How OPRA can Stop Traffic!

No, this is not about Oprah Winfrey, it is about an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request sent to the Clerk’s Office at and the response to it.

Before going into the meat of that OPRA, a little background is in necessary to understand the genesis for the OPRA.

Perhaps, those reading this are familiar with a message board where lots of anonymous people post on Woodbridge topics.  It is a local forum where anyone can post threads about almost anything.  Those who know the forum know that most of those posting on the forum use screen names, not their real names. 

Understandably, there are those who wish to make a statement without fear of reprisal.  On the other hand, another group use screen names (sock puppets, if you will) on the forum to hide, either because they don’t won’t their employer to know they are posting on their employer’s dime, or they don't want to own up to what they say in real life. Either way, their posting deserve little, if any, credence.  There is also a bunch (as in, bananas) who insist on having anything they don't like deleted. Most likely, those two groups are closely connected.

Since so many of the “sock puppets” postings appear during normal working hours for our local town hall, one might wondered if some township employees are surfing the Web and posting on the taxpayer’s dime.  With that thought in mind, an OPRA asking for copies of all electronic communications between township owned computers, the web and media outlets was submitted.  The township’s reply to that OPRA request was the “Township does not track or store mail and/or electronic communications for any websites”.  (Why not??)

But here’s the really interesting part. The ‘socket puppet’ postings dropped dramatically after the response to the OPRA request to almost nothing. 

Any bets on how much taxpayers money was saved after that OPRA request was made?