News
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- Written by: Eric Hafner
- Category: Latest News
UPDATE: John Paff wrote a letter to the Presiding Judge of the Monmouth County Municipal Courts concerning this matter.
A municipal Judge in Middletown Township, NJ (Monmouth County) is renting his law office from the Municipal Prosecutor - a conflict of interest that means any case they have ever handled is now questionable. This story reeks of New Jersey political corruption and cronyism.
While facing a prosecution in Middletown Township Municipal Court relating to my usage of Medical Marijuana (that my doctor in California recommends I use in the treatment of my serious illness - but that's a separate issue entirely) I have become aware of some facts regarding the operation of the court that draws into serious question whether or not any defendant can receive a fair trial in Middletown Township.
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- Written by: pugmaster
- 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: pugmaster
- 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.
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: