Ringwood School Board meeting turns into exercise in virtue-signaling.

By Rubashov

A recent article by David Zimmer of the Gannett organization devoted 700 words to the all important issue of who posts what on social media. Apparently, a group of rather miserable looking attendees at a Ringwood Board of Education meeting were offended by words posted on social media by one of the Board members.

Yes, someone is stalking someone again, looking for something to be pissed-off about. This seems to be the national pastime of late, replacing the more traditional pastimes of television, reading, and sex. And, of course, the miserables demanded their neighbor’s excommunication from their society, as if his presence could further corrupt the already corrupted.

Their neighbor is a blue-collar worker. Their specific problem with their neighbor is his plain-spokenness. His “sins” are as follows:
“…posts that derisively characterize the weight of 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, refer to the governors of New York and New Jersey as ‘[expletive] jerkoffs’ and call for leaders in the tech industry to be ‘erased’.”

The Establishment opinion and its followers are afraid of blunt, on-the-level speech. Afraid that a blunt, plain spoken population might – one day – call a war, a war… and not join in. They demand that the truth be embellished in lies.

From their complaints, it appears that the miserables have a problem with the truth…

Stacey Abrams does appear to have a weight problem. Let’s be honest, a lot of people just call it fat. Now fat is attractive to some people, not so to others. It is a matter of opinion. Anyone who willingly trots onto the public stage – especially a politician who spends millions for the purpose of becoming a household name – is subject to the judgments of those they are spending money to impress. People forming an opinion that a politician is smart, stupid, beautiful, or fat is what they signed-up for.

As for the Governors of New York and New Jersey being (copulating) jerkoffs, well this is undoubtedly true in part and most likely true in whole. The politicians in question have never suggested they are sexual virgins and the size of their families strongly suggests that they have engaged in copulation. Fornication is also a possibility. As for being jerkoffs, there exists a great many scientific studies indicating that most males engage in masturbation and that, among males, masturbation occurrence increases with age. While this is not conclusive, it is highly suggestive. Perhaps the Ringwood Board of Education could get the two Governors to take a polygraph?

So far, it seems the miserables’ neighbor was simply telling the truth. Perhaps in a more blue-collar way than they might be used to, but it is the truth nonetheless.

And according to a study released yesterday, the use of vulgarities is a sign of intelligence, as CNN reports:

Polite society considers swearing to be a vulgar sign of low intelligence and education, for why would one rely on rude language when blessed with a rich vocabulary?

That perception, as it turns out, is full of, uh ... baloney. In fact, swearing may be a sign of verbal superiority, studies have shown, and may provide other possible rewards as well.

"The advantages of swearing are many," said Timothy Jay, professor emeritus of psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, who has studied swearing for more than 40 years.

"The benefits of swearing have just emerged in the last two decades, as a result of a lot of research on brain and emotion, along with much better technology to study brain anatomy," Jay said.

So, it appears the neighbor is perfectly situated on a School Board. The only question is whether the miserables will get with the program and expand their vocabularies as well. Hey, that’s from CNN.

As for the “call for leaders in the tech industry to be ‘erased’” – it seems only natural to suggest that you be done as you have done. That having erased people on both the Left and the Right (particularly anyone who questions the need for endless wars) the tech oligarchs (as Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Chris Hedges calls them) do need to be either regulated or made into public utilities. They are simply too powerful for the good of the Republic. Again, this is an opinion, along the lines that pasta is better than pizza – but being a political opinion, it is protected speech under the First Amendment. Until you repeal that amendment, no lynch mob of miserables has the legal authority to take it away from anyone.

The article also states that “in a response to a post on diversity training,” the School Board Member/neighbor “likened college instruction to brainwashing.” Well, there are plenty of others who have made this argument – academicians included. There are books written about it. By everyone from William F. Buckley to Noam Chomsky. Lots of them. This isn’t even controversial.

So, let’s ask the question: What was all that pissing and moaning about? Was the coverage warranted?

David M. Zimmer of the Gannett organization appears to be trying to make some didactic points. Among them is this gem:

“Parler is a social media account favored by far-right extremists that fell into disrepute after the Capitol riots, with Apple and Google pulling the apps from their stores and Amazon ending their hosting agreement with the company.”

Of course, the most dangerous “extremists” are those using the Capitol riot to abrogate the Bill of Rights. Just as they used the Patriot Act to imprison journalists, charge whistleblowers under the Espionage Act, and execute American citizens without due process.

Zimmer appears to be uncritically swallowing the line offered by the avowed enemies of the Bill of Rights. Before pushing this propaganda, Zimmer – who has been a journalist for 12 years – should perhaps read some of what Glenn Greenwald has to say on this subject. Possibly the best investigative reporter on the planet, Greenwald is a winner of the George Polk Award and a Pulitzer Prize for his journalism. He has also written best-selling books, including No Place to Hide. Here is some commentary from Greenwald…

In a discussion about the non-partisan ticket on which most of the current members of the Ringwood Board of Education ran, Zimmer ends his article with a strange appeal to racialism:

“All five of the slate's candidates are white.”

Wow, now there’s a man who can’t get past the surface to reach the content of a human heart. And what is with the catchword “white”? Nobody is truly “white” (perhaps albinos?) just as nobody is truly “black”. People are all sorts of shades from all sorts of places. Someone interested in people would notice that. White and Black are fit for propaganda films and B movies.

If he wants a real story, maybe Zimmer could get his bosses to let him write about Gannett’s very real shortcomings – taken directly from the case files of federal court. Like the recent federal class action lawsuit brought against Gannett alleging that the corporation is "running a racist workplace that makes it impossible for black workers to be promoted". The 26-page lawsuit, with 23 pages of attachments makes for interesting reading:

“Gannett ran a sophisticated scheme and cover 'in the form of focus groups and other means and methods that are subjectively manipulated by Gannett to achieve its discriminatory goals and objectives.'

According to the lawsuit, Gannett 'has a corporate custom, policy, pattern, practice and procedure of not promoting African-Americans to director and leadership positions and utilizing a one-and-done policy that disparately impacts African-American employed within the company’.”

A journalist employed at Gannett added:

“In sum, the overall employment atmosphere and attitude at Gannett is hostile toward recruitment, training, leadership, management and advancement of African-Americans into top broadcasting leadership positions and opportunities.”

The EEOC found that it could not certify that Gannett is in compliance with the federal anti-discrimination law. The federal class action lawsuit "seeks class certification, restitution, and compensatory and punitive damages for Civil Rights Act violations, loss of prospective earnings and a court order 'to enjoin the discriminatory practices.'"

Gannett was also recently sued for age discrimination over its practice of replacing older employees with younger, less expensive ones. Are stories like the one on the Ringwood School Board designed to take our focus off Gannett?

“If you’re on the Left, and you are giddy about censorship
of any form, just to let you know, you’re not on the Left.”
“It is a fascist position
to be pro-censorship of anybody.
I don’t care if you are transgendered
and for censorship,
that doesn’t make you on the Left.
Your sexuality doesn’t make you on the Left.
What makes you Left is your policies.
And if you think you’re on the Left
and you are for censorship, you’re a right winger,
you’re an authoritarian fascist.
Sorry to break it to you, but that’s how it works in the real world.”

Jimmy Dore
#ForceTheVote

We welcome your commentary. If you would like to submit a column for publication, please contact Marianna at marianna@jerseyconservative.org

Anti-Trump criminals attack GOP legislator’s family

By Sussex Watchdog

Over the past month, we’ve gone where newspapers like the Gannett corporation’s New Jersey Herald fear to tread.  We’ve covered the vandalization of family homes in Northwest New Jersey by anti-Trumpers and asked why these obvious acts of hatred were not covered in the same way as when someone spray-paints a Gottheimer for Congress sign? 
 
Does the Gannett corporation approve of violence, so long as it is directed towards people who they decide are unfashionable?  Or are they simply glad that the violent are too distracted to examine Gannett’s record closely?  Are they pleased that the violence is directed away from them?  That someone else is doing the suffering?
 
Sometime last night, a billboard advertising Space Farms Zoo and Museum was defaced with spray-painted anti-Trump slogans and foul language…  

Space Farms is owned by the family of Assemblyman Parker Space (R-24) and his wife, Jill Space, a Republican State Committeewoman and the First Vice Chair of the Sussex County Republican Committee.  When Congressman Josh Gottheimer’s (D-5) campaign sign was defaced, everyone of both parties rallied around him, the media covered it in great detail, all and sundry were appalled.  We won’t hold our breath in this instance.
 
At this sick moment in our history, the Establishment has allowed the violent to target some with impunity, while taking steps to destroy the morale and effectiveness of the police.  Average Americans have watched this and have responded by personally arming themselves to an unprecedented degree.  Any possibility of a rational debate has been screwed to death over the past few weeks.  People cannot unsee what has happened. 
 
This attack on the family of an elected representative of the people comes just weeks after two Black Lives Matter activists were arrested for spray-painting “BLM” and defacing property near the home of the elected Sheriff of Sussex County, Mike Strada.  At about the same time, ten shots were fired at the home of Sheriff Strada, while his wife and children were inside.  That crime is still under investigation and Governor Murphy’s State Police have not released the name or names of those suspected of perpetrating what could be a case of attempted murder.
 
Fresh from successfully intimidating the Sussex County Freeholder Board into passing a resolution that they dictated, Black Lives Matter activists were out in force yesterday, holding a Black Lives Matter rally in Byram while – a few miles away – engaging in an action to disrupt a planned pro-Trump rally that was called off at the last minute for safety concerns.  The stated reason was weather related.
 
Now the New Jersey Herald is willingly accepting the intellectual servitude of the Black Lives Matter movement.  Its pages today remind us of the end of the free press in Germany during that very dark period of the 1930s and 40s.  We will devote a future post to illustrate just how parallel the language is – often word for word.  It make us wonder if those running BLM are historical copycats?
 
Of course, the Gannett corporation is more than happy to spread the blame to America or “society” or the police… instead of being held to account for its own actions.  No matter how many riots or burned down buildings or spray painted slogans or murderous acts… violence does not result in peace.  You cannot compel peace or tolerance or respect at a global level.  Government cannot mandate these things.  Such things happen at the smallest, personal, and individual scale.
 
That is Gannett’s problem.  As a corporation Gannett has been wantonly cruel to its individual workers – generally, across the board, although some have believed it to be due to the color of their skin. 
 
Black Lives Matter is complicit in Gannett’s corporate viciousness.  By allowing Gannett to “take a knee” they are complicit as its public relations “fig leaf”.  But so long as they get their pay-off, Black Lives Matter doesn’t seem to care about the workers.  After all, these are academic “Marxists” of the snowflake variety.
 
Gannett pays homage to Black Lives Matter because it doesn't want anyone looking at their behavior or the behavior of some of the corporation's media outlets.  Like the recent federal class action lawsuit brought against Gannett alleging that the corporation is "running a racist workplace that makes it impossible for black workers to be promoted".  The 26-page lawsuit, with 23 pages of attachments makes for interesting reading:
 
"Gannett ran a sophisticated scheme and cover 'in the form of focus groups and other means and methods that are subjectively manipulated by Gannett to achieve its discriminatory goals and objectives.'
According to the lawsuit, Gannett 'has a corporate custom, policy, pattern, practice and procedure of not promoting African-Americans to director and leadership positions and utilizing a ‘one-and-done policy’ that disparately impacts African-American employed within the company.'
Gannett, based in McLean, Va., is best known for its flagship newspaper, USA Today. Its chain of newspapers, TV stations and other media reach than 110 million people a month, according to the complaint."
 
A journalist employed at Gannett added:
 
“In sum, the overall employment atmosphere and attitude at Gannett is hostile toward recruitment, training, leadership, management and advancement of African-Americans into top broadcasting leadership positions and opportunities.”
 
The EEOC found that it could not certify that Gannett is in compliance with the federal anti-discrimination law.  The federal class action lawsuit "seeks class certification, restitution, and compensatory and punitive damages for Civil Rights Act violations, loss of prospective earnings and a court order 'to enjoin the discriminatory practices.'"
 
Gannett was also recently sued for age discrimination over its practice of replacing older employees with younger, less expensive ones.  Over 1,300 Gannett employees have been "fired" between 2011 and 2017. 
 
Gannett is a ruthless corporation that takes knees and points fingers in a public relations spin operation designed to take the focus off them.  Black Lives Matter is aiding and abetting this scam.  Don’t be fooled.
 
We will keep you informed.  Stay tuned... 
 
 

“It is his millions of relationships that will give man his humanity… It is not our ideological rights that are important but the quality of our relationships with each other, with all men, with knowledge and art and God that count.
 
The civil rights movement has done a magnificent job but it is now faced with the ancient choice between good and evil, between love for all men and lust for a group’s power.”
 
“Every group on earth that has put ideology before human relations has failed; always disaster and bitterness and bloodshed have come.  This movement, too, may fail.  If it does, it will be because it aroused in men more hate than love, more concern for their own group than for all people, more lust for power than compassion for human need.”
 
“We must avoid the trap of totalism which lures a man into thinking there is only one way, one answer, one option, and that others must be forced into this One Way, and forced into it Now.”

(Author Lillian Smith, civil rights pioneer,
on accepting the Charles S. Johnson Award for her work)  

Public shaming is the road to Fascism

We are told that in America, we are a nation of laws.  But increasingly, we are not.  With the connivance of political figures like Senate Democrat Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Assembly Democrat Executive Director Mark Matzen, the corporate media are attempting to create an extra-judicial method of determining everything from whether or not you can hold a job or operate a business to serving in public office.

Under this informal, extra-judicial system, the accusers do not need any proof -- as we recognize that term in our legal process -- to indict, convict, and punish someone.  The accusers, who are generally the media and political figures like Weinberg, simply need to "feel" that someone has done something for reasons that they disapprove of.  It can even be as simple as saying that you are personally "tired" of someone, as was done in a recent Star-Ledger column.  Just being "tired" of someone makes some people believe that they have the right to fire someone from his or her job, or put someone out of business, or overturn the will of the voters.

This is a form of technological vigilantism -- a post-modern lynch mob -- with elements of religion to it.  For "apologize... apologize... apologize," read "repent... repent... repent."  And it was specifically warned against by prescient writers like George Orwell, with the neo-religious fervor whipped up in a shaming exercise very like the two-minutes hate he describes in his great work, 1984:

Think of it.  Political figures like Weinberg and Matzen actually suggested that they could reach into another person's soul to determine evil there, adjudicate on said evil, and then demand that the will of the voters be overturned and said person be stripped of public office.  Mind you, the office-holder in question -- Assemblyman Parker Space -- is one of the most popular elected officials in New Jersey, as determined by the number of votes he receives, and gets more votes than any Republican legislator in the state.  So it does take a particular kind of philosophy, distinctly undemocratic, to suggest such a thing.

Also remember that no laws have been broken.  Unlike Senator Robert Menendez or Assemblyman Neil Cohen or Assemblyman Raj Mukerji or any one of a hundred New Jersey Democrats who actually broke the law but who, nevertheless, the Weinbergs and the Matzens dutifully stood behind, Assemblyman Parker Space did nothing even remotely illegal.  Fashion was breached perhaps -- the fashion held by some elites in a few, well-to-do enclaves -- but no laws were broken.  For the moment, we still have our Bill of Rights and our First Amendment.  But they are working on it.

If the media can use extra-judicial shaming to deny employment, ruin a business, or overturn an election, then they will have successfully undermined the Bill of Rights without recourse to a legal challenge before the United States Supreme Court.  In their minds, that is the beauty of what they are trying to do.  It is a subversion of the law, and the imposition of punitive sanctions, through the use of fashion and media technology.  Through the use of it, America will no longer be a nation of laws, but rather a nation of fashions, manipulated by a corporate media controlled by the likes of Jared Kushner, the Newhouse brothers, and the corporate racists at Gannett News.  Pleasant thought?

Should the Observer apologize for Wally Edge?

We all remember who the infamous David "Wally Edge" Wildstein turned to when he wanted to grow his blog into something that would land him a gig in the Christie administration.  Old Wally went to the Observer Group and got himself the dough that enabled him to go on to bigger things... like Bridgegate.

Christopher Hetrick, is a "journalist" for what was formerly the House of Wally Edge, and of what remains the House of Jared Kushner.  He writes for that outpost of the Observer Group that is the remnant of what was once Wally's domain.  And, we must say, that he is keeping it in Wally's tradition:  The political drive-by.

Chris Hetrick is currently pushing the line that we no longer have a right to personal privacy.  Hetrick's theory is that our private conversations and private thoughts should be subject to invasion by any old handjob with a recording device.  In Hetrick's world, there should be drones armed with recording devices hovering over our shoulder, ready to capture the slightest "offensive" remark so that he might pontificate over it.

Sounds pretty f**ked up, doesn't it?  Who would want to live in such a world?  Who shares Chris Hetrick's vision? 

Would Chris Hetrick even want to live in his world?  Certainly those we know who have written for PoliticsNJ or PolitickerNJ  or the Observer, certainly none of them would pass muster.  Not a one.  But perhaps Chris is a real convent girl, a virgin whose ears remain untouched by a commonplace like "bitch."

The Observer is only the latest media organ to express mock horror at the word.  Al Doblin of the Gannett organization, fresh from presiding over the execution last week of his remaining workers, dutifully expressed his concerns.  If firing someone from his or her job is the capitalist equivalent of the death penalty, then Al Doblin is Mr. Death Penalty.  He destroys lives with relish.  No wonder he has to reassure himself of his "virtue" by pointing fingers at someone, anyone, else.

On Friday, the Newhouse organization -- who are in a kind of competition with Gannett for workers' lives destroyed -- found just the right tool for a little virtue signaling of their own.  The tool, and we do mean tool, in this case was David "the hand" D'Alessandro.  Yes, they selected a career sportswriter to deliver a moral lecture to a politician.  Talk about clueless. 

If you want to know how media coverage came to resemble the inside of a truck-stop shithouse, look no further than Dave D'Alessandro.  It was the nation's sportswriters who simultaneously dumbed-down and dirtied-up news coverage in America.  They brought in the foul language, the school yard humor, and the scatological references.  When it could have gone either way, they grabbed the America of the 1980's and headed straight down the toilet.  And now one of these dirtbags has the feral balls to complain about a word they sold to us and our children -- a word that they first normalized and then popularized?

Why not?  Like in any good noir novel, this is the last thing you see circling the bowl before it's all finally flushed to hell.

- - -

As a public service, your fellow sinners at Jersey Conservative would like to provide you with some facts that the Observer's Chris Hetrick purposefully suppressed.  That's right, Chris Hetrick was provided with these facts, but either followed orders or took it upon himself to suppress these facts.

FACT #1:  Unlike the Democrat State Senator who called Governor Christie a "prick" or the female Democrat State Senator who said she wanted to see President Trump assassinated, or the female United States Senator who dropped the f-bomb, what happened here was not public.  It was a private conversation between three people after a non-political event.  Private.  Get it? 

FACT #2:  A dirtbag snuck up and taped that private conversation.  He handed the tape over to the political campaign of Kate Matteson & Gina Trish, who reached out to a Trenton media figure and LGBTQRSTXYZ activist to circulate it.  So now that the media has rewarded dirtbag behavior, you can expect more of it.

FACT #3:  Chris Hetrick suppressed the following statement made by Jacqueline Stapel, the Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Sussex County: 

"As an individual and a Sussex County resident, I am deeply offended that a private conversation amongst myself, Jennifer Hamilton, and Parker Space was secretly recorded and leaked to the media for cheap political gain.  As an American, I denounce its secret leakage and use by the media and political campaigns because it is undermining everyone’s privacy rights.

With underhanded tactics like this, it is no wonder why Democrats and Republicans have a more difficult time working together for the common good.

Parker Space is my friend.  I may not agree with him on issues, but that does not lead me to hate him.  Unfortunately some people can’t see the difference between disagreement and hate and it is denigrating our political discourse."

Get that Chris Hetrick?  You are not on the side of the angels, you are on the side of the dirtbags.  But hey, you write in Wally's tradition.  Just keeping in real?

- - -

Finally, someone needs to create a Loretta Weinberg Award in honor of the striking levels of hypocrisy achieved by the Senate Democrat Majority Leader.  Maybe we will.

Not content with leaving vulnerable women to die while being guarded by men armed-to-the-teeth, or shilling for a fellow Democrat who exported girls into the United States so that some rich old scumbag could have his way with them, or allowing thousands of children to be lured into sexual slavery because she won't post a bill to stop it -- now she's on her high horse, pontificating once again!  There is no filter on this old gal's mouth -- and that is probably because the media has never called her to account for anything she says.  Still, can this woman be that stupid?  Here is Loretta Weinberg's reaction to a Republican legislator saying the word "bitch" in a private conversation:

"Parker Space’s conduct is absolutely disgusting and his continued presence in the Legislature is an insult to not only every woman who serves in public office, but all of the millions of women in our state.”

Wait a minute... aren't we still waiting for her to demand that Democrat Assemblyman Neil Cohen resign for accessing child pornography from his legislative office?  Heck, that guy has been to jail and out and we are still waiting for Democrat Weinberg to say something.

And we are still waiting for Loretta Weinberg's statement on Democrat Assemblyman Raj Mukerji -- accused of stalking a woman victim and breaking into her home.  The Democrat later pleaded guilty to federal charges in another case, but still no word from Loretta and Assemblyman Mukerji is still in office.

Hey Loretta, if you were really who you have deluded yourself into thinking you are, you would've -- at the very least -- called for them BOTH to resign.  But you won't, because you are just an old hack politician.  No morals, no ethics, no integrity.

And Chris Hetrick... just another handjob enabler.

Gannett tries to hide its real racism

There is a reason why the Gannett news organization wants to keep your eyes focused on flags and the like.  Gannett doesn't want anyone looking at their behavior or the behavior of some of the corporation's media outlets. 

Like the recent federal class action lawsuit brought against Gannett alleging that the corporation is "running a racist workplace that makes it impossible for black workers to be promoted".  The 26-page lawsuit, with 23 pages of attachments makes for interesting reading:

"Gannett ran a sophisticated scheme and cover 'in the form of focus groups and other means and methods that are subjectively manipulated by Gannett to achieve its discriminatory goals and objectives.'

According to the lawsuit, Gannett 'has a corporate custom, policy, pattern, practice and procedure of not promoting African-Americans to director and leadership positions and utilizing a ‘one-and-done policy’ that disparately impacts African-American employed within the company.'

Gannett, based in McLean, Va., is best known for its flagship newspaper, USA Today. Its chain of newspapers, TV stations and other media reach than 110 million people a month, according to the complaint."

A journalist employed at Gannett added:

“In sum, the overall employment atmosphere and attitude at Gannett is hostile toward recruitment, training, leadership, management and advancement of African-Americans into top broadcasting leadership positions and opportunities.”

The EEOC found that it could not certify that Gannett is in compliance with federal anti-discrimination law.  The federal class action lawsuit "seeks class certification, restitution, and compensatory and punitive damages for Civil Rights Act violations, loss of prospective earnings and a court order 'to enjoin the discriminatory practices.'"

Gannett was also recently sued for age discrimination over its practice of replacing older employees with younger, less expensive ones.  Over 1,300 Gannett employees have been "fired" since 2011.

Gannett is a ruthless corporation that points fingers in a public relations spin operation designed to take your focus off them.  We will keep you informed about who they are.  Stay tuned...

APP/Gannett: Reform money-grabbing municipal courts

With the ACLU and the NJ Bar Association conducting major studies of the corruption endemic to the New Jersey municipal courts system -- and the Legislature about to tackle the problem with hearings scheduled for early next year -- America's largest newspaper group has added its voice to the call for reform.  Over the weekend, the Asbury Park Press/ Gannett published the following editorial (printed in full because of its importance).

Once again, blogs like More Monmouth Musings and Sussex County Watchdog are asking for your assistance in uncovering and exposing local municipal court corruption.  If you have anything to pass along confidentially, please contact More Monmouth Musings at artvg@aol.com or Sussex County Watchdog at info@sussexcountywatchdog.com.

EDITORIAL: Reform money-grabbing municipal courts

New Jersey’s municipal courts have increasingly become more interested in cash than justice.

That’s what a Gannett New Jersey investigation has found, reinforcing long-held concerns that local officials view the courts primarily as revenue generators. That motivation influences the development of local ordinances and penalties and effectively pressures locally appointed prosecutors and judges to conduct court business with an eye toward maximizing fines.

The end result is a system that unfairly exploits residents to help balance local budgets. It’s a dirty business that needs to be cleaned up quickly, and to that end we’re encouraged by the reactions of some lawmakers, in particular Assemblyman John McKeon, D-Morris, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, who is already calling for a legislative examination of the court system in the wake of our report.

There’s nothing terribly new about the realization that money rules the municipal courts. We’ve heard such complaints for years, and rare is the person who hasn’t at some point railed against what feels like selective enforcement of traffic laws by police officers filling ticket quotas.

Disenchantment with the court system is inherent; people don’t often appear before a judge to contentedly pay fines they believe they deserve.

But as local budget burdens have increased, so too has the abuse of the municipal courts. For instance, in the Jersey Shore counties of Ocean and Monmouth, court revenue jumped 14 percent between 2010 and 2015. But perhaps more significantly, among the individual towns where increases occurred, the average hike during that same period was 39 percent. That tells us that while not every community is abusing the system, many are doing so outrageously, especially in smaller towns where the court revenue can build up to a substantial portion of the overall budget.

MORE: Town profits spiked under municipal judge

Defenders of the current system fall back on some familiar tropes, none of which deserve much credence:

•If the fines bother you, don’t do anything wrong: Such expectation of perfection is egregiously self-righteous. We’re not talking about crimes here, but such heinous offenses as a lapsed dog license or an expired auto inspection sticker. People make mistakes, and while penalties are needed to assure compliance, that doesn’t explain the size of the fines and the frequency with which they are applied.

•This is about safety, not money: No it’s not. Safety may be the theoretical underpinning of most of these ordinances and traffic laws, but that’s not how the process plays out in practice. A prime example had been the automated red-light cameras calibrated to issue as many tickets as possible at designated intersections. Legislators mercifully scrapped that program, at least for the time being.

•Our judges and prosecutors are above reproach: While there are some bad apples, no doubt, this isn’t primarily about the court personnel. Even those with the best intentions understand that their marching orders from the local officials who appointed them are to squeeze residents for as much fine money as possible. That has to be in the backs of their minds, and their ability to continue in their posts may depend on that particular measure of success.

MORE: Judge Thompson suspended from nine Monmouth County jobs

Insulating the municipal judiciary in some fashion from those local pressures appears to be the most likely and most effective reform. Judges should not be forced to bow to local officials’ revenue grabbing just to keep their jobs; those who do the right thing and more definitively place justice first will merely be replaced, doing residents no good in the long run.

How best to achieve that independence, and overcoming what’s certain to be aggressive local resistance, remains the overriding question. The New Jersey State Bar Association has already been studying the problem, but has not yet released a report. Taking away local control of municipal judge and prosecutor appointments could be an option, as would a potential regionalization of the courts; under the current system, all fines from local ordinance violations go the municipality, while traffic fines are shared with the county. Spreading the fine proceeds more widely would reduce the local incentive.

Some locals who concede the value of the court revenue say it helps pay for services about which residents care, and that might otherwise have to be sacrificed — like trash pickup or snow plowing. That’s a convenient justification, but the perception would be different if the “sacrifice” was, for example, the trimming of some outrageous local salaries.

Regardless of the financial impact, however, a court system that emphasizes revenue collection to the degree of New Jersey’s municipal courts is failing residents. That has to change.