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News

East Orange paid out $200,000 to police matron who claimed that police captain ejaculated on her furniture

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Police Accountability Project
Created: December 08, 2016
No comments on “East Orange paid out $200,000 to police matron who claimed that police captain ejaculated on her furniture”

A recently uncovered settlement agreement made on June 16, 2014 shows that the City of East Orange (Essex County) agreed to pay $200,000 to a police matron who said that a captain with the city's police department ejaculated on her love seat and his service revolver while he visited her home in 2007.

In her lawsuit, Candida Ray said that Captain Anthony Cooke visited her home on January 26, 2007 to "discuss a business matter involving the sale of cakes and cookies."  She claimed that the meeting was "strictly business" and that she and Cooke never had an intimate relationship.  According to the lawsuit, Ray left Cooke alone in the living room while she stepped into the kitchen.  When she returned "she found that Captain Cooke had removed his penis from his trousers and was masturbating."  When she told him to stop and leave her home, Cooke reportedly "refused and masturbated to orgasm, ejaculating over Ms. Ray's love seat and his gun, which he had withdrawn from his holster."

Read more …

Linden paid out $45,000 to settle wrongful arrest lawsuit

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Police Accountability Project
Created: November 26, 2016
No comments on “Linden paid out $45,000 to settle wrongful arrest lawsuit”

On July 15, 2016, the City of Linden (Union County) agreed to pay $45,000 to a man who said that he was wrongfully arrested and held in jail for 65 days.

In his lawsuit, Eon Flemming said that Linden Police Detective "M. Rawling" (presumably Maurice S. Rawlins) wrongfully arrested him on December 6, 2011 in Long Branch, New Jersey for a drug offense.  He said that he was jailed for 65 days and that the charges were administratively dismissed.

The case is captioned Flemming v. City of Linden, et al, Docket No. UNN-L-4179-13 and Flemming's attorney was David B. Owens of Jersey City. Case documents are on-line here.

None of lawsuit's allegations have been proven or disproven in court.  Settlement agreements typically state that payment does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by any of the defendants.  All that is known for sure is that Linden or its insurer, for whatever reason, decided that it would rather pay Flemming $45,000 than take the matter to trial. Perhaps the defendants' decision was done to save further legal expense and the costs of trying what were in fact exaggerated or meritless claims. Or, perhaps the claims were true and the defendants wanted to avoid being embarrassed at trial. This is the problem when cases resolve before trial--it is impossible to know the truth of what really happened.

Elizabeth agrees to pay $30,000 to resolve police excessive force lawsuit

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Police Accountability Project
Created: November 18, 2016
No comments on “Elizabeth agrees to pay $30,000 to resolve police excessive force lawsuit”

On September 18, 2016, the Elizabeth City Council (Union County) agreed to pay $30,000 to a Roselle Park man who said that he suffered a fractured back after having been stomped by police.

In his lawsuit, Luis A. Padua said that on April 8, 2011 he was waiting for a ride outside of a parking garage on West Grand Street when he was approached by Captain Torner (presumably Tyrone E. Torner) and Officers A. Vrohidis and Marcos Diaz.  Padua claimed that the officers, who had been notified of a vehicle theft at the parking garage, "began to beat and kick [Padua], pushing him against a wall and stomping on his back, to the point where his back was fractured."  Padua claimed that the officers fabricated Obstruction, Resisting and Criminal Trespass charges against him that were eventually dismissed.

Also named in the suit were Police Chief Patrick Shannon and Police Director James Cosgrove.

The case is captioned Padua v. City of Elizabeth, et al, Federal Case No. 13-cv-04645 and Padua's attorney was Shelley L. Stangler of Springfield. Case documents are on-line here. 

None of lawsuit's allegations have been proven or disproven in court.  Settlement agreements typically state that payment does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by any of the defendants.  All that is known for sure is vthat Elizabeth or its insurer, for whatever reason, decided that it would rather pay Padua $30,000 than take the matter to trial. Perhaps the defendants' decision was done to save further legal expense and the costs of trying what were in fact exaggerated or meritless claims. Or, perhaps the claims were true and the defendants wanted to avoid being embarrassed at trial. This is the problem when cases resolve before trial--it is impossible to know the truth of what really happened.

Beware the Absentee Ballot

Details
Written by: Jim Tosone
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: November 12, 2016
No comments on “Beware the Absentee Ballot”

Published in The Record, 11/11/2016

Regarding "2016 county, municipal, election results" (Page L-3, Nov. 9):

Those who voted by absentee ballot should be aware that they were not in the unofficial results posted on the website of the Bergen County clerk at 11:18 p.m. on election night. Nor were they in the vote totals shown in The Record the following day. There were 33,000 absentee ballots, about 8.5 percent of the total votes cast.

Read more …

Letter to Editor: West Milford reader urges voters to 'break away from the herd'

Details
Written by: Mark Richards
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: October 28, 2016
No comments on “Letter to Editor: West Milford reader urges voters to 'break away from the herd' ”

This letter was published in the Suburban Trends, 1027/2016

Allow me to respond to two letters which appeared in the Suburban Trends on Oct. 12, 2016. First, we had a letter by a writer who usually goes on an anti-Japanese rant every December on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, even though World War II ended over 70 years ago.

This time around the writer attacked athletes like Colin Kaepernick who didn’t stand for the national anthem at recent football games. The writer equates patriotism with blind nationalism evidently, which are two different things entirely. I wonder if all the "Fox News Conservatives" out there realize America didn’t have a national anthem until the 1930s or that the tune to which the anthem’s lyrics are set to is actually an old English drinking song.

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Letter to Editor: Bergen Candidates Too Much Alike

Details
Written by: Erol Sirimoglu
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: October 19, 2016
No comments on “Letter to Editor: Bergen Candidates Too Much Alike”

Originally Published in The Record, October 18, 2016

Regarding "A meeting of the minds at freeholder forum" (The Record, Oct. 14, 2016):

At the Bergen County freeholders candidates forum last week there were seven candidates: six "Republicans: and one Libertarian.

Read more …

NJLP Candidates Interviewed

Details
Written by: Webmaster
Category: Candidates and Elections
Created: October 10, 2016

This past weekend, three of our candidates sat down at the Liberty Cafe studios for an interview about their campaigns.

Michael Chazukow for West Milford Town Council

Read more …

NJ Libertarian Party Opposes the Gas Tax

Details
Written by: Patrick McKnight
Category: Press Releases
Created: October 08, 2016
No comments on “NJ Libertarian Party Opposes the Gas Tax”

New Jersey Libertarian Party
PO Box 56
Tennent, NJ 07763-0056
njlp.org
Contact: Patrick McKnight Chair NJLP
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The New Jersey Libertarian Party opposes the proposal of a 23 cents per gallon increase in the gas tax. This tax hike could cost New Jersey motorists $4 Billion over the next 10 years. New Jersey spends $2 million per mile of road, the most in America and twice as much as the next highest state. The problem isn't revenue, it's spending. Let's abolish prevailing wage laws and stop using taxpayers as an ATM for special interest groups.

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Letter to Editor: Consider Voting for a Third Party

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Written by: Mike Mazzeo
Category: Letters to Editor
Created: October 02, 2016
No comments on “Letter to Editor: Consider Voting for a Third Party”

Published in The Record

I have been reading the many less-than-positive things people have to say about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for this election.

It seems the majority of people find both to be a "hold your nose" choice. Their aim seems to be to keep the other from winning the election.

Read more …

Former NJ State Treasurer Joins Johnson-Weld Campaign

Details
Written by: Patrick McKnight
Category: Press Releases
Created: September 08, 2016
No comments on “Former NJ State Treasurer Joins Johnson-Weld Campaign”

New Jersey Libertarian Party
PO Box 56
Tennent, NJ 07763-0056
njlp.org
Contact: Patrick McKnight Chair NJLP
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Former NJ State Treasurer to Chair Johnson-Weld Campaign in New Jersey

New Jersey Libertarian Party Chair Patrick McKnight announced that former New Jersey State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff has agreed to chair the campaign of Libertarian Party presidential and vice presidential nominees Gary Johnson and William Weld in the Garden State.

Mr. Sidamon-Eristoff stated:

“I am honored to serve as Chair of the Johnson-Weld 2016 campaign in New Jersey.

Read more …

Burlington Judge Rebuffs PBA, Orders Disclosure of Redacted Log of Internal Affairs Complaints Against County Corrections Officers

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Created: September 08, 2016
No comments on “Burlington Judge Rebuffs PBA, Orders Disclosure of Redacted Log of Internal Affairs Complaints Against County Corrections Officers”

In an August 31, 2016 ruling, Burlington County Assignment Judge Ronald E. Bookbinder denied Burlington County's and the New Jersey Police Benevolent Association's (PBA) bid to reverse his previous decision calling for disclosure of a redacted list of Internal Affairs complaints against corrections officers at the Burlington County Correctional and Detention Facility.

In his ruling in John Paff v. Burlington County, et al., Docket No. BUR-L-36-15, Bookbinder wrote that disclosure of the list, with the names of the officers redacted, will help me to "research the frequency and nature of complaints brought against Burlington County Corrections Officers" without jeopardizing "the privacy interests and potential safety concerns of the officers named on the list."

Read more …

Stafford Township confidentially paid out $34,000 to settle man's lawsuit claiming that mayor misused Stafford Police to perpetrate a personal vendetta against him

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Created: August 17, 2016
No comments on “Stafford Township confidentially paid out $34,000 to settle man's lawsuit claiming that mayor misused Stafford Police to perpetrate a personal vendetta against him”

On June 13, 2016, the Township of Stafford (Ocean County) agreed to pay $34,000 to a man who claimed that Mayor John Spodofora used "the Stafford Police as his personal agents" to retaliate against him for publicly criticizing Spodofora for "stolen valor" (i.e. exaggeration of military service).

In his lawsuit, Earl Galloway, a retired Navy Master Chief, said that after he created a spoof Facebook page called "Spodophony" which contained "accurate information to correct [Spodofora's] exaggerations and fabrications" regarding his service in the Vietnam conflict, Spodofora filed an identify theft charge against him, attempted to block Galloway's membership into the Stafford GOP club and publicly accused him of "hacking into [Spodofora's] child's computer and stealing files."

Read more …

Democrats and Republicans Will Stack The Deck Yet Again

Details
Written by: Webmaster
Category: Press Releases
Created: August 08, 2016
No comments on “Democrats and Republicans Will Stack The Deck Yet Again”

New Jersey Libertarian Party
PO Box 56
Tennent, NJ 07763-0056
njlp.org
Contact: Jim Tosone – Vice Chair NJLP
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On August 15, the Democrats and Republicans Will Stack The Deck Yet Again

Tennent, NJ, August 8, 2016 – If there’s one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on, it’s that your only choice should be between Democrats and Republicans. They have used their control of the election laws to cement their many advantages in place. Taxpayers fund their closed primaries and subsidize their nominating conventions. Their candidates are automatically placed on the November ballot. Meanwhile, the Libertarian Party and its members fund their state and national nominating conventions. The Party must by law spend its own time and money to collect signatures on petitions to get its nominated candidates included on the November ballot.

Read more …

Lawyer to blogger: "Immediately cease and desist in your publication" of my client's confidential settlement agreement with a public agency

Details
Written by: John Paff
Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Created: July 14, 2016
No comments on “Lawyer to blogger: "Immediately cease and desist in your publication" of my client's confidential settlement agreement with a public agency”

On July 12, 2016, I published "Sparta school board confidentially paid $50,000 to settle former custodian's wrongful termination lawsuit."  I distributed a link to the article to area media (which resulted in Eric Obernauer of the New Jersey Herald publishing "Sparta school board settles suit with former custodian" on July 14, 2016) as well as to the lawsuit plaintiff's attorney.

Today, I received the following e-mail from the attorney who represented the former school custodian in the wrongful termination lawsuit:

Mr. Paff:

Read more …

  1. Letter to Editor: Libertarian Candidate Emerges in West Milford
  2. Letter to Editor: Live and Let Live
  3. NJ Libertarian Party Business Meeting & Annual Picnic on July 9
  4. Record Number of Libertarian Party Candidates on NJ Ballot in November

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Shedding light on TrentonThe 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.

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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.

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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.

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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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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[INTRO VIDEO - HOSTED ON NJLP STATE YOUTUBE AND EMBEDED HERE]

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The NJ Libertarian Party is NJ's third largest political party, founded in 1972. Our vision is for a world in which all individuals have the right to exercise sole control over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live as they choose. Our goal is to build a political party that elects Libertarians to public office, and moves public policy in a libertarian direction.

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