News
NJSPL – Marc Pfeiffer On Fixing the Open Public Records Act
OPRA, the state’s Open Public Records Act is showing its age. Now 22 years old, this important public policy suffers, in part, from age, neglect, unintended consequences, and unexpected use cases. Efforts to repair OPRA must recognize that the law affects all levels of New Jersey government, not just municipal.
Op-ed:The time has come to abolish the line
Professor Julia Sass Rubin has studied the impact of the line on election outcomes and policy. One of her studies found that the line conferred an average 35 percentage point advantage in primaries.
A Chance to End the Party Machine’s Undemocratic Control in New Jersey
One study by Rutgers University [written by Professor Julia Sass Rubin] found that being granted the line gives congressional candidates a 38-point advantage. Though party machines dominate other states, too, this particular method of control is unique to New Jersey. One expert described it as that “special New Jersey sauce.”
Who Picks Your Politicians?
“Elected officials are aware of the importance of the line for their reelection and the power of county party chairs to award the line,” wrote Rubin. “If an elected official does not do as the county chair wants, they can lose the line and almost surely lose the primary, ending, or severely curtailing their political careers.”
Nepo babies of N.J.
“What Egan did, that is a manifestation of how machines operate,” said Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers University professor who has researched politics in New Jersey. “You just appoint your successor.”
Fighting New Jersey’s Ballot Bosses
“Elected officials are aware of the importance of the line for their reelection and the power of county party chairs to award the line,” wrote Rubin. “If an elected official does not do as the county chair wants, they can lose the line and almost surely lose the primary, ending, or severely curtailing their political careers.”
Sarlo’s OPRA stink bomb needs to be defused
Pfeiffer’s take is blunt: “Bludgeons create a mess, and rapiers are surgical. This bill uses a bludgeon to try to deal with outliers that exist within OPRA.”
Mark Paul– Colorado’s fossil fuel phase-out is likely to fail without big changes, but supporters still hope it sends a message
Mark Paul, an assistant professor specializing in climate economics at Rutgers University, emphasizes the importance of complementing demand-side policies with supply-side strategies in the fight against climate change.
Fast-tracked bill would gut N.J.’s open public records law, experts warn
Marc Pfeiffer, a senior fellow at the Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University who helped draft the current law in the early 2000s, said reform was “long overdue” but that the bill as written doesn’t solve many of OPRA’s shortcomings.
American Dream sued by woman who says she was injured by motorized stuffed animal ride
The lawsuits and failure to pay debts “has the effect of buying them time, which gives them the opportunity to renegotiate things” more in the mall owners’ favor, said Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director at Rutgers University’s Bloustein local government research center.
NTI Director Billy Terry featured on Mpact Podcast
Billy Terry, Executive Director of the National Transit Institute at Rutgers and India Birdsong Terry, CEO and General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) talk about culture change in Ohio’s biggest transit agency.
EJB Talks–Understanding the Politics of Community Health Centers and Place-Based Healthcare with Emily Parker
Stuart Shapiro talks to Assistant Professor Emily Parker about her research interests in community health centers and how they originated from her work assisting with Affordable Care Act implementation.