Middletown Library Director, Candidate Emails Released After Judge Rules OPRA Applies

Emails between the Middletown library director and a candidate running for Township Committee have been released after a Monmouth County Superior Court judge ruled last week they were indeed subject to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).

On May 16, under the direction of Committeeman Anthony Fiore, Township Clerk Heidi Brunt filed a formal Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request with the library board, seeking all correspondence "to and from Susan O'Neal" with Linda Baum and Melanie Elmiger. Baum is a Democratic candidate seeking election to the Township Committee; Elmiger is a Lincroft resident who has publicly questioned issues connecting the township and library budgets.

The emails vary in subject matter. Many are OPRA requests from Baum to the library, or are forwarded copies of OPRA requests fulfilled by the township. Baum also shared an estimate for worker's compensation insurance that she requested from a state carrier, but notes in the email that it is for comparison purposes only. (Editor's note: Read all of the emails here: document 1, document 2, document 3, document 4, document 5)

In an interview Tuesday, Baum told Patch that she did not object to the release of the majority of emails. There were some, however, that she felt contained proprietary information because of the extensive research she conducted and put together about items concerning the library's budget.

"Everybody seems to be of the opinion that the flow of information was from Susan to me. It was vice versa," Baum said.

"Among the materials was something I provided to Susan, on private email, something I consider highly proprietary. I specifically said it was not for release. It should have been redacted," she said, referring specifically to her review and analysis of employee contracts. (Editor's note: Email in question can be viewed in Document 2, page 37)

The email Baum is referring to states that the information should not be shared because it may be misunderstood. "I want to be careful about distribution of this document because I don't want it to be misconstrued as a criticism of contract terms or unions. It is simply for comparison purposes, and as I said, so that we will know misinformation when we hear it," she wrote in the email, which was addressed to Middletown Democrat Don Watson with O'Neal copied as a recipient.

Baum also contends that personal information and opinions should have been redacted when the OPRA request was fulfilled.

"Anything related to my personal opinion is not public domain," she said. "What if I sent her a Christmas card, is that a public document? Would they like a copy of that?"

Baum believes the intent of the OPRA request was to intimidate public officials from openly discussing local issues as well as to harm her and O'Neal.

"They are looking to damage Ms. O'Neals' reputation; they are looking to damage my reputation. They are sending a clear message to public employees to toe the line."

According to Committeeman Anthony Fiore, who joined the Library Board of Trustees as the mayor's representative in June, Baum is confusing the issue by claiming the township was after her personal emails.

"I will say with respect to the emails being a work product, I will again say I did not OPRA her emails," he said. "My OPRA request was in reference to the director's emails."

Fiore believes a lawsuit brought by Baum to prevent the release of the documents was an attempt to cover up the "political circus" she and the library director were creating. He alleges that O'Neal was sharing different information and opinions with Baum than she was with the library board. Specifically, he said that O'Neal suggested to the board that the library shut down three branches to make the library's 2013 budget possible, while representing the closures as a poor choice to Baum.

"I don't have a problem with Linda sharing information with the library director," he said. "What I have an issue with is when the director uses a candidate or a candidate uses the director to create political animosity," he said.

"The purpose and intent of [the OPRA request] was to make sure that my suspicions that they were trying to make political animosity and political theater were not true, and they were. I'm disappointed about that," he said.

In one of the emails released last week, O'Neal denies Fiore's allegations that she was representing false information to the board. O'Neal wrote to Baum that she is being "harassed to the limit" by the Township Committee and that she was accused by Fiore via email that she withheld information about library funds from the board. She then cut off the conversation by stating "I can't talk to anyone until I talk to my attorney." (Editor's note: Email in question can be viewed in Document 2, page 88)

Baum said that she will not stop researching information regarding the township and the library and vocalizing her opinions at meetings, but she and her attorney will not to appeal the decision.

"The case is still open. We opted not to appeal. It gets very expensive and we didn't feel there was much to gain," she said. "I already spent enough money, enough time, enough energy."

"The damage is done when the accusation is made," she said.