Emails Between Library Director and Candidate Sought By Township Committeeman

A candidate running for Township Committee filed a lawsuit in Monmouth County Superior Court Thursday to block the release of emails she and the township library director sent to each other through personal email accounts. 

Democratic Party candidate Linda Baum says the emails she exchanged with Library Director Susan O'Neal on library issues as a concerned citizen should remain private, and are not subject to the Open Public Records Act.

The request was filed by Republican Party Township Committeeman Tony Fiore via the township clerk. "I’m not a member of the government. OPRA does not apply to a private citizen. I’m a political candidate," said Baum, who described the emails as mostly "opinion, discussion and private correspondence."

But Fiore is arguing that the emails should be made public, because he wants to know what budgetary information O'Neal has shared with members of the public between January 1, 2012 through May 15, 2013, in a difficult fiscal period that resulted in three library branches closing and additional Sunday closings in June. "I want to see if that information is consistent with what the board has been getting in the last 18 months," he said Thursday.

The lawsuit filed in Freehold by Walter M. Luers of Clinton asks the court to not release any emails until a judge hears the case, to allow Baum the opportunity to review the emails as well as the right to make objections to their release. 

"It is very, highly unusual for this kind of OPRA request to focus on a private citizen's email," said Luers. "We suspect this is a part of a strategy to make Linda Baum's life more difficult, because she is a candidate for office" he said. 

On May 16, under the direction of Fiore, Township Clerk Heidi Brunt filed a formal OPRA request with the library board, seeking all correspondence "to and from Susan O'Neal" with Baum and Melanie Elmiger. Elmiger is a Lincroft resident who has publicly questioned issues connecting the township and library budgets. She said she was "bothered" by the request.

"The message the township is sending is one of intimidation," said Elmiger in a written statement Thursday. "They are intimidating the township employees who should be allowed to discuss public matters with citizens, and they are intimidating citizens who want to have meaningful participation in the government process. "

After learning of the OPRA request, Baum, through her attorney, requested the opportunity to review the emails before their release, according to the complaint. 

On June 5, the Library's attorney Armen McOmber told Luers that the library reviewed the emails and intended to release them because he believed they fell appropriately under OPRA, but he would decline Baum's request to review them prior to release.  

The attorney for Baum argued in the complaint that the email conversations were outside the course of official library business, that the OPRA request is invalid because it is not a request for specific records, and that Baum has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Baum and her attorney then followed up by filing the lawsuit Thursday afternoon.   

Fiore, who is joining the Library Board on June 19 as Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger's designee, posted a Patch blog Thursday night to further emphasize his belief that the emails should be made public. 

"So in the interest of transparency, what is in those emails that are creating such an objection? In the spirit of 'open government' the public deserves to know," he wrote. 

Baum's attorney said Thursday night, "Gaining access to Linda Baum's emails sheds no light on how government operates. Email between Linda Baum and the librarian discussing Ms. Baum’s opinion has nothing to do with public's business. She is not a public employee, nor a policy maker."