New Jersey’s Local Government Ethics Law (LGEL) requires elected and certain appointed local government officials to annually disclose, on a Financial Disclosure Statement (FDS), all sources of income in excess of $2,000 for both themselves and their household relatives. The reason for this is to help the public detect impermissible conflicts of interest such as… Continue reading Absent specific evidence of untruthfulness, New Jersey agency will not investigate ethics complaint against local government officials who claim that they each lack a source of income of greater than $2,000 per year.
Category: NJ Open Government Notes
Notes, observations and suggestions on transparency and accountability in New Jersey local government.
NJ Attorney General’s office discloses name of Trooper forced to resign for “engaging in racially offensive behavior.”
On February 17, 2017, my non-profit, Libertarians for Transparent Government (LFTG), sued the New Jersey Division of State Police seeking disclosure of the name of a Trooper who, according to the Division’s annual report, “was required to . . . separate from employment . . . [for] having questionable associations, engaging in racially offensive behavior… Continue reading NJ Attorney General’s office discloses name of Trooper forced to resign for “engaging in racially offensive behavior.”
Brick school board sued for discriminating against grounds worker because of his alcoholism.
In his March 30, 2020 lawsuit, a grounds worker formerly employed by the Brick Township (Ocean County, NJ) Board of Education sued the school board and its head of Human Resources for firing him after he allegedly failed a February 19, 2019 alcohol breath test. In his lawsuit, Brian Flynn stated that he was summoned… Continue reading Brick school board sued for discriminating against grounds worker because of his alcoholism.
New Jersey Supreme Court agrees to decide whether the identity of trooper who left his or her position for “questionable associations” and “racially offensive behavior” can be withheld from the public.
Each year, the Division of State Police (NJSP) issues a public report that summarizes disciplinary cases against troopers processed through its internal affairs system. Page 13 of the 2015 report noted that an unnamed trooper was “separate[d] from employment” for “having questionable associations, engaging in racially offensive behavior and publicly discussing police patrol procedures.” After… Continue reading New Jersey Supreme Court agrees to decide whether the identity of trooper who left his or her position for “questionable associations” and “racially offensive behavior” can be withheld from the public.
Court orders Warren County municipality to disclose dashcam video of police chief’s motor vehicle stop.
Update: The Township released the video shortly after this blog post was published. The video is on-line here.————————————On October 1, 2019, New Jersey Superior Court Assignment Judge Yolanda Ciccone issued a court order compelling Independence Township (Warren County) to disclose “the [police] dashcam audio and video recordings of” a motor vehicle stop of Keith P.… Continue reading Court orders Warren County municipality to disclose dashcam video of police chief’s motor vehicle stop.