Everyone request public records, just for fun!

Votto

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2012
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Currently, we have the legal right to request public records, but at some point, that may all go away.

A heavily Democratic township in New Jersey has sued an elderly resident, claiming her "frivolous" and "voluminous" public records requests amount to abuse and harassment against government officials.

But retired schoolteacher Elouise McDaniel, 82, a longtime critic of Irvington Mayor Tony Vauss and his administration, says she has a right to know how her tax dollars are being spent. She claims the lawsuit is nothing but a political attempt to silence her.

What are the details?​

"I was slapped with a lawsuit," McDaniel told WNBC-TV last week. Her comments were in reference to the complaint filed against her by Irvington Township accusing her of harassment and defamation, in part because she filed 75 requests through New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act in the span of three years.

"I’m a homeowner. I pay tax dollars. So I think I am entitled to know how my hard-earned tax dollars are being spent," said McDaniel, who once ran against Vauss for mayor and also leads a local nonprofit called the Irvington Block Association Coalition.


Adding to the intrigue, township officials have so far stayed mum about who exactly filed the suit.

Though he is listed as a victim of alleged harassment, Vauss told WNBC he's not behind the lawsuit. Instead, he referred reporters to the township's municipal clerk, Harold Wiener. But Wiener, too, has declined to take responsibility for the legal action.

"I haven’t requested a lawsuit against Elouise McDaniel," Wiener told the outlet. "She does file a lot of OPRAs. That comes with the territory, my territory. I know Ms. McDaniel. I don’t have a problem with her."






The township, however, sees things differently.

In the lawsuit, the government body claims McDaniel's persistent filings "were done maliciously and with the sole purpose and intent to harass, abuse, and harm Plaintiffs and the employees of the Township, including its Mayor."
 
This sounds like something Democrats would do to undermine the process. But I would like to know what records are being requested. Are some of them available online or otherwise readily accessible by the public?
 

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