News
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- Written by: Sean Parnell, Sarah Duzyk
- Category: Latest News
We were recently sent the outstanding comments of Assemblyman Jay Webber of New Jersey, addressing the state's proposal to expand their previous failed experiment with taxpayer funded political campaigns:
Assemblyman Webber's LetterAs Assemblyman Webber succinctly states, "The role of government in our electoral process is to guarantee some level of transparency and honesty, not to pick winners. This bill turns that idea on its head by essentially empowering the government to tell us what we can say, when we can say it, and how much we can say it."
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- Written by: Andrew Davis
- Category: Latest News
We often get emails at Libertarian Party headquarters asking what exactly are the differences between the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party. The confusion is understandable, especially for party outsiders who are just beginning to look at either as a new political home. The question of the differences in the parties has become even more frequent as Ron Paul supporters are looking for a new home after Paul's announcement that he is discontinuing his campaign.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
The Libertarian Party's Open Government Task Force's efforts to increase the Warren County Freeholder's Open Public Meetings Act compliance was reported in a June 16, 2008 Express Times article.
The OGFT's letters, referred to in the article, are available here.
Advocate goes after minutes
He claims Warren County freeholders are violating Open Public Meetings Act.
Monday, June 16, 2008
By SARA K. SATULLO
The Express-Times
WHITE TWP. - An open government advocate is challenging Warren county's policy of not releasing closed-door meeting minutes without freeholder board approval.
John Paff, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open
Government Advocacy Project, initially challenged the county for
being too vague when going into closed session. Instead of the board just saying it is discussing pending litigation, Paff advocates specifying the litigants' names.
Read the full article here.
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- Written by: Center for Competitive Politics
- Category: Selected Blogs
Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) president Sean Parnell will testify to the New Jersey General Assembly's State Government Committee this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. concerning "The 2009 New Jersey Fair and Clean Elections Pilot Project Act," set to be introduced today.
Parnell's testimony will educate the committee on the results of New Jersey's most recent attempt at taxpayer-financed political campaigns as well as the impact that taxpayer-financed campaigns have had in other states.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
“Clean Elections” or Abbott-Style Funding for “Most Needy” Politicians?
by Steve Lonegan, Executive Director, AFP-NJ
Trenton’s politicians would have you believe the answer to New Jersey’s high taxes is another convoluted state program; taxpayer funded elections. We have heard it over and over, ranging from phony promises that raising some broad-base tax would provide “property tax relief” to false claims about new departments “rooting out waste and corruption.”
Read the rest of the article here. Listen to Steve's taxpayer minute on the subject here .
The NJLP supports Steve Lonegan in his fight against so called "Clean Elections". Our platform specifically opposes taxpayer subsidies to politicians. Although, libertarians oppose any public financing of elections this proposal is horribly unjust - third parties can only get half of what the democrats and republicans can get despite having to meet the same qualifications.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
Regulatory barriers to practicing particular professions are continuously being erected by government bodies to the detriment of our economy. The Institute for Justice has fought against arbitrary hair braiding licensing in Arizona, California, D.C., Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Washington. They have fought licensing of casket makers in Tennessee, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The have fought against taxi and limousine licensing in Denver, New York City, and Las Vegas. Other battles they have fought were against monopoly control of floral arranging, trash hauling, interior design, sign hanging, and weed control.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
Bill is an Attack on Sportsmen, Collectors, and Target Shooters
On Thursday morning, June 12, the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider legislation that would ban the purchase, transfer, and inheritance of many popular hunting guns, historical American firearms, and large bore target firearms, based on alleged public safety concerns.
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- Written by: Brendan Benedict
- Category: Student Rights
As a senior at Allentown High School, I served as vice president of Life-Savers, a club dedicated to preventing student substance abuse. This year our Board of Education proposed a policy that would require students who wish to participate in extracurricular activities to submit to random urinalysis tests for illicit drug use. While I understand the desire to do more, I believe the policy will do more harm than good. My fellow students and I are organizing against this policy, which is ineffective, discounts student input, invades privacy and erodes trust.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Libertarian Attorney Walter Luers is doing some good work opening up Interlaken Borough's local government (Monmouth County). As reported by the June 4, 2008 Asbury Park Press:
Luers cited three examples to prove that the council did indeed break the law. In January, Luers said that members of the council met at the home of Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown with Ocean Township Police Chief Antonio Amodio to discuss a possible contract with the township for police services.
Read the story here.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Advocate questions closed-door policies
John Paff concerned White Twp. Committee too vague. He also wants Web site created.
Monday, June 02, 2008
BY SARA K. SATULLO
The Express-TimesWHITE TWP. | A state advocate for open government is raising questions about the township's closed-door session policies and its lack of a Web site.
John Paff, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, is concerned the township committee is being too vague when it goes into closed-door sessions.
See the rest of the story HERE
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Selected Blogs
I used to think [the Libertarian Party was] just a bunch of crazy, gun toting, out-of-touch intellectuals. After meeting them, I now know how wrong I was. - Howard Kupferman
The following was posted on May 30, 2008 on a blog at http://lhtblogger.blogspot.com. It's the story of a long-time Democrat who found a home in the LP.
Subcategories
NJ Libertarian Blog
Imported from NJ Libertarian News from the published feed
Videos
This is a page of various videos that we have either created or found interesting. Be sure to check out and follow our YouTube page.
Open Government Advocacy Project
The Open Government Advocacy Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels of government. Articles posted here are a subset of the work of the committee. For more information visit the Open Government Advocacy Project blog.
If you would like to demand accountability and ensure that your local governing body or school board adheres to the Open Public Records Act we can help you request information from them. Contact John Paff, the project chair here.
Insight New Jersey
NJ government is huge and complex. Private industry is shrinking while the size and cost of government bureacracy continues to grow. The articles posted here provide a guide of the NJ State Government and can be used by citizens and candidates for office to evaluate what departments can be reduced drastically in size.
We'll start with just some of the departments and provide a breakdown on what they do (or purport to do), how many employees they have and how big their budget is.
Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project (“the Project”) seeks to get New Jersey municipalities to repeal loitering ordinances that should have been -- but were not -- repealed when the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice was enacted in 1979. The Project has successfully had loitering ordinances repealed in over 30 towns. For a summary listing of all the towns see Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project page.
Police Accountability Project
The Police Accountability Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to search out cases of police misconduct, file former Internal Affairs (IA) complaints when appropriate, and to publicize violations of rules and laws by the police. There may be other stories posted on the NJLP Police Internal Affairs Complaint Blog page.
If you would like to help or know of a case we should be looking at, contact the committee at
Legislative Affairs Committee
The Legislative Affairs Committee was created to allow a select core of Volunteers to take action on legislation and policies which directly affects the people of New Jersey.
[INTRO VIDEO - HOSTED ON NJLP STATE YOUTUBE AND EMBEDED HERE]
Staff
Legislative Director and Committee Chair
Volunteers: