OPRA (Open Public Records Act)

City must pay $10K for lawyers in lawsuit settlement

A lawsuit by Councilwoman Beth Mason seeking information about city cell phone records was settled two weeks ago after two court appearances.

Now, Mason will get to comb through a year's worth of city cell phone records from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.

The agreement even includes the phone records of police officers, with the only exception being any calls placed in connection with ongoing criminal investigations.

According to the settlement, the city is not required to provide the phone numbers of the cell phones in use.

However, the city must provide the names of the cell phone users unless it offers a detailed explanation as to why they cannot. They are also allowed by law to withhold the incoming and outgoing numbers.

Record requests that, in the opinion of the Hoboken Law Department, create a legal concern/liability for illegal dissemination of "lawfully protected information" should only be made available to City Council members who have attended a "government official" OPRA training seminar.

For several years, Hoboken Community Activist Beth Mason has been in the forefront advocating "transparency" in government.  Mason and I, along eleven Hoboken citizens, were founding members of People for Open Government, a Hoboken-based civic organization dedicated to campaign finance reform, ethics, OPRA, public access and other open government issues. 

In addition, Mason serves as the president of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government which seeks to increase transparency, accountability, honesty and democracy in government at all levels by defending and expanding public access to government records and meetings. Mason, as a private citizen, built a reputation across the State as a leader in government reform.

POLITICAL TRANSITION:

On July 1, 2008, Mason's political status changed from "private citizen" to "government official" when she was sworn into political office representing Hoboken's Second Ward as "Councilwoman Beth Mason." With several "private citizen" initated OPRA lawsuits against the City of Hoboken still pending in the Courts, Councilwoman Mason now finds herself in the political quagmire of suing herself as a Hoboken Government Official.

"New Jersey has an exceptional number of issues around open government and open meetings," said Beth Mason, the foundation's president. "Sunshine Week offers a tremendous opportunity for New Jerseyans to learn about what works, what doesn't and solutions on the horizon."

Two New Jersey lawmakers want to make it easier for citizens to learn what their elected officials are up to.

Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan on Tuesday plan to discuss proposed legislation to improve public access to government.

The legislation is being touted in conjunction with Sunshine Week, a nationwide effort by media organizations to draw attention to the public's right to know.

The measures will be discussed at a Statehouse event sponsored by The New Jersey Foundation for Open Government.  New Jersey has an exceptional number of issues around open government and open meetings," said Beth Mason, the foundation's president. "Sunshine Week offers a tremendous opportunity for New Jerseyans to learn about what works, what doesn't and solutions on the horizon."

Councilwoman Beth Mason may be close to settling one of her lawsuits concerning transparency in government - this time with the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority.

"The lawyers have worked out the basis for an agreement," said Ira Karasick, an attorney for HMHA.

Both sides stress the agreement has not been finalized and must be approved by HMHA's board of directors - by no means a sure thing. The board next meets March 26.

"The board wants to resolve the litigation," said George Crimmins, HMHA's executive director. "It's a matter of what that resolution is."

Fellow taxpaying Hoboken residents, we should all be offended by the letter from City Corporation Counsel Steve Kleinman in last week's Reporter, as well as the statements by Mayor Roberts regarding the lawsuits filed by Beth Mason over the city's noncompliance with OPRA requests.

During the "new business" portion of tonight's council meeting, Councilwoman Beth Mason read a multi-page statement in response to a letter Corporation Counsel Steven Kleinman wrote to the Hoboken Reporter two weeks ago criticizing Mason.

Beth Mason, reading her letter.  At one point she suggested Kleinman resign or barring that, that the council should hire its own attorney.  Kleinman responded that the letter was "factually accurate" and that he wrote it on his own time.

Beth Mason filed her first lawsuit against the city in March 2004. She filed her second just six months later. Then she filed another, and another, and four more after that.

Even after winning a seat on the City Council here in May 2007, Ms. Mason, 47, has continued to press her cases, leading other officials here to complain that she is a one-woman litigation machine, costing the city time and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ms. Mason, a management consultant, contends that the suits she filed before her election are simply intended to better understand how this city on the Hudson River is spending its $79 million budget.

Dear Editor:

James Madison, chief draftsman of the US Constitution, wrote, "A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

Dear Editor:

As the Hoboken Corporation Counsel, I feel obligated to respond to the recent statements made by Councilwoman Elizabeth Mason regarding her lawsuits against the City. Her comments follow her most recent courtroom defeat, in which a respected appellate court found that her requests for public records were vague, inappropriate "fishing expeditions," making it impossible for the City to properly respond.

The state Supreme Court is considering whether to extend the deadline to sue for failure to turn over documents under the state Open Public Records Act and if a government should pay legal fees for forcing a lawsuit.

The high court heard arguments yesterday in an appeal by Hoboken Councilwoman Elizabeth "Beth" Mason, who wants to see the 45-day deadline extended to two years and the Hoboken government ordered to cover her attorney costs. Mason contends the open records law has no specific deadline -- lower courts have held it is 45 days -- and claims she was forced to sue when the city failed to respond in a reasonable amount of time.