CJ Griffin Quoted in NorthJersey.com article, "A Year into COVID-19, Transparency Lacks in NJ."
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted in NorthJersey.com article, “A year into COVID-19, transparency lacks in NJ.” The article discusses the response of Governor Phil Murphy’s administration over the past year to requests for information pursuant to the Open Public Records Act regarding the state’s response to the pandemic. The article details various requests for documents, as well as information on hearings and meetings, that have been denied, delayed, or heavily redacted. The article notes that in one instance, the administration released some of the information on ZIP code data requested by the USA TODAY Network (of which NorthJersey.com and The Record is a part), only after the Network appealed the denial through CJ Griffin.
“The lack of transparency has implications for public trust, said CJ Griffin, an attorney who has represented NorthJersey.com and The Record.
‘There becomes a point where you can see how someone who is less trusting of government, who is less trusting of science’ will become even more skeptical, Griffin said.
‘There’s a better way of doing things that would help people be better assured and comforted and have more trust in government,’ said Griffin, of the Hackensack firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden.”
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