape you can hear Tara, the mother, and Kyle, her son, screaming, "Why are you punching him?" and "Stop punching me!"
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
In exchange for his guilty plea and forfeiture of the $56,000 seized, the State agreed to recommend a non-custodial probationary sentence.
- New Jersey Appellate Division decision, in State v. Al H. Aly, Docket No. A-5249-09T4, decided 04/12/2012
Under New Jersey Law, forfeited cash does not go to the general fund. Rather, "all money seized . . . shall become the property of the entity funding the prosecuting agency involved" and the prosecuting agency "shall divide the . . . money seized . . . with any other entity where the other entity's law enforcement agency participated in the surveillance, investigation, arrest or prosecution resulting in the forfeiture." N.J.S.A. 2C:64-6. (full text at http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2012/2012103Ok//2C64.pdf)
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- Written by: Mark Hinkle
- Category: Latest News
Press Release
For Immediate Release
Monday, April 16, 2012
WASHINGTON -- In light of tomorrow's personal income tax filing deadline, Libertarian National Chair, Mark Hinkle, released the following statement:
“While everyone needs revenue, only criminals and politicians insist that they have to get it through violence. The criminals, however, do not pretend they're doing it in order to serve the public, and taxes make politicians public masters rather than public servants.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
For the first time in my experience, the Atlantic County Prosecutor has taken a position on an Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) issue. In a March 27, 2012 letter, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Diane M. Ruberton advised that the Absecon Board of Education would have violated the OPMA if it had voted "through an exchange of e-mails to amend the budget to appropriate money for an increase in high school tuition." But, Ruberton opined that since "no vote was ever taken and the matter was scheduled to be addressed at a public meeting, . . . no violation of the Open Public Meeting Act ever actually occurred." Ruberton's letter is on-line here and the complainant's letter to the prosecutor's office is on-line here.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On Friday, April 20, 2012, at 9 a.m., Essex County Superior Court Judge Rachel N. Davidson will conduct an Order to Show Cause hearing in the case of John Paff v. Community Educational Centers, Inc., Docket No. ESX-L-1658-12. This case presents an issue of first impression in New Jersey--whether taxpayers lose their right to access government records when the government "contracts out" a traditional governmental function--in this case correctional services--to a private entity.
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- Written by: R. Lee Wrights
- Category: Latest News
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R. Lee Wrights, 53, a libertarian writer and political activist, is seeking the presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian message in 2012 must be a loud, clear and unequivocal call to stop all war. |
BURNET, Texas (April 14) – America has always had an “illegal immigration” problem. Just ask any Native American. During a conversation with a Cherokee chief several years ago I asked him, “What did the native tribes call America before the white settlers came here?” He looked me straight in the eyes and solemnly replied, “Ours.”
This immigration debate is a classic example of why libertarians must become better communicators. Libertarians and others advocating immigration law reform talk about “open borders.” Conservatives, on the other hand, insist America must have “secure borders.” Both sides use these terms as if they were mutually exclusive. They’re not. They’re opposite sides of the same coin. It’s possible to have borders that are both open and secure.
The problem is that the term “open borders” is not specific enough to convey to a listener what we actually mean. When some people hear the words “open borders” they immediately envision an invading army marching across our borders unchallenged. On the other hand, when others (particularly libertarians) hear open borders, all that it means is accessibility for peaceful people to come and go.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
At the following link is a December 15, 2011 decision by Burlington County Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Kelly (retired on recall) affirming the conviction of an Air Force Captain for Obstruction (N.J.S.A. 2C:29-1(a)) and Resisting Arrest (N.J.S.A. 2C:39-2a(1)). The decision is on-line here: http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2012/2012101is//ReeceCrim.pdf
At issue was a "dropped" 911 call that came from Captain Evan Reece's home in Pemberton Township. (A "dropped" 911 call is a call that is received by police but in which the caller gives no voice response to the dispatcher.) When Sergeant Peter Delagarza came to investigate the call, Reece, in a calm voice and demeanor, told him that he did not place the call.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
News from the liberterrain…
Marijuana legalization activist Ed Forchion, also known as The New Jersey Weedman or just NJWeedman, goes to court April 10 in Mt. Holly NJ for possession of a pound of cannabis in the trunk of his car, which he obtained legally in California as medical marijuana.
In a long, rambling press release on his own website Forchion has openly declared his intention of using a jury nullification defense in his trial.
To draw attention to his case and to his fight for marijuana legalization Forchion has been driving his colorfully painted "weedmobile" across the country from California to his trial in New Jersey. Along the way he has been producing video commentary as part of a "roadamentary," or road documentary, and posts them on YouTube.
Continue reading on Examiner.com NJWeedman to use nullification defense in pot possession trial - National Libertarian news
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In a March 27, 2012 letter, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr. took the Trenton City Council to task for not making "available to the public written minutes of [Council] meetings for a substantial period of time."
Citing N.J.S.A. 10:4-14, Bocchini told the Council that going forward, minutes "should be made 'promptly available' to the public and noted that a 1986 court decision defined "promptly available" as meaning within two weeks after the meeting.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
I almost donated to the Gary Johnson campaign for president the other day. However the recent article stating that he believes the "fair tax" will reboot America made me change my mind. Instead I'm going to donate to R. Lee Wright's campaign.
No general tax is fair, nor will this scheme benefit America. Substituting one form of coercion with another is certainly not libertarian. The ideal tax would be 0%. In 2012 the U.S. took $1.4 trillion in income taxes while spending $2.5 trillion. To get rid of federal income taxes and replace them with nothing would require cutting federal spending back to $1.1 trillion. This would bring spending back to where it was in 1991. We probably would not need to cut spending this much because such a drastic cut in taxation would result in increased revenue in other taxes because of the increase in wealth, commerce, and employment our country would enjoy. Doable? Maybe. Libertarian? Yes! Realistic? Sadly, hell no.
The income tax is the biggest single intrusion suffered by the American people. It forces every worker to be a bookkeeper, to open his records to the government, to explain his expenses, to fear conviction for a harmless accounting error.
Compliance wastes billions of dollars. It penalizes savings and creates an enormous drag on the U.S. economy. It is incompatible with a free society, and we aren’t libertarians if we tolerate it.
- Harry Browne, LP 1996 and 2000 Candidate for President
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Phillipsburg Police Detective James P. Stettner II fired his duty revolver into the grave a former teacher and lied about it. He pled guilty in January and was fined $1,250 for discharging a firearm less than 300 feet from a home.
The Police Department is refusing to release the details of the internal investigation or what the department punishment was. Mr. Stettner remains on the force.
According to the Asbury Park Press Data Universe, Mr. Stettner was paid $87,600 by the town of Phillipsburg in 2010. His brother, Robert Stettner, is also a Phillipsburg Police Officer Captain. Their father, James P. Stettner, Jr. is on the Phillipsburg Town Council and is a former Phillipsburg Chief of Police.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
NJLP Annual Convention
Tavern on the Lake
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Tentative Meeting Agenda
Doors Open at 8 AM, Coffee and light breakfast available
Call to order & quorum check 9:00 AM
Agenda review & approval 9:05 AM
Secretary's Report
- Minutes of prior meeting (Steering Committee Meeting 2/12/2012) 9:10
Treasurer's report
- 2011 and 2012 budget presentation 9:15