the satff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, not the first time ,the Ridgewood School Board once caught but again continues to promote Ridgewood Walks despite the fact that taxpayer funded platforms and taxpayer funded employees should not be promoting private organizations and should not be used to promote election candidates.
Ridgewood Walks is not a registered non profit. Ridgewood Walks is not affiliated with the village. Ridgewood Walks is not promoted by the Mayor. Ridgewood Walks is actively promoting election candidates and the owner of Ridgewood Walks is a registered campaign manager for a council candidate as per the forms filed with NJ ELEC.
The following email was sent to the Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein :
Dr. Fishbein,
I am writing today as both a member of Village Council and as a Ridgewood resident regarding the email correspondence below and my concerns about election interference as raised by Mr. Dani with you in mid-April. Far worse than even he anticipated.
In the correspondence below Mr. Saurabh Dani raised concerns about your repeated use of taxpayer dollars and resources to promote Ridgewood Walks, correctly noting the entity is privately owned and not a registered 501c3.
Dani identified the owner of RIDGEWOOD WALKS, Jeanne Johnson, as the official campaign manager of record for a current Village Council candidate as registered in filings with NJ ELEC.
Dani reported that the RIDGEWOOD WALKS email list appears to have been exploited when email addresses were entered into the candidates email database without owner authorization. He advised of complaints made by individuals able to track the source of the unauthorized registrations.
Dani warned of the perils of using RPS email lists to promote the program since doing so directed subscribers to RIDGEWOOD WALKS Facebook page while also providing the RIDGEWOOD WALKS email address for registration.
Despite Mr. Dani’s warnings, and my email dated April 14 stating RIDGEWOOD WALKS was not coordinating with the Village of Ridgewood, RPS (you) sent an email entitled “Covid-19: Daily Update” dated May 4. The email contains RIDGEWOOD WALKS promotional information and a LIVE LINK to the RIDGEWOOD WALKS Facebook page. Selecting the LIVE LINK brings users directly to the RIDGEWOOD WALKS endorsement of three Village Council candidates and three Board of Education candidates, one of whom is currently a Board trustee and copied on each of Dani’s emails.
Please find attached the following screenshots:
1) Image of the May 4, 2020 RPS correspondence entitled “Covid-19: Daily Update”
2) Image of the RIDGEWOOD WALKS mention in the RPS email with the embedded LIVE LINK to RIDGEWOOD WALKS Facebook page
3) Image of the campaign endorsement of the six candidates as seen immediately upon clicking the embedded LIVE LINK provided by RPS
This serious breach was entirely avoidable had Mr. Dani’s concerns been taken seriously and addressed accordingly.
I look forward to your response.
Deputy Mayor Susan Knudsen
Village of Ridgewood
test
BOE is always up to something
do they have Democrat immunity?
Sue, don’t you have anything better to do than harass and bully or BOE Superintendent? His budget is 2X yours. Buzz off!
There’s always a scam going on with the board of Ed. Too political
Who thinks this is the kind of issue we need the BOE worried about?
Ridgewood Walks should not be endorsed or promoted by any official of the town or school system.
So let me get this straight.
Dani endorses Knudsen in FY16.
Knudsen is caught supporting the blog in FY17. Knudsen is the spear that makes a quick decision to move BOE elections to VC. Tensions rise between BOE and VC. Dani decides to sue BOE in hopes the verdict is decided quickly. Dani runs for BOE. CV19 slows down verdict and Dani is STUCK and asks for a settlement before judgement is in. BOE says no. Dani now suggests JJ and BOE are improperly violating election rules. And now Knudsen comes back in to point a finger at Fishy a few days before the election.
It’s better than Payton Place or Knots Landing. But Knudsen is obviously the ring master.
Taxpayer – Dani is smarter than you ever will be! You are making up things the you would have done, he is way ahead
Another relevant post for this FB comment:
hi, as I have argued for a few years, this board doesn’t think rationally.
If I win the election and if I win the lawsuit, I have no case against BOE after May 14th. That’s the court date.
If I lose election and if I win the lawsuit on 14th, and the board doesn’t want to pay and continue to go on for appeal, they are going to be fighting with the attorney, not me. It’s on contingency. I have zero financial interest.
If they settled yesterday, they would have avoided more certifications in how they were using personal devices to use official email. I had agreed to drop the demand for those certifications if they paid my attorney’s fee. They have not even filed a motion to oppose those fees. So the judge is going to award the fee on 14th.
This was all just a drama.
And they flat out lied when they mentioned that my attorney asked for settlement. Board’s attorney reached out for settlement. They refused to pay his fee, so we filed motion to enforce the certification ordered on March 13th and motion for the fee. They reached out for settlement not us.
Taxpayer, he doesn’t have anything to gain from settlement. It’s not a lawsuit for damages. He was willing to settle to avoid more trouble for two board members who will have to produce further certification. FIshbein and boe attorney provided misleading information to the board before May 7th meeting and caused them to create this drama.
Why is Dr Fishbein promoting a private organization? What are the rules and policies around using taxpayer funded communication systems for promoting private prganizations?
This letter doesn’t hold water and is suspiciously opportunistic. The flaw with this complaint is that Ridgewood Walks is not a private organization. There is no basis for this complaint as the group is not a business and does not solicit payment from residents or businesses. It encourages participants to engage with each other as a community initiative. It seems anyone involved is a willing participant with no commitment other than to meet with people who live and work in Ridgewood. Legally, a private organization is any partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is not operated by a profit or a public body. It includes all businesses that are for-profit that are not government owned or operated. Yes, I am a lawyer and the act of identifying a private citizen in this manner is malicious and possibly slanderous.