CJ Griffin Quoted in Article Regarding Redacted Emails About Mask Usage at The State Veterans Home as the COVID Pandemic Spread
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted by NorthJersey.com in the article, “After NorthJersey.com request over veterans’ homes mask issue, NJ sends redacted emails.” The article discusses a response to an OPRA request for email communications within the Murphy administration over a lack of mask-wearing at the state veterans’ home as the COVID pandemic spread in the spring.
CJ Griffin, a Hackensack attorney who focuses on public records access and whom The Record hired to challenge the state's OPRA denials, said, "These redacted emails are clearly conversations leading up to the emails that were featured in The Record’s news story, and they would shed more details on what was going on in the veterans homes and who was dictating that punishment be imposed for wearing a mask. The public has a right to know who called the shots and who should be accountable.
"It is hard to understand why these emails were redacted, but the ones in the news story were not," Griffin said. "It seems the involvement of the Attorney General’s Office has led to a clamp-down on information, something that is disappointing given how much this administration touts its commitment to transparency."
To read the article, please click here.