More Eminent Domain Abuse

The residents of Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue in Longbranch are currently fighting their town government in an eminent domain case. The residents are trying to fight the township to keep their homes and I thought it was supposed to be the township that is supposed to protect the homes.

Click here for the news piece.

Ticket Quotas

Ticket Quotas for police departments made it as a news item in today's Star Ledger yet this is not news, this has been going on for decades. The local municipality needs to beef up their budget after increasing their spending and can no longer drain enough money out of the residents in the form of taxes, permits, licenses, and fees. Their solution to this dilemma is to direct the local police department to issue a minimum number of tickets for parking and driving violations to increase the inflow of money.

Why is it in the news now? Because the police officers are now being evaluated based on meeting these quotas.

This is a sick process. Do we tell our police officers that they have to arrest 10 murderers a year or they have to catch 15 burglars a month. The local government is relying on local violations for income and using the law enforcement to collect it. Some police officers find this method humiliating as their job is to fight crime not to collect taxes. Quotas are what lead police officers to spend days hiding behind a billboard sign and doing nothing but waiting for a speeding car. It is an inefficient use of their time and takes away from the security of the rest of the municipality.

Click here for the article.

Special Interest Endorsements

When I ran for office one of the things I did to plan out my campaign was to make a list of all the special interest groups that I might have been able to get an endorsement from. One of the was Garden State Equality, a NJ gay rights group. A Republican could never get their endorsement, especially with candidates like Joe Pennacchio who maintains the stance that a state that would legalize marriage can't be trusted. Just a couple of days ago Garden State Equality gave their endorsement to Frank Lautenberg. Surprise, Surprise. The organization knows that Lautenberg is not going to fight for gay marriage or anything else that might jeopardize his campaign, the only reason they are endorsing him is because they know he has the best chance of winning and by endorsing him they will have special privileges come election day.

This to me seems counter to the whole idea behind endorsements. I always thought that the purpose was to support the candidate you believe would best represent the interests of your organization rather than bet on the winning horse and hope that you get a favor in return. Garden State Equality should know by now that the Libertarian Party believes that the government should not have the power to decide who can marry who when it comes to consenting adults. Libertarians such as myself believe that they have the right to get married and obtain the same benefits that every other married couple retains.

But will this ever get me an endorsement, probably not. Maybe a pat on the back behind closed doors but that will probably be it. I wish these organizations had more faith in themselves and less faith in the system and would support the underdogs who really wish to change the government. Boy am I a hopeless romantic.

Sabrin Bergen Line Revoked

Republicans who were running on the Sabrin line in Bergen county for freeholder were all rejected due to a challenge to their petition that ended in the revoking of enough signatures to get them off the ballot. Murray Sabrin has been urging Republicans that are for reform to run on his ticket and the Republican leadership has been attacking this move. It is no surprise that an organized effort by libertarian leaning Republicans would cause such a reaction from the state party leadership.

Click here for the story.

NJ Libertarian Party Getting a Facelift

The NJLP has been discussing plans for the future aiming at becoming a powerful presence in NJ. One of the pieces of this plan is to upgrade the website to one that can compete with those of the state Democrats and Republicans. Another is to send out a mailing to all the members of the national party that live in the state with both a letter from the NJLP as well as one from their local contact such as a county committee chairman like myself. The letter will also include a membership and donation form.

Armed with a list of over 9000 names and addresses this will offer an opportunity to expand membership. The party is also looking at registered independents,which make up a majority of NJ's registered voters, as a place to look for disenchanted Americans who have found themselves caught between two parties that have landed us in the mess we are in now. NJ is infamous for reelecting politicians who have shown themselves to be corrupt and incompetent because we feel that we have no other choice and it is our job to show them that they do have another choice.

We are open to suggestions and comments and would love to hear from our readers.

James Sharpe Found Guilty

There isn't much else that a Libertarian hates most than corruption spawned by big government. James Sharpe was supposed to be a man of the people, a gym class teacher who spoke against corruption and for the rejuvenation of Newark. But when given the chance he used his position to womanize and make profit. He sold city land to his ex-girlfriend at a discount who then sold it at a premium to developers. This is a pattern that many NJ politicians, both Democrat and Republican, have followed. Both Wayne Bryant and Joseph Coniglio are currently awaiting trial and Sharpe will probably have to go back to court on grand larceny charges for spending $58,000 of city money on personal expenses.

What is the lesson that can be learned from this? The less money and power the government has the less damage it can do. Whatever the government can give to the people it can just as easily take away.

Birthday Celebration Leads to Arrest

Dancing, apparently, is now a crime. On April 13th a group of men and women gathered at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C., in celebration of the Founding Father's birthday. The group, comprised of about 20 D.C. residents, planned on quietly and peacefully dancing at the public memorial, which is open 24 hours a day. After gathering, the group was confronted by Park Police officers, and asked to leave. The dancers attempted to reason with the officers, and even offered to move from the rotunda to the front of the steps. Never, at any point, were the demonstrators violent or belligerent, yet, after a few minutes, one of the dancers, 28-year-old Brooke Oberwetter, was arrested after asking the officers what laws she and the group were breaking. The rest of the group, however, was forced to leave and was not allowed to dance. Several hours later, presumably after finding no applicable charges, Oberwetter was released.

It is truly a sad day in America when peaceful demonstrators, gathering quietly in a public place, are harassed by those who are supposed to protect them. What makes this case so poignant is the sheer irony of being arrested while celebrating the legacy of Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps if the Park Police officers read the many Jeffersonian quotes adorning the walls of the memorial, this incident could have been avoided. Is there really any better way to honor the memory of Thomas Jefferson than by allowing free expression, unfettered by authoritarian government bodies?

Click here for the news article.

Unedited videos of the incident: