Pubdate: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Column: Passing the Joint Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian Contact: http://www.trentonian.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006 Author: NJ Weedman Page: A5 CORRUPTION IS RAMPANT IN NEW JERSEY COURTS "We standout in our corruption, New Jersey is unique" wrote Bob Ingles, author of "The Soprano State". His book details the "you-couldn't-make-this-up" true story of the corruption that has pervaded New Jersey politics, government and business for the past thirty years. As U.S. Attorney, Chris Christie made his name on corruption - busting state officials, bullying his way through towns, legally hammering away with the full weight of the federal government. State officials cowered at the mere mention of his office. I say this as: I'm living a New Jersey election debacle worthy of inclusion in Ingles' book. In New Jersey, if you complain about the courts many people roll their eyes, acting like you're a loser who shouldn't be equally or fairly treated anyway. They conveniently forget the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" even for malcontents or complainers, as our founding fathers surely were. Judicial corruption is one of those topics like Racism: it clearly exists but those who are not subject to racist oppression, dismiss it. Corruption in New Jersey courts is rampant, yet rarely talked about. We all learned in school that judges are supposed to be neutral arbitrators who o judge between the facts of the matter presented by the State Prosecutor and the citizen defendant or civil plaintiff. But reality is something quite different. I quote from victimsoflaw.net, a website that reports on New Jersey judicial shenanigans. It shows a long list of politically motivated judgments and ends with this quote: "Frankly, I have had more than enough of judicial opinions that bear no relationship whatsoever to the cases that have been filed and argued before the judges. I am talking about judicial opinions that falsify the facts of the cases that have been argued, judicial opinions that make disingenuous use or omission of material authorities, judicial opinions that cover up these things with no-publication and no-citation rules." M. Freedman, Professor of Law and Distinguished Legal Scholar, Speech to The Seventh Annual Judicial Conference of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal 3rd Circuit (May 24, 1989), According to Prof. Freedman, immediately after his speech, a judge sitting next to him said "You don't know the half of it!" Anyone who's been following my recent ballot access case should be able to see what's happening. In June, I gathered 208 signatures requesting to be placed on the November General Election ballot for Congress in the 3rd district, under the Legalize Marijuana Party. The Democrats of Burlington County don't want me bringing more light to the Freeholders' inhumane treatment and the deaths of inmates in the County Jail. Burlington County Freeholder, Aimee Belgard is the Democratic Congressional candidate in that race and these inmate deaths occurred on her watch. The Republican Christie administration is officially opposed to marijuana liberalization. So both Democrats and Republicans via Lt Governor Kimberly Gaudagno, in a rare bipartisan effort, removed me from the ballot, claiming I hadn't gathered enough valid signatures. Gaudagno ruled I only had 97 valid signatures. Doesn't this reek of smoking something, but not marijuana? Title 19 governs NJ election law, but the big Democratic Party, like the big banks thought they were too big to fail, act like they are too big to follow rules. I appealed to the New Jersey Appeals Court (L-004383-13) in June to intervene. I asked them do a recount. It's clear I have more than 100. The deadline for the ballot construction is September 15th. Yet the court has done nothing in three months, procrastinating, looking the other way, allowing the clock to decide; apparently uninterested in reviewing the facts. You see the judges on the court are also appointed by the two political parties. If they review, recount and place me on the ballot, what are their chances of ever being appointed to a higher court? Whether the NJ Appeals Court acts or not, I'm asking the people to write me in. The party politicians are scared of me and my message. This is obvious, thus the title of my latest book: "The Politics of Pot Jersey Style," is playing out in New Jersey courts right now. Go here to vote in the poll. (Should the NJ Appeals Court order a recount on my ballot initiative?) Yes The court should order a recount No The Lt Governor has ruled - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom