The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Senate Republican Leader Steven Oroho and Senator Michael Doherty said the Senate Judiciary Committee must perform a thorough vetting of Attorney General nominee Matt Platkin, including his handling of Katie Brennan’s alleged sexual assault and his role in guiding the Murphy Administration’s extensive use of emergency powers during the pandemic.
April 10,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”) today announced the formation of a task force to provide municipal police officers with hands-on experience spotting signs of organized crime in their local bars, investigating and shutting down problem servers, and enforcing other alcoholic beverage control laws that help protect the quality of life for New Jersey residents.
The ABC Task Force will invite municipal police officers from around the state to sign up for year-long stints working alongside investigative personnel from the ABC and the Division of Criminal Justice (“DCJ”) as they oversee compliance among the more than 9,000 licensees who manufacture, distribute, sell, and serve alcoholic beverages in the state.
ABC Task Force members will receive specialized training in ABC policies, procedures, and techniques, and gain hands-on experience in identifying and investigating liquor law violations ranging from selling untaxed alcohol and serving underage patrons, to hidden criminal interests among liquor license holders and organized crime activities in bars and clubs.
“When alcoholic beverage control laws are broken, communities suffer the consequences in the form of public disturbances, tragic accidents, and the presence of undesirable criminal elements. The ABC has long relied on municipal police departments as critical allies in enforcing its laws in every city, suburb, and rural community across the state,” said Attorney General Grewal. “The ABC Task Force will strengthen and expand these important partnerships by providing local officers with in-depth training and experience to better identify, investigate, and take action against licensees whose illegal activities wreak havoc on their communities.”
The announcement of the ABC Task Force comes on the heels of the ABC’s successful collaborations with municipal police departments during annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations this year.
On March 3, the ABC dispatched 14 officers to help the Hoboken Police Department keep a lid on disorderly behavior during the city’s annual St. Patrick’s-themed bar crawl known as “LepreCon.” The yearly event, and its Christmas-themed predecessor “SantaCon,” have drawn fierce criticism from Hoboken residents and elected officials who say the day-long celebration draws unruly crowds to the city and inevitably devolves into drunken chaos fraught with street brawls, public urination, and alcohol-related medical emergencies that tie up police and emergency personnel.
This year, ABC officials met with Hoboken police prior the event to discuss ways to apply and enforce the state’s liquor laws to cut down on disruptive behavior. During the event ABC officers worked alongside officers from the Hoboken Police Department’s Alcohol Beverage Control Unit to monitor bars and other establishments for compliance with laws prohibiting the admission of underage guests, serving intoxicated patrons, exceeding occupancy limits, and other health and security violations.
As a result, this year’s LepreCon was, by all accounts, a calmer, more orderly event. Calls for police service dropped 21 percent from the year before, fewer individuals required transport to the hospital, and just four people were arrested, a significant decrease from the 11 arrests the year before.
The day after LepreCon, the ABC sent 13 officers to Belmar to help local police there maintain order during the town’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the largest in the state. The ABC’s presence at the event has been credited by the town as helping to sharply reduce disorderly conduct during the day-long parade and celebration.
“Our work with local police departments during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations represent the kind of cooperative partnerships we’re looking to promote through our ABC Task Force,” said David Rible, Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. “ABC officers can’t be everywhere at once. By providing local officers with in-depth training in applying and enforcing our laws in their towns, we’re putting additional boots on the ground to help us promote the responsible use of alcohol, while maintaining a fair regulatory environment for the industry.”
Acting under the direction of the ABC, the ABC Task Force will be comprised of approximately 20 members – eight ABC investigators, nine DCJ detectives assigned to the ABC, and three municipal police officers representing departments from the north, south, and central sections of the state.
Under the ABC Task Force, municipal officers will:
Be provided with a working knowledge of New Jersey’s alcoholic beverage control laws and administrative regulations.
Become familiar with the ABC’s current investigative techniques.
Conduct detailed financial investigations to uncover undisclosed interests, illegal activity, tax, and record-keeping violations of ABC licensees.
Investigate complaints involving alleged violations of NJ alcoholic beverage laws and/or administrative regulations.
Learn how to conduct a background investigation on liquor license applicants to determine if applicants meet the requirements to hold a NJ liquor license.
Become familiar with how to hold municipal disciplinary hearings to address allegations of violation among licensees.
Conduct special projects and assignments deemed necessary at the request of the Director of the ABC.
The ABC is currently accepting applications for its first ABC Task Force, which is scheduled to begin training in April. Police departments interested in participating in the ABC Task Force should submit a letter of interest to Director David Rible by April 23, 2018.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino today announced two new initiatives to fight public corruption, including a reward program offering up to $25,000 for tips from the public, as well as a program that offers lower-level defendants in a corruption scheme the potential to avoid prosecution if they reveal the crime to the Attorney General’s Office so more culpable defendants can be prosecuted.
New Jersey has tough anti-corruption laws that provide mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment and parole ineligibility for people who commit crimes that touch upon their public office or employment. The Attorney General’s Office has utilized these laws in recent years to prosecute major cases involving elected officials, government employees and companies receiving public funds. A critical challenge, however, is securing the initial leads that allow such crimes to be uncovered and prosecuted. The new programs are designed to encourage those with information on corruption to come forward.
“It’s a troubling reality that along with the many public officials and employees who carry out their duties with integrity, there are some who abuse their authority and corruptly exploit their positions for personal gain,” said Attorney General Porrino. “We know these bad actors are out there, and we’re casting a wide net to catch them with these two new programs. For members of the public who have personal knowledge of corruption and are fed up with it, we’re offering an added motivation for them to turn their anger into action.”
“Our whistleblower program strategically allows secondary players in corruption schemes to come clean and avoid prosecution,” Porrino added. “Whether we’re talking about a skilled public worker assigned to act as a personal handyman for his boss, or a contractor asked to pay bribes to a local code inspector, or a corporate employee pressured by executives to make illegal political contributions, we’re offering a way out of such predicaments for those who come forward first and are less culpable.”
“These new programs offer strong incentives for people to come forward confidentially and help us root out public corruption, whether they’re tipsters from the public seeking a reward, or public workers or others seeking to extricate themselves from a corrupt scheme,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “By offering the programs for a limited time, we’re looking for swift results, and we will vigorously pursue every lead.”
“By implementing the Anti-Corruption Reward and Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Programs for a relatively short time frame, we are hoping for quick and decisive action by anyone with knowledge of public corruption by elected officials and government employees,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “The goal of the initiatives is to encourage those to come forward with information that will eventually lead to the prosecution of anyone who engages in these corruption schemes.”
Attorney General Porrino announced the following programs to promote reporting of corruption cases:
Anti-Corruption Reward Program
The Attorney General’s Office is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for tips from the public leading to a conviction for a crime involving public corruption. The reward program will be funded by the Attorney General’s Office using criminal forfeiture funds.
Individuals applying for this reward must provide information about a crime that has not previously been revealed to law enforcement and they must not have participated in the crime.
The reward limit for any case is $25,000. In most cases, only the person who first reports the crime will receive the reward. However, where two or more people provide different information that is material to successfully prosecuting the case, the reward may be apportioned.
The reward is not available to government employees who learn of the crime in the course of their employment if they have an official duty to report such crimes.
Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program
This program encourages eligible individuals or corporations to self-report their involvement in criminal activity, in return, in appropriate cases, for an agreement by the Attorney General’s Office to waive prosecution of the whistleblower.
Individuals interested in participating in the program can choose initially to report information anonymously and/or through an attorney to determine whether they are a likely candidate for waiver of prosecution under the program. They can then decide whether to proceed with the formal application.
The program is restricted to lower-level participants in a crime who provide information that enables the Attorney General’s Office to charge higher-level defendants. The whistleblower must provide truthful and complete information and must cooperate as required by investigators.
An individual will not be eligible for the program if he or she is an elected official, had a controlling role in the criminal scheme, or enlisted another party to participate in the scheme.
The whistleblower may be subject to forfeiture of public employment depending on the circumstances.
Corporations may apply for the Whistleblower Program only where the criminal activity at issue was committed by employees of the corporation, without the knowledge, acquiescence or participation of the high-level employees, officers, directors or shareholders seeking waiver of prosecution for the corporation, and only where the corporation took prompt action to terminate the illegal activity or report it to law enforcement once it was discovered.
The programs are intended to encourage individuals who have information on public corruption to come forward promptly, so they will be open for a limited time. Both programs will expire on Aug. 1, 2017.
The Attorney General’s Office will keep the identities of applicants to the programs confidential to the fullest extent possible, subject to any statute, rule of court, or judicial decision to the contrary which may require disclosure to certain parties, including, in certain circumstances, a criminal defendant. Applicants to each program may be interviewed by detectives at the discretion of the Division of Criminal Justice. The applicant may also be required to give his or her verbal statement under oath and sign a written memorialization of his or her statement.
Additional information about the two programs can be found posted with this press release on the Attorney General’s Office website: www.njpublicsafety.com.
Individuals may report information and apply for the Anti-Corruption Reward Program or Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program by one of the following methods:
Call the DCJ hotline 866-TIPS-4CJ to speak with corruption detectives 24 hours/7 days a week;
Visit www.njdcj.org to submit an online report;
Write directly to DCJ at the following address:
New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Criminal Justice
25 Market Street
P.O. Box 085
Trenton, NJ 08625-0085
Attention: Anti-Corruption Reward Program OR Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program.
May 25,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino today announced important changes to the directive he issued last year to prosecutors and police that will better ensure that dangerous and recidivist criminals are detained pending trial under New Jersey’s historic bail reform. Among other changes, the revised directive creates presumptions that prosecutors will seek an arrest warrant and/or pretrial detention for offenders charged with gun crimes, assaults on police, certain crimes involving sexual exploitation of children, or any indictable offense committed while on release or under post-conviction supervision for another crime.
“Bail reform is working, as evidenced by the more than 1,200 dangerous criminals detained without bail in the first quarter of 2017 — criminals who under the old system might have paid their way out of jail and continued to threaten the community, victims and witnesses,” said Attorney General Porrino. “With these revisions to our directive, we’re making sure that detention will be sought more frequently for certain categories of offenders, including recidivist offenders, those who commit gun crimes, sex offenders, and criminals with a history of threatening police and the public with their violent or reckless acts.”
“In the first five months of bail reform, we’ve maintained a constructive dialogue with all stakeholders, including law enforcement, the Judiciary and community leaders, and we’ve replaced the theories behind our original directive with real-life experience and data,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “These revisions to our law enforcement directive reflect a renewed confidence that our new system enables us to protect the public by detaining the most dangerous offenders, while avoiding the costs, both fiscal and social, of warehousing indigent non-violent offenders in jail pending trial.”
The bail reform law, which took effect Jan. 1, replaced New Jersey’s monetary bail system with a risk-based approach, requiring courts to assess the likelihood that a defendant will flee, commit a new crime, or obstruct justice by intimidating victims or witnesses. There are two essential decisions for police and prosecutors. First, they must decide whether to charge by complaint-warrant or complaint-summons. If they want to seek pretrial detention or, in the alternative, want the court to impose any conditions of release to mitigate risks, they must charge by complaint-warrant. When a warrant is issued by the court, a defendant is arrested and taken to jail to be held for up to 48 hours. Second, prosecutors must decide whether to seek pretrial detention. Within 48 hours, the defendant will have a first appearance in court, where, if the state has filed a motion to detain, the judge will decide whether to detain or release the defendant, potentially with conditions.
To assist law enforcement and judges in deciding about a defendant, the Administrative Office of the Courts developed a computer-based risk assessment, the Public Safety Assessment (PSA), which factors in the nature and seriousness of the crime charged, as well as information on the defendant’s adult criminal and court-appearance history. The PSA offers three risk indicators: (1) a six-point “failure-to-appear” (FTA) risk scale; (2) a six-point “new criminal activity” (NCA) scale that gauges likelihood of re-offense on release; and (3) a “new violent criminal activity” flag, which flags defendants likely to commit violent crimes if released.
Last month, the Attorney General’s Office sent a letter to the Administrative Office of the Courts requesting certain changes to the PSA and the decision-making framework employed by the Courts’ Pretrial Services Program in making recommendations to judges about pretrial detention. Specifically, the letter requested changes to the PSA and decision-making framework that would make it more likely judges would impose detention in cases where a defendant is charged with a gun crime, eluding police in a vehicle with risk of death or injury, or any new crime committed while on pretrial release, probation or parole. Those requests are pending, and the Attorney General’s Office is continuing to work with the Courts regarding such goals.
The changes announced today to the bail reform directive are separate measures taken under the Attorney General’s authority as the state’s top law enforcement officer. The directive governs prosecutors and police statewide with respect to their decisions about a defendant and what they will seek from a judge, namely, (1) whether to seek a complaint-warrant to arrest a defendant, and (2) whether to seek pretrial detention or release subject to protective conditions.
The following are key changes that, among others, are being implemented through the revised directive:
A new presumption is created that law enforcement will apply for pretrial detention for any indictable crime committed while a defendant is on pretrial release for another crime or on post-conviction supervision such as parole or probation. Previously, there was a presumption only if the new offense was a first- or second-degree crime.
The forms of post-conviction supervision triggering the presumption discussed in the first bullet have been expanded beyond traditional parole and probation to include two forms of supervision routinely imposed on sex offenders: (1) community supervision for life, and (2) parole supervision for life. As a result, there is a presumption that prosecutors now will seek pretrial detention for any sex offender subject to such supervision if they are arrested for a new indictable crime.
Consistent with the request made to the Courts regarding the PSA and the Pretrial Services decision-making framework, the revised directive also establishes a presumption that police and prosecutors will apply for pretrial detention for any defendant who commits a Graves Act firearms offense or possesses a firearm as a convicted felon, or who eludes police in a motor vehicle creating a risk of death or injury to any person.
There is a new presumption that police and prosecutors will apply for pretrial detention for any first- or second-degree crime if the defendant has an NCA score of 4 or higher. Previously that presumption was triggered only if the defendant had an NCA score (or FTA score) of 5 or higher.
Police and prosecutors are subject to a new presumption that they will apply for pretrial detention for defendants charged with third- or fourth-degree crimes if the defendant has an NCA score of 5 or higher, or an FTA score of 6. Previously there was no presumption for third- or fourth-degree cases.
There is a new presumption that police and prosecutors will apply for a complaint-warrant in (1) any case involving second-degree eluding, as discussed above, (2) any case where a defendant is charged with third-degree assault on a police officer or other public official or employee causing bodily injury, or (3) any case where a defendant is charged with manufacturing or distributing child pornography, or related crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.
There is now a presumption that police and prosecutors will apply for a complaint-warrant in any case where the PSA generates an FTA or NCA score of 3 or higher, whereas the original directive set the threshold at 4 or higher.
TRENTON NJ, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino today announced two new initiatives to fight public corruption, including a reward program offering up to $25,000 for tips from the public, as well as a program that offers lower-level defendants in a corruption scheme the potential to avoid prosecution if they reveal the crime to the Attorney General’s Office so more culpable defendants can be prosecuted.
New Jersey has tough anti-corruption laws that provide mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment and parole ineligibility for people who commit crimes that touch upon their public office or employment. The Attorney General’s Office has utilized these laws in recent years to prosecute major cases involving elected officials, government employees and companies receiving public funds. A critical challenge, however, is securing the initial leads that allow such crimes to be uncovered and prosecuted. The new programs are designed to encourage those with information on corruption to come forward.
“It’s a troubling reality that along with the many public officials and employees who carry out their duties with integrity, there are some who abuse their authority and corruptly exploit their positions for personal gain,” said Attorney General Porrino. “We know these bad actors are out there, and we’re casting a wide net to catch them with these two new programs. For members of the public who have personal knowledge of corruption and are fed up with it, we’re offering an added motivation for them to turn their anger into action.”
“Our whistleblower program strategically allows secondary players in corruption schemes to come clean and avoid prosecution,” Porrino added. “Whether we’re talking about a skilled public worker assigned to act as a personal handyman for his boss, or a contractor asked to pay bribes to a local code inspector, or a corporate employee pressured by executives to make illegal political contributions, we’re offering a way out of such predicaments for those who come forward first and are less culpable.”
“These new programs offer strong incentives for people to come forward confidentially and help us root out public corruption, whether they’re tipsters from the public seeking a reward, or public workers or others seeking to extricate themselves from a corrupt scheme,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “By offering the programs for a limited time, we’re looking for swift results, and we will vigorously pursue every lead.”
“By implementing the Anti-Corruption Reward and Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Programs for a relatively short time frame, we are hoping for quick and decisive action by anyone with knowledge of public corruption by elected officials and government employees,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “The goal of the initiatives is to encourage those to come forward with information that will eventually lead to the prosecution of anyone who engages in these corruption schemes.”
Attorney General Porrino announced the following programs to promote reporting of corruption cases:
Anti-Corruption Reward Program
The Attorney General’s Office is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for tips from the public leading to a conviction for a crime involving public corruption. The reward program will be funded by the Attorney General’s Office using criminal forfeiture funds.
Individuals applying for this reward must provide information about a crime that has not previously been revealed to law enforcement and they must not have participated in the crime.
The reward limit for any case is $25,000. In most cases, only the person who first reports the crime will receive the reward. However, where two or more people provide different information that is material to successfully prosecuting the case, the reward may be apportioned.
The reward is not available to government employees who learn of the crime in the course of their employment if they have an official duty to report such crimes.
Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program
This program encourages eligible individuals or corporations to self-report their involvement in criminal activity, in return, in appropriate cases, for an agreement by the Attorney General’s Office to waive prosecution of the whistleblower.
Individuals interested in participating in the program can choose initially to report information anonymously and/or through an attorney to determine whether they are a likely candidate for waiver of prosecution under the program. They can then decide whether to proceed with the formal application.
The program is restricted to lower-level participants in a crime who provide information that enables the Attorney General’s Office to charge higher-level defendants. The whistleblower must provide truthful and complete information and must cooperate as required by investigators.
An individual will not be eligible for the program if he or she is an elected official, had a controlling role in the criminal scheme, or enlisted another party to participate in the scheme.
The whistleblower may be subject to forfeiture of public employment depending on the circumstances.
Corporations may apply for the Whistleblower Program only where the criminal activity at issue was committed by employees of the corporation, without the knowledge, acquiescence or participation of the high-level employees, officers, directors or shareholders seeking waiver of prosecution for the corporation, and only where the corporation took prompt action to terminate the illegal activity or report it to law enforcement once it was discovered.
The programs are intended to encourage individuals who have information on public corruption to come forward promptly, so they will be open for a limited time. Both programs will expire on Aug. 1, 2017.
The Attorney General’s Office will keep the identities of applicants to the programs confidential to the fullest extent possible, subject to any statute, rule of court, or judicial decision to the contrary which may require disclosure to certain parties, including, in certain circumstances, a criminal defendant. Applicants to each program may be interviewed by detectives at the discretion of the Division of Criminal Justice. The applicant may also be required to give his or her verbal statement under oath and sign a written memorialization of his or her statement.
Additional information about the two programs can be found posted with this press release on the Attorney General’s Office website: www.njpublicsafety.com.
Individuals may report information and apply for the Anti-Corruption Reward Program or Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program by one of the following methods:
Call the DCJ hotline 866-TIPS-4CJ to speak with corruption detectives 24 hours/7 days a week;
Visit www.njdcj.org to submit an online report;
Write directly to DCJ at the following address:
New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety
Division of Criminal Justice
25 Market Street
P.O. Box 085
Trenton, NJ 08625-0085
Attention: Anti-Corruption Reward Program OR Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Program.
By Christopher Baxter and Matthew Stanmyre | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on January 30, 2017 at 4:34 PM, updated January 30, 2017 at 8:00 PM
TRENTON — A leading state senator said Monday she will formally urge the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate the top U.S. maker of artificial sports fields, FieldTurf, after the company failed to answer key questions about its sales practices.
During a hearing, Sen. Nellie Pou (D-Passaic) led more than 90 minutes of questioning of the Canadian-based FieldTurf’s CEO, Eric Daliere, focusing on why company officials did not notify all customers of problems with its turf after they became apparent to executives.
“If it was clear that it happened to enough customers throughout the country, early enough, why weren’t actions, the appropriate actions taken?” said Pou, the chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Daliere offered a spirited defense of the company, noting that nearly all of the fields in question in New Jersey made it through their eight-year warranty period and emphasizing that the problems with its Duraspine turf did not create a safety hazard for those who used the field.
Attorney General Porrino Announces Election Safeguards
November 8th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced today that approximately 350 Deputy Attorneys General (DAsG) will be assigned throughout the state on Election Day, November 8, to help ensure a fair and smooth-running election, and to assist county election officials in resolving voting-related legal issues.
According to Porrino, DAsG from the Division of Law will be stationed in each of the state’s 21 counties to handle any court applications, and to provide timely legal advice to County Superintendents of Election and Boards of Election on emergent, voting-related matters. The DAsG will be on duty from the time the polls open until they close.
“Our purpose in assigning DAsG throughout the state is to ensure the integrity of our election processes by protecting peoples’ right to vote, and by promptly — and fairly — resolving any voting-related legal issues that may arise,” said the Attorney General.
Porrino explained it is a criminal offense to solicit or electioneer voters within a “protective zone” as they enter or exit a polling location. The “protective zone” extends 100 feet from the outside entrance of any polling site. Attempts to interfere with voters within this zone are usually handled by law enforcement officers from the appropriate agency.
According to Porrino, any person who believes his or her right to vote has been interfered with, or who wishes to report other voting-related problems or concerns, should contact the state’s hotline at 1-877-NJVOTER.
Members of the public also can direct election-related questions to their County Superintendent of Elections and county Board of Elections. A list of county-level election office contacts, as well as other useful elections-related information, can be found on the Division of Elections Web site at www.NJElections.org.
July 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, According to the Attorney Generals office , a Ridgewood psychiatrist agreed to have his license temporarily suspended amid allegations he “indiscriminately” prescribed drugs to patients and allowed his wife to use his pre-signed prescription blanks to dispense drugs like Adderall and Xanax to his patients.
Dr. James Cowan Jr., 72, of Ridgewood ,practiced from his home office, was also charged with failure to document medical reasons for prescribing the medications he did.
The NJ State Board of Medical Examiners filed a consent order barring Cowan from practicing medicine and writing prescriptions until it takes further action.
In a statement , “The Board takes allegations of doctor misconduct very seriously, especially when they involve the overprescribing of CDS,” said Steve Lee, Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “Prescription drug addiction is a nationwide issue and we will not tolerate members of the medical community contributing to the problem by putting drugs into the hands of patients who don’t legitimately need them.”
If you are a patient or know a patient who believes that they have been treated by a licensed health care professional in an inappropriate manner can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling973-504- 6200.
Obama’s Attorney General stands with advocates for terrorists in support of censoring criticism of Islam
December 4, 2015
Daniel Greenfield
While in San Bernardino children wept for fathers who would never come home after the latest Muslim terror attack, Attorney General Loretta Lynch put on some chic clothes to gab with Muslim Advocates, a Muslim group that had become notorious for its aggressive obstruction of Justice Department investigations into Muslim terrorism.
Muslim Advocates, headed by Farhana Khera, who peppered a smiling Lynch with questions about “anti-Muslim rhetoric”, had played a significant role in crippling DOJ investigations of Islamic terrorism by eliminating training materials about Islamic terrorism.
Khera had vocally opposed the sorts of sting operations that had succeeded in capturing a number of ISIS terror plotters before they were able to act. A similar sting might have stopped the San Bernardino massacre. She had opposed the FBI recruiting informants and supported Muslim leaders linked to terrorism. She had even defended terror charities like the Holy Land Foundation.
And she and another Muslim Advocates figure had urged Muslims not to provide information to the FBI. “Any information you provide to the FBI can be used as the basis for further surveillance and investigation of your community,” a Muslim Advocates lawyer had said. “So you really don’t want to be putting yourself in a situation where you’re providing anybody with information about people in your community that the FBI is now gonna follow up and start investigating those people.”
But instead of showing respect to the American victims of terrorism, Attorney General Lynch went to a pro-terror group and promised to crack down on the real threat. Anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“Obviously the incidents in Paris were a tragedy,” Lynch conceded, but her focus was on Islamophobia.
“Certainly in the wake of Paris, which as a part of Europe has been grappling with anti-Muslim rhetoric for some time now because of smaller incidents, this large one is really their equivalent of 9/11, and certainly as we saw here in the US, an incredibly disturbing rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric,” Lynch said.
Ridgewood mayor to lobby Attorney General’s staff for new probe into parking meter cash
FEBRUARY 25, 2015, 10:20 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015, 10:31 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Village officials plan to meet next week with representatives from the Attorney General’s Office to discuss a possible investigation into an additional $377,000 in stolen parking meter coins, the mayor said.
Mayor Paul Aronsohn announced Wednesday night that he would go to Trenton for a meeting Tuesday on the findings of a forensic audit. Other village employees will join the session via telephone.
The audit was initiated soon after former Ridgewood employee Thomas Rica pleaded guilty to four counts of third-degree theft after confessing to pocketing $460,000 in coins from Village Hall’s coin room over three years.
The findings, released earlier this month, indicated that Rica’s thieving began earlier than he admitted, and that an additional $377,526 in parking meter revenue was unaccounted for.
Eric Holder’s 7 Worst Actions as Attorney General
Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / September 25, 2014
Attorney General Eric Holder, the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives, surprised the political world today when he announced he would be resigning, effective on the confirmation of his successor.
Holder will leave a troubled legacy and many unanswered questions as John Fund and I discovered when we were researching our new book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department.” The Justice Department veterans we talked to said that Holder has politicized the Department to an unprecedented degree, which should concern everyone who cares about the rule of law.
So what are the top seven worst actions by Eric Holder?
1. Operation Fast and Furious, probably the most reckless law enforcement operation ever carried out by the Justice Department. This gun-running scandal led directly to the death of an American border agent and many Mexican citizens. Holder was held in contempt because of his refusal to turn over information and documentation about this operation gone wrong that he basically claimed he knew nothing about.
2. Holder has waged a war on election integrity and “racialized and radicalized the [Civil Rights] Division to the point of corruption” according to one current Justice employee, embedding “politically leftist extremists in the career ranks who have an agenda that does not comport with equal protection or the rule of law; who believe that the ends justify the means; and who behave unprofessionally and unethically.”
3. Failure to conduct a real, criminal investigation of the IRS targeting of conservative organizations and to enforce the contempt citation issued by the House of Representative against Lois Lerner.
Lois Lerner (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Newscom)
4. Reinstituting the Clinton-era model for handling terrorists that endangers the national security and safety of the American people and going after journalists in leak investigations while ignoring leaks coming out of the White House from high-level administration officials.
5. Failing to advise President Obama against taking actions that violate the Constitution and federal law, refusing to enforce or defend federal laws and trying to persuade state attorneys general to engage in the same type of behavior of refusing to defend laws passed by their state legislatures.
6. Engaging in collusive “sue and settle” lawsuits with advocacy organizations and political allies of the president in order to implement regulations and new requirements without public notice or participation in order to use taxpayer money to fund the budgets of liberal groups.
7. Treated Congress with contempt and did everything he could to evade its oversight responsibilities by misleading, misinforming and ignoring members of Congress and its committee.
There is no telling how long it will take to repair the damage that Holder has done to the Justice Department. History will not be kind to his legacy. As one former Justice Departmentemployee told us, in his opinion, “Holder is the worst person to hold the position of attorney general since the disgraced John Mitchell, who went to jail as a result of the Watergate scandal.”
https://dailysignal.com/2014/09/25/eric-holders-seven-worst-actions/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
