Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-Morris and Passaic) spoke out against the bill to gut the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) before the Assembly voted 42-28 to approve the bill on Monday. The Senate voted earlier in the day 21-10 to roll back OPRA. The bill now awaits the governor’s signature or veto.

Bergen began his remarks by asking the bill’s primary sponsor, Joe Danielsen (D-Middlesex and Somerset) to answer a few questions for him about the bill. Danielsen refused.

“Is he scared?” Bergen asked.

Bergen then said the bill erodes the public’s trust.

“The sponsor of the bill is well known to have been ducking questions by the public for a long time and won’t even answer them here for me today, his colleague in the chamber, and I don’t blame him,” Bergen said. “This bill isn’t just bad. This bill is malicious in its intention. We have a job to protect the public. It’s our job to stand up for those who can stand up for themselves. Today, we’ve forgotten that. No logical person who has spent any time actually reading any of the 27 pages in this bill would even consider voting for it. It’s impossible because the atrocities in here are too many and they are impossible to miss.”

Bergen said the bill destroys 40 years of progress when it comes to government transparency in New Jersey, and rips apart public protection under OPRA.

“I have to admit, it’s been a brilliant PR campaign. You’ve been using the municipal clerks and the burden on them and the burden on the mayors as a way to jam through some really catastrophic legislation, pulling on our heartstrings because we feel bad for them. But they are a small part of what OPRA covers, like the tiniest little part,” Bergen said. “Everything that you do in this bill applies to all state agencies, county governments, school boards, and anybody who has ever gone to a school board or a council meeting or a board meeting of any kind.”

Bergen said residents often struggle to get answers to their questions at public meetings. They then file OPRA requests to get answers.

“OPRA is designed to allow you to access the information that they won’t give you in the public,” Bergen said. “On its merits, this bill is horrible. And here’s the truth and it’s an unfortunate truth. Almost every yes vote that you’re going to get today is either threatened to be that way or bought to be that way. And it’s disgusting.”

Bergen said the bill doesn’t in any way shape or form limit any commercial requests or data mining, which was the original pretense for the bill.

“All the stuff that you started with this bill to get all the clerks behind you — it doesn’t do any of that anymore. It doesn’t reduce the volume. The municipalities and the counties and the schools, they’re going to get the same volume of requests. There’s not a thing in this bill — and I challenge anybody here to point to one thing in this bill — that would do anything to actually limit the volume, with the exception of the litigation threat that’s in section eight,” Bergen said.

“Here’s what it does do — the bill oppresses the public. And for those you progressives in this chamber, I have no idea how you rectify this with yourselves, how you can stomach this,” Bergen said. “This denies people access to documents through the fear of litigation. Forget the rosy fake picture the sponsor painted of that section here which is now section seven in the revised copy. The reality is, it gives a government agency the right to sue you for putting in OPRA requests. And that’s the truth.”

Bergen questioned how the $10 million dollars being allocated in the bill will be spent. He also criticized allowing public employees to sit on the Government Records Council, a body that adjudicates public records complaints. Members of the Government Records Council will now receive $12,000 each per year under the bill.

“Since I’m assuming somebody has a job they want to give somebody, it removes the prohibition against you being a public employee. So a public employee can be on the Government Records Council, get paid $12,000 a year, and add that to their pension, so we’re probably paying them $6,000 a year for the rest of their life, which is insane,” Bergen said. “This bill kills 40 years of progress. If you vote for this bill today, ladies and gentlemen, you are part of the problem. You are the exact person people don’t trust. You are the exact person who protects the interests of government and simultaneously stomps on the people. You are the problem.”

Bergen also questioned legislators’ motives for voting for the bill.

“If you’re voting for this bill for any reason other than you think it’s a magnificent idea — If you’re voting for it because you’re nervous about someone putting up somebody to run against you or because the Speaker (of the Assembly) forced you to vote a certain way, or because now you get to have a bill put up that you negotiated for — you should be disgusted with yourselves,” Bergen said. “You’re a pawn, and I’m embarrassed for you. This bill is awful. It’s disgusting and represents everything the people think is wrong with government, and I’m embarrassed to be here today even talking about it.”

Krystal Knapp

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Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade. Prior to becoming a journalist she worked for Centurion, a Princeton-based nonprofit that works to free the innocent from prison. A graduate of Smith College, she earned her master's of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and her master's certificate in entrepreneurial journalism from The Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY.