A police sergeant serving Riverdale Borough (Morris County) New Jersey filed suit last October against the Borough’s mayor claiming that the mayor has been harassing and retaliating against him.  Even though the lawsuit was filed more than a year ago, I have not seen mention of it in any newspaper. So I decided to blog it.    The lawsuit is on-line here.

In his lawsuit, Sergeant Gregory Bogert claimed that Mayor William Budesheim perceived that Bogert harassed Budesheim’s son, who works for the Borough as a police dispatcher.  Bogert, however, maintains that the junior Budesheim is often late to work and neglects his duties but escapes discipline because his father is the mayor.  Bogert also alleged that the junior Budesheim more than likely destroyed the campaign signs of his father’s political opponents.  He also alleged that Mayor Budesheim has become so enraged at Bogert that he has tailgated his car and made a “scumbag” comment for which the Borough Council forced him to apologize. 

The lawsuit is in the discovery phase, but the discovery period is scheduled to end in March 2015.  Thereafter, the matter is likely to settle or be tried. 

Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. Please send all comments to [email protected]