Reporter under investigation for stealing state documents
By Wally EdgeSources say that Jeff Pillets, a Pulitzer Prize nominated investigative reporter for The Record, is being investigated by the New Jersey State Police for allegedly swiping some documents from the Department of Environmental Protection. The alleged theft, which has attracted considerable buzz within political and media circles today, happened while Pillets was reviewing files related to an Open Public Records Act request. Sources say that Pillets later returned the files and was questioned by law enforcement officials.
North Jersey Media Group Vice-President/Editor Frank Scandale declined to confirm or deny any investigation, and referred questions to the state Department of Law and Public Safety. David Wald, a spokesman for Attorney General Anne Milgram, also declined comment. Pillets did not respond to weekend e-mails seeking comment.
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Public Documents
that are not classified as Secret due to national security are the property of the PUBLIC , Period.
not quite true
there are 24 exceptions
http://www.state.nj.us/grc/custodians/exempt/
The real criminals
The ones going after Pillets.
pillets
It doesn't surprise me that an employee of the Record would steal documents. The Record is not a newspaper it is a criminal, politically driven entiry.
Public Record
New Jersey is widely regarded to have the weakest public record access laws in the nation.
In terms of its practical application, the "Right to Know Law" basically means whatever a particular custodian of public records interprets it to mean.
Don't want to release a particular death certificate? Then all you have to do is interpret AIDS confidentiality laws as prohibiting such disclosure, even though the deceased never had AIDS in the first place.
Don't want disclose the public expenditures of a particular construction project, or anything else? Then all you have to do is come up with an overly broad and creative interpretation claiming that the documents are covered under one of the 24 exemptions.
Never has any public official or government entity in New Jersey ever suffered any adverse consequence as a result of refusing to disclose information which must and should be made available, which is why so often even the most simple and basic requests for public information are refused.
What you have, in New Jersey, is a statute with case law to back it up, which protects the government from the people, instead of the other way around.
In summary, this is why Jeff Pillets is being investigated as a criminal and Chris Christie is being demagogued as the boogie man, because New Jersey is the most corrupt place on planet earth.
Don't believe it just because I say it, just look at your tax bills.
Eric Gallagher
www.redyankeepress.com
Pillets is a great reporter
These corrupt people who run NJ hate Pillets because he exposed the fraud that was EnCap for all to see!
Don't let these jerks take you off your game!
Vote Column A- All the way!