photo by Boyd Loving
May 29,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Doblin doubles down on attacks and character assassinations of Ridgewood Mayor Susan Kundsen . Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Bergen Record. In his latest column he once again praises Councilmen Voigt and goes on the offensive against the Mayor. Doblin continues to cling to the silly fallacy his editorial led to the flying of the rainbow ie gay pride flag at Ridgewood’s Van Nest square .
In his last piece Doblin took sides against Village voters and taxpayer with the full support of the former and failed politician Mayor Paul Aronsohn . In his latest peice “Doblin: In Ridgewood, speech is free, but not always easy” https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/columnists/alfred-doblin/2017/05/28/doblin-ridgewood-speech-free-but-not-always-pleasant/349657001/ Doblin continues to endorse the grotesque and disrespectful behavior of both the Aronsohn regime and Councilmen Voigt . Perhaps he has a women’s issue or perhaps he is in league with politicians and developers looking to urbanize Bergen County . What ever the case once again it bears repeating ; Residents and taxpayers have every right to OPRA politicians emails period and it both offensive and dishonest to suggest otherwise .
If one is dumb enough creepily to use one’s “work” e-mail account to conspire with one’s fellow alinskyites, one should expect to be publicly called out and mocked for one’s dumbness. Thus is not a free speech issue at all. Its a “transparency in government activity” issue. Voigt never had even the faintest hope of keeping these email messages private or confidential under the law. Consequently, neither Voigt, nor his friend who regrettably now only buys ink by the thimbelful, should not be heard to complain.
Alfred P. Doblin.
Failed Editor of a failed newspaper.
To read Doblin’s piece is to conclude that he only knows how to smear. He certainly doesn’t know how to write a cogent sentence or paragraph. Consider this doozy:
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“The mayor — or anyone — can use OPRA to obtain correspondence with a public official. There are some restrictions, but if you know how it’s done, it is not exactly rocket science. And it’s not supposed to be, because OPRA is a tool for the public to keep government transparent. It’s not meant to have a chilling effect on free speech.”
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What on earth is to be understood from the last sentence of this paragraph? That Doblin, taking on the affectation of a schizophrenic, both likes and dislikes OPRA at the same time?
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If Doblin wanted to avoid imputations of insanity, perhaps he should have spent some time editing his own piece. Then, perhaps he might have published a concluding sentence for that paragraph more along the lines of the following: “Those among us who imagine that their nakedly partisan communications with a fellow-traveller in public office should be kept private and confidential, despite the fact that they were directly conveyed by way of a publicly-paid-for e-mail server, are dopes and dullards who need to be enrolled in a remedial Civics 101 class, pronto.”
What character assassination? The flag in the clouds metaphor? You guys are so in the tank. “Mayor Susan Knudsen was unhappy with my column. She told me. She told the public. That’s her right.” … “Council members, including the mayor, at the most recent public meeting addressed these concerns honestly: a resident’s heartfelt email to a council member could be made public”… “But this flurry of OPRA activity over when the mayor claims to have seen the Pride flag in the clouds on her way to Damascus is disturbing. At a public meeting she was not for it. At the next public meeting she was. Something changed her mind. Good for her. More important, good for the LGBT community”… where’s the fire as there is no smoke regarding the mayor…
Cancelled the Record two years ago and do not miss it.
Surprised that he still has a job at The Record. They laid off a lot of people.
I find the Mayor’s decision to utilize OPRA disturbing and I will think twice before contacting her or anyone on the council via email again. I’m sure others are thinking the same. Good job council…..(not).
Ever since it’s been the under his stewardship it has turned into a rag. Unbleluevable that they let an editor both edit & espouse his incessant platform-seems like two separate jobs. Used to be a decent paper-does anyone care about his pals in San Francisco, his life in Brooklyn or his chest beating credentials working with some Catholic newspaper as if all this justifies his stream of consciousness.
Lighten up, Francis 12:16. Why not ask to speak to the public servant on the phone or in person? Run-of-the-mill verbal communications with public office holders (putting aside for the moment the very real possibility of officious NSA snooping) are typically not recorded for posterity.
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By and large, though, it is a good thing for the comings and goings of Village government to take place bathed in the light of day. Your desire to have the contents of your written electronic communications with a public servant kept private and confidential simply don’t square with our open system of self-government.
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Why not request a personal email account address from the officeholder? Or write a letter to them and send it to their private place of residence? They are not forbidden from privately communicating with members of the public simply because they have been elected to public office.
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Now, if two members of the Village Council are found intentionally to be conferring with a third party about topics of public interest, as SO OFTEN took place during the Reign of Aronson (Gwen Hauck presumably being filled in later on the details of the meeting so she would know how to vote), this would typically violate at least the spirit of the Faulkner Act.
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And of course, if three of the five members of the Village Council were to confer simultaneously with that same private party outside of a public meeting, this would certainly violate both the spirit AND the letter of the Faulkner Act.
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But, returning to the classic one-on-one interaction between a Village officeholder and a private third party, plenty of methods exist for communication with a sitting Village Councilmember on issues of public importance, with respect to which NO substantive public record will typically ever be created. So, simply identify and employ pick one of those methods of communication, and you’ll achieve the discretion you seek. Really–why should the rest of us be subjected to your whining and crying about things when it was your lack of foresight in the first place that resulted in your private thoughts being exposed to public scrutiny?
Couple of comments here.
What is the Damascus comment about..? What am I missing here…? Did the mayor travel to the Middle East for business..?
I almost never write to The Record but I’m tempted here. Or perhaps a direct e-mail to Doblin is in order here.
He has buddied up with someone…my guess is Aronsohn.
And the last swipe about the garage was just bad journalism.
I can’t help but think Doblin will be removed soon…not many survive the Gannett gauntlet.
the manager and the top hate opra’s why well bad info will come out.
OMG!! I don’t want a parking garage in Ridgewood, because I don’t want Ridgewood to be an ugly small city. I love the charm and quaintness of Ridgewood as is. The New Yorker magazine had an essay on just this topic , small towns getting crowded with people and then destroying their existing beauty and charm by overbuilding, with parking lots, etc ruining the original design of the town. The essay appeared last year or so. I am referring to Doblin’s last sentence.
OPRA – Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
I don’t want some libtard editor of a failing newspaper deciding what should see sunlight and what shouldn’t.
He already decides that for what his dying newspaper prints.
1216 what’s Voight care if he’s not hiding something? When Voight gets caught in a mess he wants to go offline to discuss. The emails he posted on his Facebook show he probably lied at a public meeting and was misleading the author doblin. Voight posted the emails showing knudseb was truthful and not Voight. Guess Jeff is nasty, less then homestl and stupid. Don’t anyone go offline with him for more lies.
I dropped my subscription to the record and Ridgewood News over a year ago. Do not miss them.
Sports was the best part of the record.
Voigt is hilarious and pitiful. Does he actually think that people are not allowed to utilize the SUNSHINE LAW to obtain Open PUBLIC records? How ridiculous. Of course people can obtain any such records they want and he is foolish to imply otherwise.
Jeff, you are so paranoid. If you have nothing to hide, why are you panicking?
Thanks to Dublin I’ll be saving more than $300 year by canceling my subscription to the Record. His two oped pieces are offensive and obviously distorted. As a longtime resident of Ridgewood I’ve been following village council for many years. It’s clear that Jeff Voigt is grandstanding. If he were really interested in the Village he would have sat with other council and discussed instead of spoon-feeding Doblin such drivel.
Doblin commenting on the pride flag shows how little he knows about the facts. Then I’d like to know exactly what is “the plight of the LGBT community in Ridgewood.” He goes onto to say “at a public meeting the mayor and two other council members showed reluctance to fly the gay pride flag in ridgewood, that’s what happened in the public meeting, the part the public sees.” Watching from home that’s not what I saw or heard. I thought the discussion was where to have the flag and the request to put on the flag pole at village hall. I heard Councilwoman Walsh say the gay pride flag should not be on the pole with the American flag and she offer to put the flag inside village hall. Doblins comment about what happened in the public meeting, ” the part the public sees” is funny coming from the editor of a newspaper. it’s all supposed to be seen by the public and the only person who seems to be hiding anything is councilman Voigt.
3:03pm, Doblin is being unforgivably snarky. The Apostle Paul, an incredibly important figure in the early Church, previously went by the name of Saul. A financially successful and very well educated gentile, he was the single most prolific torturer and oppressor of the “Jesus followers” in the period of time immediately following the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord. He had left Jerusalem and was on the road to Damascus with further depradations in mind when he was abruptly thrown from his horse and struck blind by a brilliant light that only he could see. Jesus himself spoke to him at that moment, asking why Saul was torturing him so? Once again, only he could hear Jesus’ voice. His miraculous conversion to the nascent faith of Christianity, and change of name occurred immediately afterward. His vision having been restored in Damascus as an outgrowth of his new beliefs, he escaped that city, no longer the pursuer now, but one of the pursued.
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This is a horribly cruel analogy for Doblin to make. By so doing, he is seemingly suggesting that the new universal religion for our times requires not condemnation (how intolerant and old fashioned), but celebration of the sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance.
6:04 you are right. Voigt is pointing a finger while hundreds are pointing back at him. What’s that old saying about pointing out the speck in someone’s eye while ignoring the log in your own. For goodness sake, Voigt has a damn giant sequoia tree stuck in his eye! Every time he opens his mouth someone better shout “TIMBER!!”
3:03, Doblin’s comment about the Mayor “seeing the clouds on the way to Damascus” is making reference to Paul the Apostle when he had a vision of Christ on the way to Damascus. That experience compelled Paul to convert from a Pharisee to a follower of Christ. I find this reference offensive and once again is attack on the Mayor’s catholic faith. I guess nothing is sacred with this sleazy douche bag reporter other than his own personal agenda. The rag he writes for has probably quadrupled their clicks because of this story. They will continue to milk this thing for a while. The truth does not sell a lot of newspapers. Sleazy articles unfortunately do.
This crew is not going to last. we need old time municipal people.And this hole new manager crew don’t have the experience. they think they know, but they do not . this village is over there head. people u and i as tax payer’s will see. I’m seeing it all ready. WATCH
1:52 thanks for the lecture but I’m entitled to my opinion and will use whatever method of contact is most expedient because I have a life. I agree 7:32 this council is in over their heads.
Perhaps the worst writer in the history of journalism has been unfortunately dumped in Nirthern NJ, Can’t quit the day job ’cause he’ll never find another. Doesn’t anyone there look at his drivel before it is published?
So Voigt turned out to be a crackpot. We still got two very competent Council members and vanquished the previous Council majority. Big win for common sense. The Record and Ridgewood News are becoming more and more irrelevant every day. As are Mr. Halaby and the other special interests hanging on to the failed legacy of the prior regime. Please let’s just put a bullet in the head of Valley’s Master Plan amendment and let’s overturn the ridiculous high density housing debacle. Voigt is everything that we all hate about NJ politics. Shame on him for the campaign that he ran to get where he is.
By selling to Gannett, the Borg got a boatload of cash for a dying newspaper and The Record continued a march towards irrelevance. Gannett is the Zillow of news – one size fits all. Maybe Doblin can get a regular gig at the Daily Beast.
Funny how Voigt refers to “the mayor’s supporters.” All these people supported Voigt and the Mayor did, too. She had his sign in her front yard and campaigned for him. Looks like a boatload of people got fooled by him. What a crummy person he turned out to be. So nasty, paranoid, and not doing a single thing he campaigned to do. He was dead set against the garage, now he pushes for it. he was dead set against the nastiness of Arnonsohn and company, now he personifies it. he was dead set against underhanded dealings, now he is in bed with the press. he was an advocate for the people, now he is vilifying the citizens. Wow.
Go ahead and Google for Record editor Frank Scandale…he’s a beat reporter in Conn.
This is such an obvious silly ploy of aronsohn and his political motives and morally corrupt Patsys. I don’t know why more people don’t see through this
He made big promises and he didn’t deliver. He literally NEEDS to corrupt this current council and break it all apart to sneak his people back in in order to deliver on the bs promises he made about disabled housing and parking garages. Or his spiral ions go down the drain. What a snake. What a lair. And these food are falling for it and so are all of us! Voigt especially
Time for voigt to move to the FAC. That is where the useless meet
10:09, what are SPIRAL IONS?
Spiral ions is autocorrect speak for aspirations.
Thank you. I thought it was a quiz.
Spiral ions. Autocorrect is a riot. Voigt defaults to Vomit.