New Jersey government corruption
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N.J. Supremes rule that the League of Municipalities is a government body
Trenton, NJ On August 23, 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a major ruling in favor of government transparency holding that the New Jersey League of Municipalities is a public body subject to the states New Jersey Open Public Records Act and New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act. The original suit was filed in 2008 by the Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in New Jersey. The court held that “The league meets the definition of a public agency for OPRA (Open Public Records Act) purposes — it is an ‘instrumentality … created by … political subdivisions.’ As a public agency, the league must make available government documents as required by OPRA.”[1] The League is composed of entirely elected or appointed public officials and lobbies on behalf of state municipalities. In addition, its employees participate in state funded retirement plans. The decision overturned a ruling by the appellate courts which upheld the decision of a trial court.[1] You can read more about private agencies and public records laws in New Jersey or another state at Private agency, public dollars.
New Jersey passes uniform copy cost bill
Trenton, NJ A welcome news story out of New Jersey that we have been watching develop for the past few months. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed Assembly Bill 559 into law. AB-559 sets uniform state-wide fees for copies of records, for instance a standard letter sized page would be 5 cents and legal sized pages would be 7 cents. Additionally electronic materials would be required to be distributed at no cost.[2]
Dover NJ requires citizens to turn over meeting videos for copying
Update Dover, NJ This past week during the final vote, the board rejected the proposed law, and instead adopted a more open policy towards video recording. In a 5-4 vote the board rejected all of the restrictions placed on individuals who may want to record the proceedings including the controversial provision requiring the surrender of the video tape for three days upon exiting the meeting.[3]
New Jersey court of appeals rules that League of Municipalities is not a public body
Trenton, NJ This past week a New Jersey Court of Appeals ruled that the state's League of Municipalities was not subject to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act because it did not perform a governmental function, despite the fact that a majority of its funding comes from municipalities and therefor tax-payers. The ruling in the case of Fair Share Housing Center v. New Jersey League of Municipalities will be appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court according to the legal council for the Fair Share Housing Center.[4]
New Jersey appellate panel releases insurance settlement records
Trenton NJ A New Jersey state appellate panel issued a ruling this past week in the case of Burnett (Cimino) v. Gloucester County, determining that insurance settlements reached by insurance providers for government entities are in fact public records subject to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act. The panel reversed the decision made in superior court and remanded the case back to superior court to examine the question of whether the county had succeeded in finding all the settlement records for the requested period of time. [5]
NJ Supreme Court orders release of settlement
Trenton On January 25, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Monmouth County v. Asbury Park Press which established that public entities cannot keep legal settlements a secret from the taxpayers, despite confidentiality clauses within the settlements. The decision centers around a sexual harassment settlement, concluded by the Monmouth county in 2007.[6]
New Jersey Court to limit fees on records requests
Flemington, NJ On February 10, the New Jersey Appellate Division Court released an opinion that will force all government agencies in New Jerseys to drop the cost of copies of public records from their current $0.25-0.75 to the actual cost of making the copies. In the case, Gench v. Hunterdon County, the court determined that the fees being charged by Sussex, Hunterdon and Hudson counties were overcharging for copies and ordered that the costs be reduced. However, the court did not award monetary awards for past fees charged. It also encouraged the state legislature to review and revise the law if it wishes to counteract the ruling prior to it taking effect on July 1. [7]
New Jersey councilman pleads guilty to extortion
Kenny admitted to meeting the government informant on two separate occasions; March 23rd and 30th of 2009. At the meetings, Kenny was deceived into believing that the government informant was a real estate developer who had an interest in promoting a condominium project. The government informant offered Kenny two payments of $2,500 on the condition that Kenny would use his political clout to work on behalf of approvals for his buildings. Kenny accepted both payments. He then donated the money to his campaign fund [8].
In April, Kenny was appointed to fill a vacancy on the city council. He was subsequently elected to the position in May. He was not charged until October. [9].
Study shows state ARRA web sites need improvement
TRENTON, New Jersey: The New Jersey State Auditor's Office has expressed concern about the apparent lack of transparency state officials have had about the state's $17 billion share of stimulus funding. In an effort to increase transparency and encourage accountability, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included provisions for states to demonstrate their transparency about how the state funds are spent through creation of informative web sites.[10]
However, according to the non-profit research group Good Jobs First, most states are not doing well. In a recent study, average state websites rated 28.2 out of 100 in terms of transparency, with only 6 states above 50. Among the features that were evaluated were jobs data, project and program status, spending flows, distribution of funds within the state, contract award processes, and user friendliness of the sites. Less than half of the state sites provided detailed information about stimulus projects and only 4 states included information about jobs created.[11] [12]
The second accused mayor In New Jersey corruption scandal resigns
Last week, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, 32, was arrested and accused of taking $25,000 in bribes. Friday he resigned, less than a month after he was sworn in.
There were 40 people arrested in the ground breaking New Jersey scandal after a federal probe uncovered the political corruption, human organ sales and money laundering linking New York and Israel.
The public officials accused in the scandal face charges of taking bribes in exchange for helping to get permits and projects prioritized and approved. They are also charged with steering contracts to the witness.
"Regrettably, it has turned out that the controversy surrounding the charges against me has become a distraction to me and an impediment to the functioning of Hoboken government," Cammarano, a Democrat, said in his resignation letter.
"I am innocent of any criminal charges and I intend to fight the allegations against me."
New Jersey mayors, lawmakers arrested in corruption case
The corruption scandal connected money laundering operations between Brooklyn, N.Y.; Deal, N.J.; and Israel. There was an alleged tens of millions of dollars filtered through Jewish charities that rabbis controlled in New York and New Jersey.
Prosecutors utilized an informant, a real estate developer charged with bank fraud three years ago, to help them ascertain corrupt politicians by having the informant pose as a crooked businessman. The informant then paid a string of public officials tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to get approvals for buildings and other New Jersey projects.[13]
New Jersey Judge schedules sentencing of State Sen. Wayne Bryant
Bryant was a Camden County Democrat senator who served for 25 years. He was convicted of fraud and bribery for taking a low-work job at the School of Osteopathic Medicine at UMDNJ in exchange for siphoning $10.5 million in state funding toward the Stratford school as head of the Senate Budget Committee.
The former senator was also convicted of pension fraud for sending law firm associates to work as a solicitor in his stead for the Gloucester County Board of Social Services. He acquired about $50,000 a year for this function, done by these lawyers.[13]
Key step forward in the quest for public records
Tina Renna of Cranford, NJ was refused information by Union County because they would not recognize her March 13, 2006 e-mail as a valid means of asking for the public information. Renna sought a copy of a government resolution, Union County Resolution No. 42- 2005.[14]
Audit finds UMDNJ spent big on cell phone service for terminated employees
"The state's medical university, which spends more than $1 million a year for pagers and cellular phones, cannot account for many of them, according to a confidential internal audit.
The auditors, whose report was obtained by The Star-Ledger, found the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey was paying for cell phones still held by terminated employees, and also was paying for expanded services -- such as cell phone picture messaging -- that the auditors questioned. Their report also said the university is not tracking personal phone usage by its employees -- a violation of Internal Revenue Service regulations."
In the end, high court prefers more secrecy
"The state Supreme Court last week struck another blow against open government in New Jersey. That should hardly surprise us in a political environment that so greatly favors secrecy.
At issue was the request in Bergen County of nearly 8 million pages in land title records dating to 1984 by a company that creates electronic databases for the information. The cost of providing all the requested copies would have been about $19,000. But the high court gave permission to the clerk to charge more than $460,000 to block out Social Security numbers on the documents."
Court rules for county clerk in records case
"A North Jersey county clerk is allowed to charge a company more than $460,000 to block out Social Security numbers on 22 years of land transaction records, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.
At issue is a request to the Bergen County clerk for 8 million pages of land title records dating to 1984 by Data Trace Services, a technology company that operates land record databases in 25 states and sells electronic access to the data it gathers."
Firm wins fight for real estate data
"The state's highest court told Bergen County yesterday to release 8 million pages of real estate documents -- including mortgage information -- to fulfill a request filed under the state's public records law, but that Social Security numbers included in them must be kept private.
The justices also said the company requesting the information should pay the $460,000 it will cost the county to remove the Social Security numbers from records spanning more than two decades."
Transaction documents to be released to public
"Release the documents.
That was the order from a judge to township officials who denied a public records request filed by a resident who is a frequent critic of local officials.
The resident, Larry Loigman, had asked for a list of documents relating to financial transactions between the town and former township manager David R. Kochel. When Ocean Township refused to provide most of those documents, Loigman, a general-practice attorney, filed suit Feb. 25 in state Superior Court, Monmouth County."
Ocean City weighs hourly fee for researching records
"The City Clerk's Office is a sort of library for local government records.
But City Council on Thursday considered whether its employees must serve as unpaid librarians for members of the public who launch a fishing expedition.
Council debated enacting a new hourly fee for public-records requests that require time-consuming research by city employees. The city proposed charging $20 per hour for the first five hours of research."
Township is withholding public records, suit says
"The town is withholding public records to hide evidence of "unlawful" payments made to the former township manager, a local resident has charged.
The charge stems from a public-records request that Larry Loigman, a resident and frequent critic of township officials, submitted in January. In the request, Loigman asked for a list of documents relating to financial transactions between the town and former manager David R. Kochel.
Ocean Township declined to provide most of those documents. So Loigman, a general-practice attorney, has filed suit in Superior Court in Monmouth County. The case is scheduled to be heard March 31."
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