News
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On December 1, 2011, I submitted an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request to Florence Township (Burlington County) to gain information regarding Nicholas J. Costa, Esq.'s payment for serving as the Township's municipal prosecutor during 2010. Part of my request sought copies of "both sides of any check written to Mr. Costa for prosecutorial services performed during 2010."
In his December 15, 2011 letter, Township Administrator Richard A. Brook informed me that Mr. Costa received $22,814.04 during 2010 but opined that my request for copies of the checks was "outside the bounds of the intent of the OPRA law." According to Mr. Brook, my request "essentially equates to prying into someone's personal private accounts." Mr. Brook further observed that since backs of checks "deal with personal bank account numbers, personal signatures and possible routing numbers," my request raised "issues dealing with an employee's identity, identity theft and information that is really personal in nature." In denying my request for the check copies, Mr. Brook intoned that "even people who work in the public sector deserve a measured and reasonable degree of privacy."
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
In response to an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, I received an August 19, 2009 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Township of Hillside (Union County) and former Hillside police officer Francisco (Frank) Utset. I've placed the MOA on-line here: http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2012/2012067P2//UtsetMemo.pdf
According to the MOA, the Township was in the process of firing Officer Utset for "engaging in conduct unbecoming a public employee" on July 21, 2008. To that end, the Township had issued a Preliminary Notice of Disciplinary Action and suspended Utset, with pay, effective July 21, 2008--the day after the alleged "unbecoming" incident.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Most of these ads have been around for a long time. Feel free to share!
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Student Rights
Three Rutgers University students were detained last week for chalking a peace sign and the words "Ron Paul" on a wall of the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. These students stated that they were members of the Rutgers Libertarians and the Rutgers Young Americans for Liberty groups.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
The NJLP website has been migrated from one server to another. If any problems are found with the site, including our donation, membership, and convention registration pages please contact the NJLP webmaster.
Try to include exactly what you were doing and any error messages you may have seen.
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- Written by: Johnny Green
- Category: Latest News
There Are Few People That Fight For Marijuana As Hard As NJWeedman
[reprinted with permission from http://www.theweedblog.com/my-marijuana-hero-njweedman/]
If you don’t know about NJWeedman, and you consume marijuana, where have you been smoking your marijuana, under a rock? Meeting NJWeedman was on my bucket list for several years now, and I’m happy to say I had that honor at the activism panel at the High Times Medical Cannabis Cup in Los Angeles. The first time I ever saw NJWeedman on video was footage of a pro-marijuana protest NJWeedman was being arrested at. As the cops put the handcuffs on NJWeedman, NJWeedman just kept taking hits from his blunt and blowing the smoke in the cops’ faces. It was one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen to this day.
NJWeedman even mailed marijuana to politicians in a form of marijuana prohibition protest! I could try to tell the story of NJWeedman myself, but I will let him do it. Here is the ‘about’ page from NJWeedman’s official website:
Robert Edward Forchion (born July 23, 1964), also known as NJWEEDMAN, is a cannabis activist and a perennial candidate for various New Jersey elected offices. Forchion identifies himself as a member of the Legalize Marijuana Party and campaigns primarily on the single issue of cannabis legalization. Forchion has done various stunts to bring attention to cannabis legalization, including smoking cannabis in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, as well as attempting to legally change his name to NJWeedman.com.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
The Police Accountability Project sent the following letter to the Phillipsburg (Warren County) Mayor and Council. My thought is that even though the Council may not really care if a drug arrestee's constitutional rights were violated by a local cop, the amount of money that the cop's mistake may have cost the taxpayers may impress them.
February 21, 2012
Hon. Harry L. Wyant, Mayor and members of the Phillipsburg Town Council
675 Corliss Avenue
Phillipsburg, NJ, 08865
Dear Mayor Wyant and Council members:
I'm not a resident, but ask that you please review today's Appellate Division decision in the case of State v. Kevin Davis. The decision is on-line here.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Professor Scott Beaulier, Adams-Bibby Chair of Free Enterprise at Troy University, will speaking at TCNJ this Friday. His topic is The Myths of Immigration, and he will be speaking from 3pm to 4:30pm in the Library Auditorium.
Professor Beaulier is the author of the recent Freeman article Tough on Immigration is Tough on Economic Growth.
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- Written by: Joe Siano
- Category: Latest News
Come to the NJ Libertarian Party Convention.
This is a great year for the cause of Liberty.
Ron Paul is reshaping political thought through his incredible Presidential run. I hope that he wins his Party's nomination. However, if he doesn't he has still made a a big contribution and the LP has a potentially great candidate in the wings with Gary Johnson.
In New Jersey, we have a very accomplished gentleman who wants to represent the NJLP as a candidate for Senate. I believe that he has the time, energy, talent, resume and resources to to make a high visibility run. He will speak and you can decide for yourselves. In addition to him we will other great speakers and we will present our other aspiring candidates.
The Board has worked to make this convention
- Convenient - It is right in the middle of Jersey, less that a mile from Turnpike Exit 8. Also, plenty of free parking nearby.
- Affordable - $35 - includes hot buffet lunch and continental breakfast. Students rate is $25
- And fun - We are on the second floor of a pub.
As I said before, more Americans are awakening to the cause of liberty than ever before. And if Ron Paul wins the Republican nomination, that would be grand. Nonetheless, the Libertarian Party still stands as the few, the proud, the true keepers of the flame.
I want to see you in Hightstown on March 24, to kick off a great year for the NJLP. Register today!
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
At 10 a.m. on Friday, February 10, 2012, Jose Delgado and I appeared before Camden County Assignment Judge F. J. Fernandez-Vina to pursue our Sen. Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act case against the Camden City Board of Education. I appeared in person and Jose, who was on vacation, appeared by way of speakerphone. Background and case documents are available here.
(Three open government activists, as well as a member of the board attended and observed. I appreciate the activists' support.)
Follow are the five issues that we presented (as set forth in the blog entry at the link above) and the result for each:
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
A recent poll shows that the 83% of Americans support Obama's drone policy, 53% of liberal Democrats and 67% of moderate or conservative Democrats now support keeping Guantanamo Bay open.
Glenn Greenwald blogs about it here. Jim Bovard blogs about at Liberals Love Obama's "Liberty Drones".
During the Bush Regime the left would have been screaming and protesting while the right would have been silent. Now the roles are reversed. What is wrong with the public? Why do they continually choose party over principle? Instead of being principled, people treat politics like a sports event while cheering on their favorite team to victory.
The good news is that voters are quickly abandoning the Republican and Democrat Parties. According to the USA Today the Democrat Party is down 800,000 voters, the Republican Party is down 350,000 voters and independent voters are up by 325,000 voters.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Candidates and Elections
In May of 2012 delegates from each of the 50 state Libertarian Parties will be convening in Las Vegas, Nevada. The delegates will be deciding on the future of the party and will be picking who our candidate for President shall be.
Candidates who have made statements that they are running to date include:
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: