Freeholder Rose admits he attacked Assemblyman Space last year

Jonathan Rose’s Skylands blog put out some pretty goofy stuff yesterday, including the admission that it was behind a series of dishonest, personal attacks against Assemblyman Parker Space (R-Sussex) during his General Election battle against two far-left Democrats.  Why? 

Well, someone who was once close to Rose called his blog “narcissistic” and suggested that Rose was deeply jealous of the Assemblyman’s popularity.  Perhaps, but the very personal nature of these attacks is still striking. 

This comes on the heels of the attacks made by Freeholders Rose and Carl Lazzaro against their Republican primary opponent, Dawn Fantasia.  Supporters of Rose and Lazzaro (and the politician they answer to, Freeholder Boss George Graham) have called Mrs. Fantasia, the only woman in the race, many names.  They have called her a "political prostitute", accused her of "pimping" a message as a "spokesperson.”  At a public meeting, one Rose-Lazzaro supporter called her a "lackey" who "belongs in a cage like the animal you are."

One of these elected buffoons told her that her name "sounds like you should be dancing on a pole."  Another told her that "you don't belong in MY Republican party." 

Why all the hostility towards a conservative, Republican, Pro-Life, Pro-Second Amendment woman who has cut taxes and balanced budgets as President of the Franklin Borough Council?  Is it because she isn’t “one of the (Graham) boys”?

Boss Graham and the boys get personal with Sussex Mom

By Sam Adams (A Reader) 

The Turkish are coming the Turkish are coming, or at least that's what Boss Graham would like you to believe.  

Reminiscent of the movie The Russians Are Coming. But unfortunately not as funny.  

It's about as believable as Russian collision, but that already taken by the Democrats, Boss Graham’s people. And with collusion we see how that has cost the taxpayers.  

At this point they seem to be willing to throw anything at Councilwoman Fantasia.  

She does not own a charter school. 

She isn't funded by extremists.  

Moreover all of this hogwash is laughable.  

But if you want a good fairy tale sit on old Boss Grahams lap and listen to him spin a good tail.  Just remember, with him and his people, there is no happy ending.  

Taxes will go up, the solar thing will run unresolved into Boss Graham’s election, and you'll have funded all this with your tax money for them to score political points!!

------- 

Over the weekend, a blog run by Freeholder Jonathan Rose made some claims about a charter school in Bergen County.  It claimed that the school was controlled by a Muslim cleric. 

That turned out to be a lie. 

Freeholder Rose’s blog claimed that the Muslim cleric was a “terrorist”. 

That turned out to be a lie too.

The most troubling aspect of this is that Freeholder Rose operates his blog with input from fellow Freeholders George Graham and Carl Lazzaro.  That’s a Freeholder Board majority, making their actions the actions of Sussex County!  

And just as troubling is the involvement of New Jersey Herald reporter Eric Obernauer.  In open conflict-of-interest, the Warren County resident is also a Sussex County official.

Here are the facts.

The charter school (Bergen Arts and Science Charter School) has no affiliation with any political or religious institutions. Period.

When asked, the school administration noted:  “The only exception is our professional affiliations with colleges and universities in the state with whom we collaborate in our educational programs, such as the past placement of student teachers from the College of St. Elizabeth. Some school buildings are leased from Catholic dioceses, but the schools are not affiliated with the Catholic Church.”

The Muslim cleric that Freeholder Rose’s blog smeared as a “terrorist” is a religious leader named Fethullah Gulen.  He is a religious moderate and an ally of the United States of America, which has provided him with protection from persecution.  Gulen lives in Pennsylvania and has been praised by the Pope.  Yes, the Pope.

Gulen is a religious leader, originally from Turkey, who opposed the hard-line Islamist regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Erdogan is the increasingly dictatorial and Islamist President of Turkey.  Erdogen has been repeatedly in the news for purging the judiciary, jailing journalists who write unflattering reports, and successfully intimidating the opposition.  Erdogan had a law passed to allow the government to ban websites and he has promised to "rip out the roots" of Twitter.  He has even attempted to censor speech in other nations, in 2015 Turkey demanding that Germany prosecute a poet who had written some verse critical of Erdogan. 

Gulen accused Erdogan of political corruption in 2013.  Erdogan responded by banning Gulen's books.  Erdogan had Gulen indicted on charges that a Turkish judge threw out.  So Erdogan had Gulen re-indicted a few months later for treasonable offenses that carried the death penalty.  Gulen fled Turkey, came to the United States, and was convicted in absentia.  He faces death if he returns to Turkey.

Freeholder Rose’s assertion that religious leader Gulen is a “terrorist” is nothing more than a parroting of Islamist dictator Erdogan’s propaganda. As the United States State Department has stated over and over again, “Gulen has condemned terrorism.”  In fact, he was the firstMuslim religious leader to condemn terrorism, warning that it “has no place in Islam.”  Gulen wrote a condemnation article in the Washington Poston September 12, 2001, one day after the September 11 attacks, and stated that “A Muslim cannot be a terrorist, nor can a terrorist be a true Muslim.”   

Finally, an investigation by the Bergen Record uncovered no direct evidence of Gulen’s involvement in the operation of charter schools in New Jersey. 

So what we have is a blog run by the three-member majority (Rose-Lazzaro-Graham) of the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Sussex County making a false and defamatory statement against a Charter School, licensed by the State of New Jersey, and a religious leader who has been praised by the Pope and other religious leaders – and who is under the protection of the United States of America. What are these three thinking? 

Now here is the story behind the story of why officeholders like Jonathan Rose have been looped into recycling the propaganda of an Islamist dictator.

A number of New Jersey political insiders – major players in the New Jersey political establishment – work for an international lobbying firm called Mercury Public Affairs.  For example, Juan Melli was recently hired as a Vice President.  Melli is the founder of BlueJersey.com, a former associate editor and columnist for David Wildstein's PolitickerNJ.com, and communications manager for Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.  Melli joins several other members of the New Jersey political establishment at Mercury Public Affairs.  These include Mo Butler, United States Senator Cory Booker's campaign consultant, former chief of staff, and "longtime advisor"; Michael Soliman, United States Senator and former Chairman of the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations Robert Menendez's political advisor and former State Director; and Michael DuHaime, Governor Chris Christie's campaign consultant and someone who has GOP contacts throughout the state. 

Once upon a time, campaign managers were locals who came up through the ranks alongside the politicians whose careers they helped to manage.  But as more money washed into DC and was funneled into campaigns, that changed.  Consultants proliferated and firms became larger.  Following the money, a few either merged with or morphed into public relations and lobbying (government relations) operations.  Why not?  Corporations paid big for access to politicians and there is nobody politicians love more than the person who got them elected. 

It was only a matter of time that things went global.  And that is why these New Jersey political operatives became members of an international firm representing the interests of quite a few unsavory foreign governments.  Mercury Public Affairs is itself a subsidiary of an even larger international firm that handles the image-making  for Russian President Vladimir Putin, receiving credit for, among other accomplishments, getting Putin's face on the cover of Timemagazine -- as the "Person of the Year" for 2007. 

Mercury Public Affairs began in 1999 as a decidedly Republican shop with connections to the RNC and politicians like John McCain and Mitt Romney, around 2013 it embarked on a mission to "diversify" -- meaning making the firm "more bipartisan and full-service."  Mike DuHaime joined the firm in 2009, first as a "managing director" but swiftly rising to partner.  Michael Soliman joined Mercury in 2013 and became a partner this year.  Mo Butler joined as a "managing director" in 2016.  Mercury Public Affairs has 10 partners and 160 employees.  Omnicom purchased Mercury in 2003.

Mercury Public Affairs has 18 offices worldwide -- including London; Mexico City; Washington, DC; New York; and Westfield, New Jersey.  The New Jersey offices (a satellite operates out of Trenton) of Mercury are the haunt of Messrs. DuHaime, Soliman, Butler, and other connected operatives like newspaperman Darryl Isherwood (former top political reporter for the Star-Ledgerand editor of PolitickerNJ), and "Christie campaign vet" Mark Mowers.   

In January 2015, Michael Soliman registered with the United States Justice Department, pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as a person representing the Embassy of the State of Qatar.  You must have read about Qatar in the news...Amnesty International has accused Qatar of being complicit in human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Yes, slavery.  In fact, the United Nations recently gave Qatar one year "to end migrant worker slavery" or face an international investigation.   

Qatar is just one of freedom's garden spots represented by Mercury Public Affairs. Remember the controversy in Uganda, when the President of that country decided that homosexuality was a crime that should be punishable by death?  Well, the law he wanted passed was "moderated" in December 2013, substituting life imprisonment for the death penalty.   In 2015, Mercury was brought on to provide public relations, lobbying, and media monitoring services with regards to the Office of the President and the Ugandan government in general on subjects beginning with "human rights" and ending with "good governance."  For which the contract calls for Mercury to be compensated at the rate of $50,000 per month, with $150,000 up front.

Mercury also represents individuals.  Folks like Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who in 2003 led an anti-American demonstration in which he personally burned an American flag.  For its work, Mercury pocketed a $30,000 monthly retainer, plus expenses. 

In January 2016, Mercury Public Affairs partner Morris Reid negotiated a contract with Amsterdam & Partners, an international law firm with offices in London and Washington, DC.  The document is marked "confidential and privileged" but is public information under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  In August of 2015, Amsterdam & Partners signed a contract with the Turkish Ambassador to the United States to provide legal services related to a "matter of importance" to the embassy.  The government of Turkey paid Amsterdam a retainer of $50,000 a month. 

While the contract stipulates that the greatest security and confidentiality be observed, under the terms of the contract between Amsterdam and Turkey, third parties may be hired "as the Firm and the Client agree in writing are necessary to further the Engagement."  And so, in March of 2016, Amsterdam hired Mercury to perform work on behalf of the Turkish government for $20,000 a month -- above and beyond what was being paid to Amsterdam by Turkey.  It is in the contract between Amsterdam & Partners and Mercury Public Affairs that we learn what all this cloak and dagger is in aid of:

The Amsterdam-Mercury contract references an "investigation into Fethullah Gulen and his organization in the United States."  We know who he is.

The government of Turkish President Erdogan has been trying to extradite Gulen back to Turkey so they can put him to death, but the government of the United States is protecting him. In the hours after a Turkish coup attempt in 2016, Erdogan was quick to blame Gulen, while Gulen put forward the theory that Erdogan had staged the coup himself in order to consolidate power. 

The Associated Pressidentified Amsterdam & Partners (the firm Mercury is working for) as "lawyer(s) for the Turkish government" and quoted Robert Amsterdam:  "There are indications of direct involvement (in the coup attempt) by Fethullah Gulen." Amsterdam added that "according to Turkish intelligence sources, there are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government."  That sounds a lot like Freeholder Rose’s blog, doesn’t it? 

Why does Mercury Public Affairs want to be a part of extraditing a moderate religious leader to satisfy the rage of an Islamist dictator?  The answer is simple:  MONEY… FOREIGN MONEY… THE FOREIGN MONEY OF AN ISLAMIST DICTATOR. 

Why are members of the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders associating themselves with an effort to tarnish the reputation of a moderate religious leader, which will make it easier to extradite and murder said religious leader?

The close relationships with many in New Jersey politics that Mercury's partners and employees enjoy is a matter for deep concern.  Freeholder Boss George Graham operates a political consulting business.  Has he been hired by Mercury, a client of Mercury, or an associate of Mercury?  His public disclosure reports require him only to list his political consulting firm, not its clients or sources of money. 

Both Freeholders Jonathan Rose and Carl Lazzaro operate similar businesses that hide their sources of income from the public, making it impossible to know whether or not their assault on this moderate religious leader was inspired by Mercury Public Affairs.  In any case, as the three members of the Freeholder Board constitute a majority and they have launched this attack, they should publicly come clean about it.

Wouldn't it be better if the Sussex County Freeholder Board stuck with figuring out how lower property taxes and cut debt instead of shilling for foreign governments?  With all this money from foreign powers floating around, the Board should avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. 

Finally, trashing the reputation of a Charter School and calling someone a “terrorist” who isn’t are things that can get the Freeholder Board’s majority sued. If that happens, who is going to pay for it?  The taxpayer, of course!

Failing to lower property taxes, Freeholders take up foreign policy

Talk about being desperate.   

They’ve raised property taxes every year they’ve been in office, increased county debt, failed to start litigation to get our money back from the solar scammers, but spent a half million dollars to “study” the problem, re-hired the lawyers responsible for allowing the scam in the first place, and handed out no-bid contracts to people involved in the scam.  Now, after screwing up all that, the three-member majority who run the Sussex County Freeholder Board – Jonathan Rose, Carl Lazzaro, and Boss George Graham – have decided to involve the Board in international affairs.   

Yes, they are putting Sussex County on record as siding with Islamist dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.  

Freeholder Jonathan Rose, who runs the Skylands blog , put out a statement on behalf of himself and Freeholders Lazzaro and Graham, that attacked Franklin Borough Councilwoman Dawn Fantasia. For the record, Councilwoman Dawn Fantasia is a Roman Catholic.  According to Rose and company, the inner-city charter school at which she is currently employed, is affiliated with an Muslim religious leader named Fethullah Gulen who finds himself the target of the Islamist regime of Erdogan. 

There is some debate over just how affiliated the school is with the religious leader, but that did not stop Freeholder Rose and company from labeling Gulen… and by extension Councilwoman Fantasia… terrorists. Unfortunately for Freeholders Rose, Lazzaro, and Graham (and, by extension, Sussex County government), most of the West – the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union, etc. – consider the religious leader Gulen to be a Muslim moderate. 

That is why the religious leader Gulen lives under the PROTECTION of the government of the United States of America– in Pennsylvania, as a matter of fact.  And if that isn’t enough, no less than the Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, has shown his support for the religious leader Gulen and has called him a moderate.  That’s right, the Pope says Gulen is a good guy.

But according to Freeholder Rose (and Lazzaro and Graham) anyone who has anything to do with the religious leader Gulen is a “terrorist”.  Hey, that’s three Freeholders of the five… does this mean that Sussex County is on record as declaring the Pope a terrorist – along with Gulen and Fantasia?  If so, that is some foreign policy statement!

And Gulen’s moderation isn’t something new.  In the 1990’s Gulen began working with Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church, Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Head Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron of the Sephardic Hebrew congregation.  All of these faiths would be shocked to learn of the condemnation by a majority on the Sussex County Freeholder Board.

Freeholder Rose’s assertion that the religious leader Gulen is a “terrorist” is nothing more than a parroting of Islamist dictator Erdogan’s propaganda. As the United States State Department has stated over and over again, “Gulen has condemned terrorism.”  In fact, he was the firstMuslim religious leader to condemn terrorism, warning that it “has no place in Islam.”  Gulen wrote a condemnation article in the Washington Poston September 12, 2001, one day after the September 11 attacks, and stated that “A Muslim cannot be a terrorist, nor can a terrorist be a true Muslim.”    

But international affairs expert Jonathan Rose (NOT!) calls this guy a terrorist?  And Rose and company imply that all who can be linked with Gulen – like Fantasia and the Pope – are terroriststoo, by association. And the fact that it is three Freeholders behind this, a majority, really makes this a very serious allegation and one that could end up getting the county sued big time! 

Here is the story behind the story of why officeholders like Jonathan Rose have been looped into recycling the propaganda of an Islamist dictator. 

A number of New Jersey political insiders – major players in the New Jersey political establishment – work for an international lobbying firm called Mercury Public Affairs.  For example, Juan Melli was recently hired as a Vice President.  Melli is the founder of BlueJersey.com, a former associate editor and columnist for David Wildstein's PolitickerNJ.com, and communications manager for Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.  Melli joins several other members of the New Jersey political establishment at Mercury Public Affairs.  These include Mo Butler, United States Senator Cory Booker's campaign consultant, former chief of staff, and "longtime advisor"; Michael Soliman, United States Senator and former Chairman of the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations Robert Menendez's political advisor and former State Director; and Michael DuHaime, Governor Chris Christie's campaign consultant and someone who has GOP contacts throughout the state. 

Once upon a time, campaign managers were locals who came up through the ranks alongside the politicians whose careers they helped to manage.  But as more money washed into DC and was funneled into campaigns, that changed.  Consultants proliferated and firms became larger.  Following the money, a few either merged with or morphed into public relations and lobbying (government relations) operations.  Why not?  Corporations paid big for access to politicians and there is nobody politicians love more than the person who got them elected. 

It was only a matter of time that things went global.  And that is why these New Jersey political operatives became members of an international firm representing the interests of quite a few unsavory foreign governments.  Mercury Public Affairs is itself a subsidiary of an even larger international firm that handles the image-making  for Russian President Vladimir Putin, receiving credit for, among other accomplishments, getting Putin's face on the cover of Timemagazine -- as the "Person of the Year" for 2007. 

Mercury Public Affairs began in 1999 as a decidedly Republican shop with connections to the RNC and politicians like John McCain and Mitt Romney, around 2013 it embarked on a mission to "diversify" -- meaning making the firm "more bipartisan and full-service."  Mike DuHaime joined the firm in 2009, first as a "managing director" but swiftly rising to partner.  Michael Soliman joined Mercury in 2013 and became a partner this year. Mo Butler joined as a "managing director" in 2016.  Mercury Public Affairs has 10 partners and 160 employees.  Omnicom purchased Mercury in 2003. 

Mercury Public Affairs has 18 offices worldwide -- including London; Mexico City; Washington, DC; New York; and Westfield, New Jersey.  The New Jersey offices (a satellite operates out of Trenton) of Mercury are the haunt of Messrs. DuHaime, Soliman, Butler, and other connected operatives like newspaperman Darryl Isherwood (former top political reporter for the Star-Ledgerand editor of PolitickerNJ), and "Christie campaign vet" Mark Mowers.   

In January 2015, Michael Soliman registered with the United States Justice Department, pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as a person representing the Embassy of the State of Qatar.  You must have read about Qatar in the news...Amnesty International has accused Qatar of being complicit in human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Yes, slavery.  In fact, the United Nations recently gave Qatar one year "to end migrant worker slavery" or face an international investigation.   

Qatar is just one of freedom's garden spots represented by Mercury Public Affairs. Remember the controversy in Uganda, when the President of that country decided that homosexuality was a crime that should be punishable by death?  Well, the law he wanted passed was "moderated" in December 2013, substituting life imprisonment for the death penalty.   In 2015, Mercury was brought on to provide public relations, lobbying, and media monitoring services with regards to the Office of the President and the Ugandan government in general on subjects beginning with "human rights" and ending with "good governance."  For which the contract calls for Mercury to be compensated at the rate of $50,000 per month, with $150,000 up front. 

Mercury also represents individuals.  Folks like Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who in 2003 led an anti-American demonstration in which he personally burned an American flag.  For its work, Mercury pocketed a $30,000 monthly retainer, plus expenses.

In January 2016, Mercury Public Affairs partner Morris Reid negotiated a contract with Amsterdam & Partners, an international law firm with offices in London and Washington, DC.  The document is marked "confidential and privileged" but is public information under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  In August of 2015, Amsterdam & Partners signed a contract with the Turkish Ambassador to the United States to provide legal services related to a "matter of importance" to the embassy.  The government of Turkey paid Amsterdam a retainer of $50,000 a month. 

While the contract stipulates that the greatest security and confidentiality be observed, under the terms of the contract between Amsterdam and Turkey, third parties may be hired "as the Firm and the Client agree in writing are necessary to further the Engagement."  And so, in March of 2016, Amsterdam hired Mercury to perform work on behalf of the Turkish government for $20,000 a month -- above and beyond what was being paid to Amsterdam by Turkey.  It is in the contract between Amsterdam & Partners and Mercury Public Affairs that we learn what all this cloak and dagger is in aid of:

The Amsterdam-Mercury contract references an "investigation into Fethullah Gulen and his organization in the United States."  So who is Fethullah Gulen?

Gulen has been in the news since the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016.  Gulen is a religious leader from Turkey, and a one-time political ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan is the increasingly authoritarian and Islamist President of Turkey.  He has been repeatedly in the news for purging the judiciary, jailing journalists who write unflattering reports, and successfully intimidating the opposition.  Erdogan had a law passed to allow the government to ban websites and he has promised to "rip out the roots" of Twitter.  He has even attempted to censor speech in other nations, in 2015 Turkey demanding that Germany prosecute a poet who had written some verse critical of Erdogan. 

Erdogan and Gulen had a falling out over allegations of political corruption by Erdogan in 2013.  Gulen's books were banned.  First, he was indicted on charges that a Turkish judge threw out, but then was indicted a few months later for treasonable offenses that carried the death penalty.  Gulen fled Turkey, came to the United States, and was convicted in absentia.  According to Wikipedia, Gulen was one of the first Muslim leaders to condemn the attacks on September 11, 2001, writing a "condemnation article" in the Washington Post, the next day.  He wrote:  "A Muslim cannot be a terrorist, nor can a terrorist be a true Muslim."

Gülen teaches a Hanafi version of Islam, deriving from Sunni Muslim scholar Said Nursi's teachings. Gülen has stated that he believes in science, interfaith dialogue among the People of the Book, and multi-party democracy. He has initiated such dialogue with the Vaticanand some Jewish organizations. 

Gülen is actively involved in the societal debate concerning the future of the Turkish state, and Islam in the modern world. He has been described in the English-language media as an imam "who promotes a tolerant Islam which emphasises altruism, hard work and education" and as "one of the world's most important Muslim figures." 

The government of Turkish President Erdogan has attempted to extradite Gulen back to Turkey to face punishment, but the government of the United States hasn't cooperated.  In the hours after the coup attempt, Erdogan was quick to blame Gulen, while Gulen put forward the theory that Erdogan had staged the coup himself in order to consolidate power.

TheAssociated Pressidentified Amsterdam & Partners (the firm Mercury is working for) as "lawyer(s) for the Turkish government" and quoted Robert Amsterdam:  "There are indications of direct involvement (in the coup attempt) by Fethullah Gulen." Amsterdam added that "according to Turkish intelligence sources, there are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government."

Why does Mercury Public Affairs want to be a part of extraditing a moderate religious leader to satisfy the rage of an Islamist dictator?  The answer is simple:  MONEY… FOREIGN MONEY… THE FOREIGN MONEY OF AN ISLAMIST DICTATOR.

Why are members of the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders associating themselves with an effort to tarnish the reputation of a moderate religious leader, which will make it easier to extradite and murder said religious leader? 

The close relationships with many in New Jersey politics that Mercury's partners and employees enjoy is a matter for deep concern.  Freeholder Boss George Graham operates a political consulting business.  Has he been hired by Mercury, a client of Mercury, or an associate of Mercury?  His public disclosure reports require him only to list his political consulting firm, not its clients or sources of money. 

Both Freeholders Jonathan Rose and Carl Lazzaro operate similar businesses that hide their sources of income from the public, making it impossible to know whether or not their assault on this moderate religious leader was inspired by Mercury Public Affairs.  In any case, as the three members of the Freeholder Board constitute a majority and they have launched this attack, they should publicly come clean about it

Wouldn't it be better if the Sussex County Freeholder Board stuck with figuring out how lower property taxes and cut debt instead of shilling for foreign governments?  With all this money from foreign powers floating around, the Board should avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. 

Calling a moderate religious leader a terrorist? A Sussex County mother of three, a terrorist?  The Pope, a terrorist?  What a rotten way to spend Memorial Day!

Great Ideas for Transparency in Sussex County

A recent story in the New Jersey Herald (December 15, 2016) by reporter David Danzis highlighted the about face by Freeholder boss George Graham on the issue of allowing Sussex County's citizens to see what goes on at the Freeholder Board meetings.  Having campaigned on "transparency", the majority of the freeholders are now on record as opposing it.  Danzis reported:

The Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted to reject a resolution that would have requested a local cable television provider record and broadcast regularly-scheduled public meetings.

The resolution was a formal request of Service Electric Cable TV of NJ, Inc. to provide broadcasting services pursuant to federal law concerning Public, Educational, and Governmental Access Channels. The cable provider would have subcontracted a videographer to attend the meetings. The service would have been free of charge to the county. The meeting would have aired at least twice on SECTV's public channel.

The vote on Wednesday evening was 3-2 with Freeholder Director George Graham, Freeholder Deputy Director Carl Lazzaro and Freeholder Jonathan Rose against and Freeholders Phillip Crabb and Richard Vohden in favor.

...Following the vote, several members of the public voiced their disapproval of the freeholder's decision.

"I think the vote you took on cable TV was, I'm thinking, absurd," a Sparta resident in attendance commented. "You had an opportunity to get this thing to reach some additional people ... I don't know why you wouldn't vote ‘Yes' for that."

Harvey Roseff, of Byram, said he found it "absurd" that the issue has taken months to be brought up only to be voted down.

"There's absolutely no problem here," Roseff said. "It's already done all over New Jersey. You're not breaking any new ground. You just don't want to do it. There's a core group of people here pretending it's a complicated matter -- it just isn't."

Posted under the story in the Herald, a number of people commented with good insights and proposals for moving forward.  Among them were the following:

"No reasonable person would say that free TV airing of a meeting is worthless. Plenty of people still have Service Electric cable. It's funny that the same people that voted no are the ones who ran saying the meeting times would be changed so more people could attend. It is also the group that authorized $500,000 to be spent on an investigation that the board refuses to inform the public about..." (Nathan Orr)

"The following information is taken directly from the NJ League of Municipalities website, and can be found at http://www.njslom.org/magart_1208_pg74.html

'Municipal officials are often concerned about the videotaping of municipal meetings by the public, both because of the possible disruption of the meeting and because some residents attending the meetings do not want to be videotaped. New Jersey case law makes it clear that a member of the public cannot be prohibited from videotaping a municipal meeting. In the case of Tarus v. Pine Hill, Docket No.a-93-05(2007), the New Jersey Supreme Court said “…we hold that, subject to reasonable restrictions, members of the public have a common law right to videotape municipal proceedings in New Jersey. Our conclusion is supported by an interwoven tapestry of jurisprudence and policy that demonstrates both the value of open government and the right to document governmental proceedings.'  As for concerns over the privacy of members of the public, the Court said 'Although some citizens may be fearful of video cameras, we find that consideration insufficient to deny the right to videotape. Further, no right of privacy protects a citizen’s public comments.'

It appears from the information above that this SECTV proposal can be circumvented; these meetings may be recorded by any member of the public, with additional information on the website including the caveat that such recordings may in no way disrupt the meeting. This NJ Supreme Court case law may open the floodgates to live streaming, i.e. Facebook Live or Periscope, to provide instant, real-time, open access to the greater public.

County citizens, including myself, have spoken at meetings of the freeholders in order to request a later start time to allow for greater public attendance and participation. Sussex County is vastly a 'commuter county', with a 5 pm start time prohibiting many from regular participation. I commend Freeholders Crabb and Vohden for recognizing these challenges and for supporting a valid solution. I do not fault these gentlemen for not acting on this issue prior to now; demand for technology is swiftly evolving, and it is foolhardy to not accept a current offer of this kind in a timely manner--free of charge to the taxpayers--in order to bring these meetings to a larger audience. 'Grandstanding', although obnoxious, is certainly protected under the first amendment, and can be witnessed from both sides of the dais; fear of such behavior is an invalid reason for rejecting this proposal, as is the assertion that because of the limited scope and sequence of airings, recording and rebroadcasting has no intrinsic value. I also do not see anywhere in state statutes where the right to record may be rejected because it may '...not take into account the entire county'. I urge the Board of Chosen Freeholders to revisit this issue, as the optics of this rejection does not bode well if the goal of the board is transparency." (Dawn Fantasia)

"Necessity is the mother of invention. President-Elect Donald Trump figured that out when he took to Twitter to circumvent the media and reach out to the voters directly. Someone needs to step up and do the same in Sussex County." (Ann Smulewicz)

"I remember reading George Graham is looking to be Freeholder Director for a 2nd straight year. I also have heard George Graham is waiting to become Gail Phoebus’ Chief of Staff, which would make George a 'double dipper' for taxpayer funded positions. I was wondering if this was announced at the Freeholder meeting, because if not, and George & Gail are planning this, when are his colleagues and the Sussex County taxpayers supposed to find out?

...The 5PM start time does not allow normal and most out-of-county workers to attend Freeholder meetings. I believe this was something else Mr. Rose was going to address to make meetings more open and transparent to the public.

...To the Sparta resident’s point this would give the ability to reach more residents county wide and could even be a positive as people could actually find out what services are available to them. Believe it or not, not everyone has a computer to look things up on a website, especially the elderly. I’ll bet they have TV.  Besides transparency, it’s called communication. What is “the right way to do it”? Sounds more to me like fear of communication and this type of openness would bring more questions from the public to this Freeholder board."  (Kathleen Gorman)

"Here is yet another instance of why taxes are high and services low in Sussex County. If last night's meeting had been aired, instead of being held at the usual and uninviting hour of 5pm, one would have learned that an employee union contract was approved without discussion or the public knowing what the new expense will be. One would have seen that Freeholders delayed for 26 months to do the minutes of a critical solar program closed session meeting. A most controversial Hopatcong development project was approved, but a resident asked that a proper planning process first be followed before a vote. All over New Jersey and the nation, government meetings are televised and placed on the web to bring healthier governing. Six months of pretense and delay, and we get not a solution for more transparency in government, but legal blather, and hollow excuses, to make sure it won't happen in Sussex County." (Harvey Roseff)

Franklin Councilwoman explains TTF

In a new radio spot, Franklin Councilwoman Dawn Fantasia explains how New Jersey has failed to pay its way for decades.  Since 1988, the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) has tried to pay for road and bridge maintenance and repair on just 14.5 cents a gallon of gasoline.  New road construction and even public transportation costs come out of that 14.5 cents.  So do the repairs for local roads -- to offset the need for higher property taxes -- all of it has to come out of the same budget.

Other states -- including every neighboring state -- charge 40 or even 50 cents a gallon of gasoline to pay for the upkeep of their transportation infrastructure.  So how has New Jersey done it?  It hasn't.  Instead of pay-as-you-go, it is borrow-until-you-go-broke in New Jersey. 

So now we have borrowed so much that the fund is out of money and it will take the first 10 cents of a proposed per gallon tax on gasoline just to pay the interest on the debt. New Jersey has spent nearly three decades behaving like children with a credit card.  Councilwoman Fantasia makes the point that it is time for our elected officials to start acting like adults, raising the money to pay for road and bridge repairs, paying down the debt, being fiscally responsible.

Click here to listen to Councilwoman Dawn Fantasia