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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Candidates and Elections
Gary Johnson will quit the Republican primaries and seek the Libertarian Party nomination instead, POLITICO has learned.
The former two-term New Mexico governor, whose campaign for the GOP nomination never caught fire, will make the announcement at a press conference in Santa Fe on Dec. 28. Johnson state directors will be informed of his plans on a campaign conference call Tuesday night, a Johnson campaign source told POLITICO.
The move has been expected for weeks -- Johnson had run a New Hampshire-centric effort that never got him past a blip in the polls. He appeared at only two nationally televised debates, and only one in which other major candidates took part.
Johnson expressed deep disillusionment with the process as his libertarian message failed to catch fire and he received almost no attention for his bid. He soon began flirting with the Libertarians when it became clear that he was gaining no traction in GOP primaries.
"I'm still in the race," Johnson told POLITICO last month. "I'm registered in New Hampshire and the intention would be, hope against hope that I would be able to be heard. But there is not much hope."
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- Written by: Wes benedict
- Category: Latest News
WASHINGTON - Today, December 15, libertarians celebrate Bill of Rights Day.
On December 15, 1791 the Bill of Rights was ratified, creating the first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
The Libertarian Party platform expressly supports the Bill of Rights and calls for restoring our freedoms lost as a result of laws passed in violation of the Constitution by Democratic and Republican politicians.
The Bill of Rights guarantees important individual freedoms and restrains the powers of the federal government. Among them, our rights to free speech, self-defense and justice. These restraints were later extended to the states with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Democrats and Republicans regularly violate the Bill of Rights, especially the Tenth Amendment which states that the powers of the federal government are strictly limited to those enumerated in Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution - a short list which stands in stark contrast to the incalculably long list of functions comprised by today's Big Government.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
NJ Libertarian Party member and former Libertarian candidate for NJ State Assembly is currently facing a charge of jury tampering for distributing Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) literature near the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. He is facing a hearing on December 12th in front of Judge Kimba Wood. So far the courts have denied his request for a jury trial.
The U. S. Constitution is quite clear on this issue in two places. In Article III, Sec. 2, it states: “The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury.” In Amendment VI, it states: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,...”
- Julian Heicklen in a letter to Judge Wood
Julian's story was the subject of last nights Free Talk Live show.
Cato @ Liberty also covered it here. The New York Times has a story on it here.
Julian is currently out of jail on a bond while his conviction and sentence for leafleting in Florida is under appeal.
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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 jury on Wednesday awarded $150,000 in punitive damages to the family of a Ramapough Indian who was fatally shot by a state park ranger five years ago in Mahwah.
With a 7-0 vote, the panel found that former Park Police Officer Chad Walder’s actions were “malicious or wanton” when he drew his gun and shot Emil Mann on April 1, 2006, during a confrontation near Ringwood State Park over ATV riding near Stag Hill.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On May 23, 2011, the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Police Accountability Project filed an Internal Affairs complaint against an Egg Harbor Township (Atlantic County) police officer who conducted a warrantless search of a motor vehicle. The complaint was filed after two-judge Appellate Division panel found that Officer Michael Bordanaro's search of a vehicle, which resulted in him finding a loaded 9 mm handgun, was illegal because there were no "exigent circumstances" excusing him from first getting a search warrant.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
A new lawsuit was filed yesterday in Camden County Superior Court that seeks answers to the following questions:
- How promptly must a public body publicly disclose the nonexempt portions of its nonpublic (i.e. "closed or executive") meeting minutes?
- Can a public body validly claim that it must first "approve" its nonpublic meeting minutes prior to publicly disclosing even redacted versions of them?
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On September 29, 2011, Clinton attorney Walter M. Luers filed a lawsuit on my behalf against two Atlantic County municipalities and their police officials seeking disclosure of records pertaining to a curious traffic stop during the early morning hours of February 17, 2011. A copy of that lawsuit is on-line here. A November 10, 2011 Press of Atlantic City article was written about it.
Records I requested reveal that at 2:04 a.m., Northfield City Police observed a black Mercedes sitting at a traffic light while the light went through multiple rotations. Police initially reported that they had difficulty waking the driver and getting him to "open up" the car's door. There were also recorded conversations indicating that the driver was "A.O.B." (which, in police-speak, means "alcohol on breath.")
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
From our friends at Downsize DC:
E-Verify is "an Internet-based system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). E-Verify is currently free to employers and is available in all 50 states. E-Verify provides an automated link to federal databases to help employers determine employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers."
It is currently a voluntary system. House bill H.R. 2885, however, would make it mandatory for all employers. The result is an even more intrusive National ID System than the REAL ID, against which DownsizeDC.org has successfully fought.
The nominal intent of the bill is to crack down on illegal immigration, even though America has a shortage of unskilled labor and would be better served by broadening immigration law.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
On November 8th there is one lone ballot question:
Shall the amendment to Article IV, Section VII, paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the state of New Jersey, agreed to by the Legislature, providing that it shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize by law wagering at casinos or gambling houses in Atlantic City and at current and former running and harness horse racetracks on the results of professional, certain college, or amateur sport or athletic events, be approved?
If approved by the voters this bill will potentially place New Jersey law at odds with federal law. In 1993 the federal government banned sports betting nationwide with an exception for four states (Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana) because at the time those states had recognized legal betting.
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- Written by: Geoffrey Lewin
- Category: Selected Blogs
Last May, New Jersey’s Supreme Court delivered the 21st Abbott vs. Burke decision, appropriating $500 million more from the state treasury for Abbott school districts. However, New Jersey’s history of court-ordered taxation to fund education originated with the Gross Income Tax Act of 1976. Advertised as a means to lower property taxes and limit the growth of public spending, the income tax was forced on residents by the court in order to improve student performance in economically disadvantaged districts by increasing per-pupil spending to the level of the wealthier districts.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
On Friday, Joe Siano of the New Jersey Libertarian Party met with representatives of Occupy Wall Street and the NJ Tea Party to discuss our common goals and our differences.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On October 6, 2011, an Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) case was filed in Gloucester County Superior Court. Cheryl Potter, a local resident, brought the suit against each member of the Elk Township Committee. Potter is being represented by John W. Trimble, Jr., Esq. of Trimble & Armano of Turnersville.
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- Written by: Julian Heicklen
- Category: Candidates and Elections
Starting in 2009, I have distributed American Jury Institute pamphlets at courthouses informing juries of their right to judge the law as well as the facts. This is a well established duty of British and American juries. But judges keep it secret from the juries. Along with the pamphlets, I distribute a flyer that reads:
The Judge will instruct the jury that it must uphold the law as he gives it.
He will be lying.
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- Written by: David Schneck
- Category: Candidates and Elections
I guess that if you want to be rich and still well-liked, you need to be the iconic head of a well known brand that people have an emotional attachment to. In all the (well deserved) tributes to Steve Jobs, including from the redistributor-in-chief, I never heard one person say that Jobs didn’t pay his “fair share” of taxes (except for my tongue-in-cheek rant below). In Jobs’s case, just bringing us neat gadgets and movies was enough.
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- Written by: Mark Hinkle
- Category: Latest News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2011
Contact: Wes Benedict, Executive Director
E-mail:
Phone: 202-333-0008 ext. 222
Libertarians to Bernanke: You're wrong
WASHINGTON - Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle issued the following statement today:
"Associated Press reports today that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is telling Congress they must not cut federal spending sharply. Chairman Bernanke, you're wrong.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Police Accountability Project
As a result of a request from the NJ Libertarian Party Police Accountability Project, the following has been published in the New Jersey Register:
NEW JERSEY REGISTER
Copyright © 2011 by the New Jersey Office of Administrative LawVOLUME 43, ISSUE 18
ISSUE DATE: SEPTEMBER 19, 2011
PUBLIC NOTICES
LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY
DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
43 N.J.R. 2535(a)Notice of Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
At the May 10, 2011 Runnemede (Camden County) Board of Education executive session, Board Attorney Philip E. Stern, Esq. said that he would contact me and another citizen "requesting that [we] cease and desist [filing OPRA requests] under possible charges of harassment." The minutes of the closed meeting, which I learned about just today, were available on the Board's site as well as here.
According to the minutes, I and two other citizens were filing Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests "in an effort to find some information to support [a] suspicion . . . that some fraud or unethical events occurred." Board attorney Phillip Stern opined that "the volume and nature [of the OPRA requests] has been expanding and interferes with the ability to administer the district."