News
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I have been informed by the Republican Club of Pennsauken Township (Camden County) that the Township is seeking to pass a very restrictive ordinance regulating the use of cameras to video record public Township Committee meetings.
One of the provisions of the proposed ordinance requires that citizens who record meetings, shall, at the end of the meeting, give the original recording to the Clerk for duplication and that the original can be picked up by the citizen within five business days of the meeting.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
In an August 4, 2011 decision, Bergen County Superior Assignment Court Judge Peter E. Doyne considered, among other issues, the question of public officials using private e-mails to discuss public business. Judge Doyne ultimately concluded that using personal e-mail accounts for public business "appears highly questionable" and "order[ed] counsel for [the municipality] to circulate a memorandum among all pertinent Borough employees directing they use only their public e-mail accounts, rather than private accounts, when conducting town business."
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- Written by: Wes Benedict
- Category: Latest News
Dear Friend of Liberty,
I'm sure you have heard the news about the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating.
I'm not a finance expert, so I don't know exactly how important the downgrade itself is. I think it's one more sign of what Libertarians have known for a long time: the Democrats and Republicans have created a giant welfare-warfare state that is beginning to collapse under its own weight. And I see no sign that they are going to change their behavior.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
At its July 21, 2011 meeting, the Alloway Township Committee (Salem County) introduced an ordinance that will repeal the Township's loitering code. The repeal will be voted upon at the Township Committee's August 18, 2011 7 p.m. meeting at 49 South Greenwich Street. The repeal is being made in response to the New Jersey Libertarian Party's June 29, 2011 letter of request to Mayor Joseph F. Fedora.
For more information on the work of the NJLP Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project see this web page.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
NJLP members John Paff and Nena Carroll participate
in an anti-war protest in Highland Park, New Jersey on Saturday, July
23, 2011
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
The NJ Libertarian Party has returned to the Warped Tour Concert. We were last there in 2009. Warped Tour is a touring concert series featuring over sixty bands.
At both the Camden and the Oceanport we set up booth up alongside the Campaign For Liberty and the Ron Paul for President tables. We worked together to steer attendees to each others' booths.
Again we administered the World's Smallest Political Quiz to those who visited our booth.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Latest News
I just interviewed with Sarah Morrison for her "Core of the Matter" radio program on WVPH-FM in Piscataway.
The topics of conversation were the NJLP efforts regarding loitering laws, police accountability and governmental transparency.
The program will air on tomorrow, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, at 7 p.m. and can be heard in Central New Jersey on FM radio at 90.3 MHz or on-line at http://www.thecore.fm
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- Written by: William F. (Bill) Sihr IV
- Category: Latest News
As many of you are aware, the NJLP has been trying to reach out to the young people of this state, in order to convey our message to other Americans who are tired of government oppression. In an attempt to further this goal, the NJLP rented a booth at the Camden leg of this year’s Warped Tour. From roughly 11 A.M. until 7 P.M. our Chairman Jay Edgar, along with Members-at-Large Kevin Ferrizzi and myself, Bill Sihr talked to as many passersby as possible.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
A good way for Libertarians to embark on getting involved in local government is to serve as a member of an appointed board. In order to find out what boards have vacancies, submit the following OPRA request to your municipal clerk:
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
The NJ Open Government Taskforce is in the news so often that I can't keep up with posting everything they do. Thanks to the hard work of John Paff the following news articles mentioning the NJ Libertarian Party have appeared recently:
- Libertarian files disclosure complaint in Robbinsville
- Jersey City officials targeted by Libertarian Party chairman’s complaint
- Prosecutor checking Evesham e-mails for Sunshine Law violations
- Robbinsville mayor makes disclosure filing mandatory
- Advocate accusing Bloomfield officials of disclosure missteps
- Union Twp. may cancel its prohibitions of riots, loitering and offensive language
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Back in 2009 we reported on Officer Joseph Rios beating a homeless man for no apparent reason in Passaic.
Superior Court Judge Donald J. Volkert Jr. has acquitted Officer Rios of a police brutality charge. Now that he has been acquitted one may assume that he will receive back pay for the time he has been on leave.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
UPDATE: The video I posted was just uploaded last week, however I just learned that this is incident occured in 2008. A more informative video from the ACLU of NJ can be seen here. The Officer, Brian Sharif, was suspended however he currently works as a special officer for the Newark government schools.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Following is the New Jersey Libertarian Party Police Accountability Project's open letter to the mayor and council of Merchantville Borough (Camden County).
At issue is: A motor vehicle stop and an arrest were made by Merchantville Police officers in another municipality and a judge found that no probable cause existed for the stop. The stopped and arrested
motorist sued the police and recovered an $11,000 settlement. Yet, the Mercantville Internal Affairs Unit found that the officers "followed the appropriate departmental policies and procedures."
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
The New Jersey Libertarian Party will be exposing thousands of youth to the party and to the fight for liberty at the upcoming Van's Warped Tour concerts in Camden (July 21st) and Oceanport (July 24th).
The concerts will be at the Susquehenna Bank Center in Camden on the 21st and at the Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport on the 24th. Dozens of alternative rock bands will be playing on multiple stages. We attended two years ago and had a great time while giving out literature and the World's Smallest Political Quiz to the crowd. Our NJLP booth was a real eye-catcher and got a lot more attention from the young crowd than many of the left-leaning booths around us. All activists are invited to come man (or woman!?) the booth and hang out for the day. Please contact the NJLP Chair, Jay Edgar, to volunteer for this event.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Since the Progressive Era, a belief has been established by the American people that when something is wrong in society, that it is the duty of government to act and get involved. Often times, the remedies that they put forth and enact make matters only worse for the people that it is suppose to serve. Furthermore, when the situation does make the matter unbearable, government cures it all with more government intervention. For example, if there aren’t adequate housing apartments in a great metropolis, government forces landlords and landowners to reduce their rents through Rent Stabilization laws, i.e. Rent Control. This causes even more of a shortage of housing apartments (We see this case in New York City). If people are worried about high incidents of crime being committed afterhours in big cities like Newark, New Jersey, they call on the City Council and The Mayor to act. Recently, the City Council passed and Mayor Cory Booker signed a law that if business establishments were open afterhours, then these businesses must hire contract security. This law will cause some businesses to close and will cause others to lose money. If the automobile industry is not building enough hybrid or fuel efficient motor vehicles, then government uses CAFE standards to punish these businesses until they comply, never mind that some of these standards causes safety hazards in designs and construction.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Suppose that the welfare state, with its promise of cradle to grave entitlements and its promise of wealth redistribution, “social justice,” and “benefits,” ceased to exist. Suppose that the welfare state, constructed during the progressive and New Deal era and afterwards, ended totally and permanently. What would happen? If we are to believe the progressive philosophy, old people, the unemployed, the weak and the needy, children, the disabled and others would suffer immensely. The progressives, along with “moderates” and “compassionate conservatives” would claim that the streets of every town, hamlet and city would be littered with a sea of human misery and awash in human tragedy. I believe otherwise.
If the welfare state were to end, the following would transpire:
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Police Accountability Project
On May 19, 2011, the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Police Accountability Project filed an Internal Affairs Complaint against State Trooper Scott Sanders. The complaint was based on a decision of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division in which a two judge panel found that Sanders conducted an improper, warrantless search of a motor vehicle.
The court's decision caused suppression of "five dime bags of high grade marijuana, approximately a half ounce of cocaine, seven bricks of heroin, and five sealed blunts containing tobacco." Because of evidence the suppressed, the conviction and the six year prison sentence against the driver was reversed.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
In his book, ‘Leviathan,” it was Thomas Hobbs that wrote that in the state of nature, man is entitled to everything. He or she is not only entitled to his or her own property and possessions, but also to the property and possessions of others. To some in this society, this kind of reasoning is a sacrilege and an abomination to civilized and human norms. However, when one survey’s the environment and the politicians not only in Washington, D.C. but around the globe, there is no question that Hobbs’ philosophy is followed down to the last letter.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Last week we reported on Maplewood Township enforcing a repealed ordinance against "public intoxication."
A letter concerning the matter was sent to the Essex County Trial Court Administrator. As a result of the letter, Mr. White's conviction has been reversed and his fines have been refunded.
The reply we received from the Trial Court Administrator can be viewed here.