News
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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 jury on Wednesday awarded $150,000 in punitive damages to the family of a Ramapough Indian who was fatally shot by a state park ranger five years ago in Mahwah.
With a 7-0 vote, the panel found that former Park Police Officer Chad Walder’s actions were “malicious or wanton” when he drew his gun and shot Emil Mann on April 1, 2006, during a confrontation near Ringwood State Park over ATV riding near Stag Hill.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On May 23, 2011, the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Police Accountability Project filed an Internal Affairs complaint against an Egg Harbor Township (Atlantic County) police officer who conducted a warrantless search of a motor vehicle. The complaint was filed after two-judge Appellate Division panel found that Officer Michael Bordanaro's search of a vehicle, which resulted in him finding a loaded 9 mm handgun, was illegal because there were no "exigent circumstances" excusing him from first getting a search warrant.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
A new lawsuit was filed yesterday in Camden County Superior Court that seeks answers to the following questions:
- How promptly must a public body publicly disclose the nonexempt portions of its nonpublic (i.e. "closed or executive") meeting minutes?
- Can a public body validly claim that it must first "approve" its nonpublic meeting minutes prior to publicly disclosing even redacted versions of them?
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On September 29, 2011, Clinton attorney Walter M. Luers filed a lawsuit on my behalf against two Atlantic County municipalities and their police officials seeking disclosure of records pertaining to a curious traffic stop during the early morning hours of February 17, 2011. A copy of that lawsuit is on-line here. A November 10, 2011 Press of Atlantic City article was written about it.
Records I requested reveal that at 2:04 a.m., Northfield City Police observed a black Mercedes sitting at a traffic light while the light went through multiple rotations. Police initially reported that they had difficulty waking the driver and getting him to "open up" the car's door. There were also recorded conversations indicating that the driver was "A.O.B." (which, in police-speak, means "alcohol on breath.")
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
From our friends at Downsize DC:
E-Verify is "an Internet-based system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). E-Verify is currently free to employers and is available in all 50 states. E-Verify provides an automated link to federal databases to help employers determine employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers."
It is currently a voluntary system. House bill H.R. 2885, however, would make it mandatory for all employers. The result is an even more intrusive National ID System than the REAL ID, against which DownsizeDC.org has successfully fought.
The nominal intent of the bill is to crack down on illegal immigration, even though America has a shortage of unskilled labor and would be better served by broadening immigration law.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
On November 8th there is one lone ballot question:
Shall the amendment to Article IV, Section VII, paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the state of New Jersey, agreed to by the Legislature, providing that it shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize by law wagering at casinos or gambling houses in Atlantic City and at current and former running and harness horse racetracks on the results of professional, certain college, or amateur sport or athletic events, be approved?
If approved by the voters this bill will potentially place New Jersey law at odds with federal law. In 1993 the federal government banned sports betting nationwide with an exception for four states (Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana) because at the time those states had recognized legal betting.
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- Written by: Geoffrey Lewin
- Category: Selected Blogs
Last May, New Jersey’s Supreme Court delivered the 21st Abbott vs. Burke decision, appropriating $500 million more from the state treasury for Abbott school districts. However, New Jersey’s history of court-ordered taxation to fund education originated with the Gross Income Tax Act of 1976. Advertised as a means to lower property taxes and limit the growth of public spending, the income tax was forced on residents by the court in order to improve student performance in economically disadvantaged districts by increasing per-pupil spending to the level of the wealthier districts.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
On Friday, Joe Siano of the New Jersey Libertarian Party met with representatives of Occupy Wall Street and the NJ Tea Party to discuss our common goals and our differences.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On October 6, 2011, an Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) case was filed in Gloucester County Superior Court. Cheryl Potter, a local resident, brought the suit against each member of the Elk Township Committee. Potter is being represented by John W. Trimble, Jr., Esq. of Trimble & Armano of Turnersville.
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- Written by: Julian Heicklen
- Category: Candidates and Elections
Starting in 2009, I have distributed American Jury Institute pamphlets at courthouses informing juries of their right to judge the law as well as the facts. This is a well established duty of British and American juries. But judges keep it secret from the juries. Along with the pamphlets, I distribute a flyer that reads:
The Judge will instruct the jury that it must uphold the law as he gives it.
He will be lying.
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- Written by: David Schneck
- Category: Candidates and Elections
I guess that if you want to be rich and still well-liked, you need to be the iconic head of a well known brand that people have an emotional attachment to. In all the (well deserved) tributes to Steve Jobs, including from the redistributor-in-chief, I never heard one person say that Jobs didn’t pay his “fair share” of taxes (except for my tongue-in-cheek rant below). In Jobs’s case, just bringing us neat gadgets and movies was enough.
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- Written by: Mark Hinkle
- Category: Latest News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2011
Contact: Wes Benedict, Executive Director
E-mail:
Phone: 202-333-0008 ext. 222
Libertarians to Bernanke: You're wrong
WASHINGTON - Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle issued the following statement today:
"Associated Press reports today that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is telling Congress they must not cut federal spending sharply. Chairman Bernanke, you're wrong.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Police Accountability Project
As a result of a request from the NJ Libertarian Party Police Accountability Project, the following has been published in the New Jersey Register:
NEW JERSEY REGISTER
Copyright © 2011 by the New Jersey Office of Administrative LawVOLUME 43, ISSUE 18
ISSUE DATE: SEPTEMBER 19, 2011
PUBLIC NOTICES
LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY
DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
43 N.J.R. 2535(a)Notice of Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
At the May 10, 2011 Runnemede (Camden County) Board of Education executive session, Board Attorney Philip E. Stern, Esq. said that he would contact me and another citizen "requesting that [we] cease and desist [filing OPRA requests] under possible charges of harassment." The minutes of the closed meeting, which I learned about just today, were available on the Board's site as well as here.
According to the minutes, I and two other citizens were filing Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests "in an effort to find some information to support [a] suspicion . . . that some fraud or unethical events occurred." Board attorney Phillip Stern opined that "the volume and nature [of the OPRA requests] has been expanding and interferes with the ability to administer the district."
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In October 2010, Freehold Borough contracted with Jersey Professional Management to prepare a report on the operation of the Freehold Police Department. The report was released to the Borough in June.
Many Open Public Records Requests have been submitted for this report by several organizations. All have been denied with the excuse that the document constitutes "a management and personnel document, which contains strategies and policies regarding public safety and crime prevention. Thus, Freehold Borough is not obligated to release it to the public.”
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- Written by: Wes Benedict
- Category: Press Releases
Press Release
For Immediate Release
Friday, September 16, 2011
WASHINGTON - In honor of Constitution Day, Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict released the following statement today:
"Tomorrow, September 17, is Constitution Day: the anniversary of the agreement on the U.S. Constitution by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
"When I think about that anniversary, I am saddened by how far we have strayed from our original respect for the Constitution. But I am hopeful for the future.
"The value of a constitution is that it binds government and prevents pure majority rule. Without it, government tends to grow without bounds as political majorities find ways to constrain and take money from political minorities.
"Fortunately, the American Founders were well aware of this problem. They created a Constitution to limit the federal government's powers to just a few narrow functions.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
On September 13, 2011, Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton sent a memorandum to every municipality in the county "strongly urging" them to "adopt an e-mail policy" for local government officials "in order to uphold the high levels of transparency contemplated by the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA)." The memorandum and the involvement of the New Jersey Libertarian Party Open Advocacy Project has been covered by nj.com.