fraud

Senator Paul A. Sarlo On Tuesday, February 23, 2016, the Bergen County NAACP will host a public forum to discuss proposed legislation that seeks to prevent public access to all police camera recordings and 911 calls.  The forum, which is open to all, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Teaneck High School Media Center at 100 Elizabeth Avenue. At issue is Senate Bill 788, sponsored by Senator Paul A. Sarlo (D-Bergen/Passaic), which would amend the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) so that “law enforcement camera recordings” and “9-1-1 audio recordings or transcripts” could not be disclosed to the public.

Like many municipalities, Ocean City (Cape May County) has a written policy governing employees’ use of e-mail.  The third page of Ocean City’s policy states: All email, voicemail and Internet messages (including any technology-based messaging) are official documents subject to the provisions of the Open Public Records Act (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1). Employees of the City of Ocean City are required to use the assigned municipal email account for ALL City business and correspondence. The use of private email accounts for ANY city business or during business hours is strictly prohibited. The seventh page of the policy shows that City Business Administrator

On Friday, March 4, 2016 at 9 a.m. Hudson County Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Turula will hear my Open Public Records Act (OPRA) case against the City of Bayonne.  See, Paff v. City of Bayonne et al, Docket No. HUD-L-5203-15.  This is the lawsuit discussed in Jonathan Lin’s January 27, 2016 Jersey Journal article and I am being represented by CJ Griffin of Hackensack. I maintain a blog called NJ Civil Settlements which, as its name implies, reports on settlements of lawsuits against government agencies and officials.  Learning whether, when and how these lawsuits have concluded is sometimes difficult,

In an October 2, 2015 decision, Burlington County Assignment Judge Ronald E. Bookbinder ruled that a requestor does not have to reside in New Jersey in order to use and enforce his or her rights under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). In a written decision in Scheeler v. Atlantic County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, et al, Docket No. BUR-L-990-15, Bookbinder said that even though N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 states that the purpose of OPRA is to benefit the “citizens of this State,” there are “many operational provisions of OPRA in which the phrase ‘any person’ is used, with no mention of

I am aware of three cases that shed light on whether volunteer fire companies are subject to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act. Mat Stern v. Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department, et al, Docket No. OCN-L-2160-14. In a February 6, 2015 written opinion, former Ocean County Assignment Judge Vincent J. Grasso ruled that four volunteer fire companies in Lakewood Township that operated under the Lakewood Fire District “are instrumentalities within the Fire District and, therefore, are public agencies subject to OPRA.”  In a later opinion, Grasso ruled that the fire companies were liable to pay Stern’s lawyer $6,580 in counsel

On September 23, 2014, Burlington County Assignment Judge Ronald E. Bookbinder ordered Hainesport Township to disclose which Township officials and employees were receiving taxpayer subsidized health insurance.  This decision was made in response to my lawsuit, brought by attorney Walter M. Luers of Clinton, that sought that information under both the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and the common law right of access.  Bookbinder ultimately ruled that the documents were subject to disclosure under the common law. Today, January 14, 2015, Bookbinder also ordered Hainesport to pay Luers $4,770.70 in attorney’s fees and $359.92 in costs.  This is one of

On August 1, 2014, the New Jersey Libertarian Party (NJLP) formally petitioned the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for a rule requiring municipalities and other local government units to specify an “up to” dollar amount in each resolution that awards a public contract.  At its December 10, 2014 meeting, the DCA’s Local Finance Board preliminarily approved the requested rule and will consider final adoption  after a 60-day public comment period. The NJLP submitted its rulemaking petition in response the Parsippany-Troy Hills governing body’s award of a no-bid financial consulting contract to a company that was reportedly owned by

On Thursday, January 15, 2015, the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee will discuss Senate Bill No. 1236 which seeks to establish a two-year pilot program placing the Edison Township (Middlesex County) Police Department’s internal affairs function under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Attorney General.  Important for transparency advocates are amendments proposed by the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government (NJFOG) that would require the Attorney General to “publicly disclose the internal affairs complaints, investigative reports and internal affairs dispositions for each internal affairs matter that was processed during the two year pilot program.”  NJFOG’s proposal is fully supported

On January 6, 2015, United States Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer recommended that Union County pay over $40,000 in attorney fees and costs to a Cranford activist whose freedom of speech was “chilled” by the County’s demand that she stop using the County Seal on her public access cable television show. Manner’s decision is on-line here. Activist Tina Renna’s television show, “Union County Citizen’s Forum,” which is often critical of the Union County Board of Freeholders, displayed a graphic depicting a light shining on the Seal of Union County.  The County applied for a trademark on its seal and was