Transparency NJ

After my recent posting, I received a few comments advising me that the Local Finance Board, which handles the bulk of the municipal ethics complaints filed in New Jersey, is very slow processing the complaints. I concur with these correspondents and offer the following as evidence of the slow pace at which the Local Finance […]

Here’s an article that touches on the permissible and impermissible uses of email by public officials. The League of Municipalities’ publication–“The Perils of E-mail”–discussed in the article is on the League’s site here. —————————————-New Jersey towns cautioned against using e-mail to sidestep public meeting lawsMonday, December 15, 2008By STEPHEN J. NOVAKThe Express-Times WASHINGTON – It […]

Lately, I’ve been endeavoring to use OPRA to dislodge settlements of lawsuits where at least one of the parties is a government agency, official or employee. Some of the agreements, like the one in the following news article, contain confidentiality clauses that prevent the parties from discussing the settlement terms. Others don’t have confidential clauses […]

At a special meeting to be held on January 14, 2009, at 7 p.m. the Rutherford Mayor and Council will discuss amendments to the Council’s bylaws. In its January 12, 2009 letter, the Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project offered some comments and suggestions regarding Rutherford’s bylaws. That letter, along with a copy of the […]

This is in today’s paper. John PaffSomerset, New Jersey——————-$245K paid to settle police brutality suits by Veronica Slaght / Hunterdon County Democrat Wednesday January 14, 2009, 12:29 PM READINGTON TWP. — Two police brutality lawsuits were settled for a total of $245,000, according to agreements recently unearthed by open public records advocate John Paff. Mr. […]