file photo by Boyd Loving
November 28,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, On November 13, 2017, the New Jersey Local Finance Board (LFB) issued Notices of Violation to the Village of Ridgewood’s former Mayor and former Village manager for authorizing and appearing in a video that advocated only one side of a referendum question that was pending before Village voters.
The ethics complaint was filed on June 13,2016 by the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project with the Local Finance Board–the agency that enforces the Local Government Ethics Law.
The complaint alleged , “Mayor Aronsohn’s statement in the video that its purpose is to educate and inform the public about this issue, the video goes well beyond providing neutral facts. Rather, the video is clearly an advocacy piece intended to persuade Village residents to vote “yes” on the proposal. For example Mayor Aronsohn made the following statements at the noted times in the video.”
The Notices of Violation, issued against former Mayor Paul Arohnson and former Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, both arose out of a June 21, 2016 referendum question which sought $11,500,000 in bonds or notes to finance the cost of constructing a new parking deck. Under New Jersey law, government officials may use public resources to educate ,but not to persuade voters on public issues.
The LFB concurred and found that the one sided video was persuasive and not purely educational because it advocated only one side of the question and “urg[ed] citizens to vote ‘yes.'” Using public resources to persuade voters to vote “yes” on a referendum is unfair because the referendum’s opponents do not have access to those resources and have to use private resources to distribute their message.
Arohnson and Sonenfeld, by supporting and appearing in the video, were found to have “attempt[ed] to use [their] official position[s] to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for [themselves] or others in violation of N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.5(c).”
So what’s goin to happen to them nottin. Like the guy who stole the quarters from the meters, basically nottin.
Whereas I once mistakenly years ago put quarters in the meter next to me along Van Nest square. The meters are super close together and if you are not used to meters , you can make a mistake. My meter had no time, the one next to me had a half hours worth of time and no vehicle was parked in the space, that was the one I had put the quarters into; I got a ticket; a cop was around, I pointed out the problem. He ignored my plea and I paid a parking fine. I will never forget.
The law is absolutely subjective. If you are rich ; if you drive a fancy car; I don’t, If you are a physically attractive women; If you have influence; if you run for congress against Garrett even if you lose. If you work for the Village, even if it turns out you are a crook; you get a pass. You are welcomed back to work in Ridgewood even if you stole near a million in quarters. If I walk into a shop here, browse and decide not to purchase an item, the next time I walk in I am treated coldly.
Thanks be to God.
Dan the Man Fishbein is next.
Chalk up one for the good guys. Its good to see swamp dwellers called out for their self-serving ways for once. Any fine involved?
Howdja sleep last night Roberta? Paulie? hahaha
$100.00 really! Chump Change.
What won’t be “chump change” will be the legal bills that will be paid by the taxpayers for Arohnson and Sonenfeld, who are each probably entitled to taxpayer paid representation to appeal a $100.00 fine.
Once a scumbag, always a scumbag. Don’t ever vote for Aronsohn, not even for dog catcher.
They blatantly broke the law. They had abject disdain for anyone who tried to get in the way of their agenda. Two criminals, Roberta and Paul. Sickening. So glad that they have been exposed
A laugh, just like Congressioanl “Ethics” comittee/investigations!
So its all about the money Ridgewood Taxpayer. Not right or wrong, Just cheaper to settle.
Does that mean the neither can run for office?
They worked so hard to get the garage for their own selfish purposes that it seems unfathomable that we are still talking about doing it. It was a stupid, stupid idea driven by the wrong reasons. Please, NO GARAGE–just repair the surface and rework the spaces to create more (done badly from the get-go). It shouldn’t be hard or expensive. And by the way, besides the wrist-slap fine paid to the state, they ought to be made to reimburse the village for the cost of the video, paid for with property tax dollars. That was the killer part!
Always figured that the reason Mr. Pucciarelli was not in the video was that as an attorney he knew they were dancing on a slippery slope. Having an official ethics violation on his record would not have looked good.
The taxpayers won’t pay their legal fees if the council does not OK it. And my gut says that no way in HELL would they pay to defend these criminals.
This photo, good for the pre-holiday diet. It makes me sick.
11:37 spend, spend, spend. Don’t ever worry about the taxpayer, until they all leave.
1:44 They will pay, not because they want to, but because they are required to.
1:44 pm – Don’t count on this council.
Stop the spend spend bullshit Ridgewood Taxpayer. Something are worth spending to show people that we will not take this. In your case you must come cheap.
It’s always easy to spend other peoples money. What’s hard is NOT spending other peoples money. Do you really think the video was the reason the first referendum passed?
” Do you really think the video was the reason the first referendum passed?” Now your a mindreader Ridgewood Taxpayer.
Real lesson here is that we need to keep an eye for his cronies surfacing in the next election. They were all just as disdainful of the public as was he.
So hilarious the people who bash the blog on facebook but read it obsessively and post on it anonymously. I love it.
Did we ever fine the people behind the anonymous flyer AGAINST the garage? The one where the pre-production, final edit, digital proof was mysteriously (miraculously?) “dropped in the mailbox” of a certain citizen photographer’s home? I think at the time rainbows and unicorns were involved. What’s good for the goose and all… Brace yourselves people for a torrent of Trumped-up umbrage, self-righteousness and rationalization (which we’re used to from the stand-still crowd) but we all see the truth…
1235 – – that flyer was paid for by private funds, correct? This ethics charge against Arohnson involved the misuse of public funds and government instrumentalities to influence the electorate. In other words, Arohnson was not allowed to use our tax dollars to advance the causes of select people he wanted to benefit from public spending on a project in town.
I am glad a decision was reached by the Board, even if it was two years after the fact. But, we do need to move on to more pressing issues.
33427 (how clever) – People had a right to be for OR against the garage. They still do. But Aronsohn and Sonenfeld had NO RIGHT to spend public funds to promote their agenda. And let us not forget Ms. Hauck, who actually hired the video company that made the video, paid for it, and then collected reimbursement from public money. Private citizens can send out any mailings they want, such as those Herr Halaby sends from time to time, and those that politicians send, and those that restaurants flood our mailboxes with. But if private funds are used, there is no crime. Surely if you are smart enough to come up with a clever numeric moniker, then you can understand this concept.
And while we are on the subject, what about Ms. Sonenfeld’s interference with citizens who were legally seeking signatures on the referendum petitions. That was grossly inappropriate, and we have videos of her self-righteous blustering performance in Van Neste.
We are so lucky to be rid of Aronsohn, Sonenfeld, Hauck, and Pucciarelli. They were fueled by egos that would not quit, they screwed us with high density housing, Aronsohn attempted to destroy two citizens’ jobs, he edited citizens’ letters to the paper before they could be printed. Sonenfeld, Aronsohn, Hauck, and Pucciarelli berated members of the public loudly and nastily. The list goes on and on. Watch closely folks, whoever these people support in the spring will be tainted with toxins.
7:31 if you can divine the provenance of a completely anonymous mailer then you’re way better at than than me. Who knows who sent it? Maybe it was an architectural firm that lost out and wanted a different design. Maybe it was organized by people from Summit that don’t want anyone taking their mantle of a forward thinking, well planned, successful NJ town with adequate parking. Nobody knows and because nobody knows, we can’t truly measure the weight of the argument made because we don’t know the agenda of the creator. That’s why it’s against election laws to send an anonymous mailer on a political issue. To the extent that some faceless, nameless group influenced the vote that should be investigated. Da? Nyet?