Wayne Township Hauled Into Court, Friday Feb. 5
Posted by robert.w.burke on 03 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: General
***LATE BREAKING UPDATE — 2/4/10: JUDGE BROGAN ADVISED TODAY THAT THERE WILL NOT BE ORAL ARGUMENTS TOMORROW; HE WILL DECIDE THIS MATTER ON THE PAPERS. SINCE THE DEFENDANTS DIDN’T EVEN FILE A BRIEF, WE’RE VERY OPTIMISTIC. WE HOPE JUDGE BROGAN RENDERS A WRITTEN OPINION, TO MEMORIALIZE THE TOWN’S REPREHENSIBLE BEHAVIOR.***
This Friday, Wayne Township Attorney John McKniff will have a lot of explaining to do to NJ Superior Court Judge Brogan.
Town Clerk Paul Margiotta (an outspoken wind turbine opponent and former Wayne Councilman) refused to provide copies of public records that I requested several months ago. His refusal was supposedly based on the obviously wrong advice from McKniff.
Upon learning that I filed a lawsuit to compel production of these public records, Margiotta said that his refusal was being reconsidered.
But in an effort to shield Margiotta & the Town from further liability for their violation of the Open Public Records Act, McKniff claimed in a certification to the Court — under penalty of perjury — that the change in position occurred because a new Township Attorney was hired — one who actually read the Open Public Records Act and adhered to it (a novel approach, not followed by McKniff).
One teeny problem, Mr. McKniff. The new Township Attorney had already been hired when my original document request was wrongfully rejected — a good month or so before the Margiotta flip-flop.
The truth must be that the position changed because the defendants knew that they violated the law and knew they would get smacked down in court. Now, they are playing fast and loose with the truth.
The bigger question is this: Why is Wayne Township so consistently engaging in a pattern of harassment toward me?