State Police will probe Lonegan arrest

Our state is in financial trouble.....soooo Mr tax man is having the State Police investigate his arrest. OK. Now what. NAME CHAGE: Mr Waste of Tax Dollars man. BTW, did mr tax man pay his illegal workers? take out Social Security, the medis..., income tax? Did he call homland security? Well? Isn't it a bit childish following an elected official around the state? How about protesting "THE WAR in IRAQ? The lack of health care of the 911 workers? The all clear statement by a former state official who then worked for the bush admin?? Gee...logging in Oregon? Fishing off the coast of Japan? Ok . There is much to protest.

RICHARD:

The reason folks like to talk about fishing off japan or logging in Oregon is to take the focus off the wrongdoing.   It's called deflection.  In liberals view, it's OK to violate Lonegan's rights, because he's conservative, but if it happened to one of their own, now that's a different story.

Liberals believe in free speech as long as you agree with them.  If you don't agree you don't have that right.   

 And, by the way PETER, Lonegan didn't want the investigation, it was ordered WITHIN the state police.  Lonegan has already said he will not sue the taxpayers for the violation of his rights. 

I'd think its pretty noble to stand up for one's rights, even if it means donning a pair of chrome bracelets.

Steve Lonegan did nothing wrong. If he refused/resisted arrest, that would be a different story, but he went peacefully.

It takes a person of some considerable fortitude to not allow their rights to be trampled on, especially in a society where most people are complacent with runaway government.

J . Douglas Fisher

Check Out: http://www.murraysabrin.com

This internal affairs investigation can only resolve one piece of a much larger puzzle.  If pursued in isolation, it could even mask the discovery of far more significant matters.   

The Constitutional rights of these two people were purposefully and outrageously violated right under the nose of the Governor, and in the presence of his personal staff. 

They were arrested, handcuffed and booked under circumstances in which it is plainly obvious to everyone that they had been legitimately and peacefully exercising their rights.  The local officials concede that now, and have blamed the State Police.  

An investigation by Internal Affairs will, by definition, be a limited probe.  They will be looking for "definitive answers" about what role, if any, that the members of the State Police unit who were assigned to the Governor's Office had in this matter. 

They will not have jurisdiction to examine what role the other personnel in the Governor's Office may have played in this incident.  Those in the State Police unit attached to the Governor’s Office work with and often at the direction of the advance staff of the Governor.  The State Police are not going to "investigate" those who they report to!

Regardless of the Governor's general press statements of denial of any involvement, either by himself or his staff, State Police Internal affairs is certainly not going to be investigating what role members of the Governor's staff may have played in this outrage, either prior to the events, while they were unfolding, or at any time thereafter! 

Obviously, not enough time has passed for anyone else to have conducted any kind of meaningful inquiry to determine whether staff members in the Governor's Office played any role in the violation of Mr. Lonegan’s or Mr. Grossman’s rights, regardless of what the Governor, or his spokes person have said to the contrary. 

A thorough investigation of these violations of the constitutional rights of these two individuals has simply not been conducted. 

The Governor has a specific state constitutional duty requiring that he “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” and he also takes a solemn oath of office in which he vows to uphold the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the United States.  A very egregious violation of both of those Constitutions occurred at an event where those in the immediate control of the event, were people who directly report to the Governor.  Something went very wrong here.  

The Attorney General oversees the State Police, and therefore would have a potential conflict in investigating this incident.  In order to ascertain why these egregious Constitutional violations occurred, identify exactly who was responsible for them, and to properly establish a basis for taking appropriate actions to prevent such actions from taking place again, the Governor should, therefore, appoint an independent prosecutor in this matter, much as was done with the appointment of Judge Richard Williams in the matter involving former Attorney General Zulima Farber. 

Anything less would leave very serious questions unresolved in the public’s mind about possible unlawful behavior on the part of those who are running our State Government.

by Trochilus