News
- Details
- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Rules in Central Jersey towns vary widely as Edison weighs limit on public-meeting comments
EDISON —As the debate over curbing public comment at Township Council meetings continues, a survey of neighboring municipalities shows that most do not limit public comment at their meetings.
The portion of the proposed ordinance that has ignited public ire in Edison seeks to limit individuals to speaking just once on each of the categories of business on the meeting's agenda, with a limit of four minutes each time.
See full article. Includes comments of the NJ Libertarian Party Open Government Taskforce.
- Details
- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Candidates and Elections
When one election is over, the next one has already begun. Operation ELECT-US is a program by the Libertarian Party to recruit as many candidates as possible for winnable local offices in 2009.
In odd numbered years, most elections are local and quite a few of them take place in the spring. For example, filing deadlines for local elections have already begun in Maryland, and take place in Illinois in December.
- Details
- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Paterson pays $10,000 to settle vaguely worded police abuse case. On May 28, 2008, the City of Paterson paid $10,000 to a local man who had sued the City and Paterson Police officers John Plelan and Frank Motta in August 2007 for an alleged police "assault" occurring on October 6, 2005.
In his cryptically worded civil lawsuit, Alex Lopez claimed that the officers, along with other unnamed officers, "committed an assault and battery upon" him and "committed acts which constituted false imprisonment." No further details are provided in the lawsuit. Lopez was represented in his lawsuit by Alan Roth, Esq. of Bendit Weinstock, P.C. of West Orange.
- Details
- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Although Thomas Wachendorf's and Christopher Strobel's brutality lawsuits against the Readington Township police have received a fair amount of publicity (see, e.g. the January 4, 2007 Star Ledger article, which is set forth at the foot of this posting), the amount of their settlements with Readington have not been publicly disclosed until now.
Wachendorf
In a settlement reached January 23, 2007, Thomas J. Wachendorf settled his case against the Readington Township and officers Christopher DeWire and Scott Crater for $45,000. This figure has not previously been released probably because both Wachendorf and the Township agreed that "the terms and conditions of [their] settlement and the claims upon it was based shall remain confidential in so far as permitted by law." This confidentiality agreement cannot, however, defeat a citizen's right to gain access to it by way of an Open Public Records Act request.
- Details
- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
Looking back at 2008 the NJ Libertarian Party had many notable achievements.
-
The number of registered Libertarians in NJ grew by 61%. See NJ Libertarians Pass Greens as NJ's 3rd Biggest Party. This growth can probably be most attributed to the success of Ron Paul's campaign and his libertarian message.
-
NJ Open Government Taskforce takes on a record number of cases. Buena Vista, Edison, Elmer, Hoboken, Interlaken Borough, Lawnside, Long Hills School Board, Manasquan Township, Middletown, Mount Arlington, NJ Division of Law, Penns Grove, Roselle Borough, Sparta Board of Education, Upper Freehold Board of Education, Washington Borough, Watchung Borough, White Township and many other towns were taken to task on their lack of openness.
-
Loitering and other "preempted" ordinances challenged in Belmar, Butler, Delran, Edgewater Park, Elmer, Lyndhurst, Manasquan, Millstone, Mount Olive, Newton, Ramsey, and West Milford Township. Most of these were successful. See the NJ Loitering Page for a summary.
-
Sent 14 delegates to the National Libertarian Convention in Denver to represent New Jersey.
-
Held a unique dual state convention with Pennsylvania that among other things featured a presidential debate of nine candidates.
-
We opened our first statewide office in 30 years on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
-
Jason Scheurer, our Senate candidate, campaigned throughout the state. Some of the locations where events were held included Atlantic City, Clark, Freehold, Montclair, Morganville, New Brunswick, Philadelphia, Sayreville, Sparta, Trenton, Westville, and Whippany.
-
We hosted the first ever Presidential simulcast. Bob Barr was here in New Jersey while Wayne Allen Root was in Denver. We broadcast both locations over the internet.
See our newsletters and our website for more of our accomplishments in 2008.
We could not have accomplished this work without the help of our many donors, members, and volunteers. If you are not already a member, please consider joining the party as a member. Your membership will help us to continue the fight for freedom in New Jersey.
- Details
- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Selected Blogs
Since its creation as a Jewish state in the late 1940s, Israel has been one of the main sources of tension and unrest in the Middle East. Now, more than 50 years later, Israel once again finds itself at odds with its Palestinian neighbors, forcing the hand of the United States to show where it stands on one of the most polarizing issues in modern history.
The tension between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East goes back thousands of years, and there is no easy solution to the issues in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. Many U.S. presidential administrations have tried to act as brokers of power or arbiters of peace without any success.
- Details
- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project has commented on and made suggestions regarding the Edison Township (Middlesex County) Council's proposal to change its Administrative Code, which is up for a Council vote on January 14th. This is the code that governs the conduct at Council meetings and regulates public participation at those meetings.
Among the items questioned is a provision barring the public from making whatever the Council President determines to be "defamatory, insulting or inflammatory remarks" at meetings. I also asked for a precise definition of an "effective majority" of the Council. The letter to the Council and the full text of the proposal is available HERE.
The full text of the existing Code is on-line HERE.
John Paff
Somerset, New Jersey
- Details
- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Mount Holly settles civil rights lawsuit
By: DANIELLE CAMILLI, Burlington County Times
MOUNT HOLLY &emdash; A federal civil rights lawsuit that pitted a Garden Street couple
against town hall has been settled with the township admitting no wrongdoing, but paying the residents $75,000 in a confidential agreement.The settlement between the township and Andrew and Alda Copeland was signed in September, but made public only this month after the chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project requested and received documents through the state’s Open Public Records Act.
Read the full story. The civil complaint and the confidential settlement agreement mentioned in the article are on-line HERE.
- Details
- Written by: Lou Jasikoff
- Category: Latest News
One of the privileges of being Chair for the NJLP over the past year has been the opportunity to meet and become friends with some very interesting individuals. Not only was I in the middle of New Jersey Libertarian politics with the Jason Scheurer for U.S. Senate campaign , but I also became very involved at the national level with the Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root campaign. I wish to share one message I received from Wayne (see The Road Ahead), because it mirrors my view on the 2008 election.
- Details
- Category: Selected Blogs
It has been an honor and privilege to serve all of my many friends, fans, voters, contributors and most importantly, the Libertarian Party as the nominee for Vice President of the United States in 2008. Thanks to all of you for your support and contributions to my campaign.
As a complete newcomer and outsider to Libertarian politics and the actual LP, many of you in the party welcomed me immediately and made me feel at home. Some of you recognized the potential I had to offer this movement and took the time to educate me in areas where I needed it (and I'm sure, still do). My knowledge grew tremendously and in many cases, my views changed dramatically. Many of you told me that I won you over as a result. I really appreciate the honest hearing you gave me and your willingness to bring me into the Libertarian fold. I'm in this for the long haul and it is my hope that I will eventually win over the few skeptics that remain.
- Details
- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Mad Money' host says federal entitlement program operates in the same manner as Madoff's scam
By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
12/18/2008 9:21:07 AMLove him or hate him, this time Jim Cramer makes a good point.
While some in the media have expressed fury over allegations that Bernard Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors up to $50 billion, CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer made another point.
- Details
- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Selected Blogs
Your home is your castle, right? Well, maybe not, as Institute for Justice client Lori Ann Vendetti explains in her battle against the city of Long Branch. Read more about this case.
- Details
- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
- Details
- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Two of 17 Atlantic towns settle public records suits
By EDWARD VAN EMBDEN Staff Writer, Press of Atlantic City
A civil suit brought against 17 Atlantic County municipalities for alleged violations of the Open Public Records Act has resulted in two towns changing the way they conduct business.
Both Buena Vista Township and Folsom reached a settlement with John Paff, of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, earlier this month to provide the public with more details of their executive sessions.
Litigation against the other towns is ongoing.
Paff said he chose litigation against the municipalities after OPRA requests revealed violations regarding either the lack of details of matters discussed prior to closed sessions or withholding of minutes from those closed session meetings.
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: