Judge Dismisses Fines Against Former Ridgewood Mayor, Manager

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Former Ridgewood officials were cleared on any wrongdoing by an administrative law judge related to a 2016 video in which they urged residents to vote in favor of a referendum for the Hudson Street parking deck.

According to Judge Jude-Anthony Tiscornia, former Mayor Paul Aronsohn and former Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld didn't commit any ethics violations by appearing in the video, and, thus, overturned the $100 fines against the former officials.

To summarize, opponents of the referendum believed that using Village funds to produce the video violated local government ethics law.

A complaint was filed to the Local Finance Board in 2016, and six residents sued the Village over the video.

In her recent testimony, Tina Vignali, formerly an ethics investigator for the Local Finance Board who handled the investigation against the officials, said the prohibited conduct was "using municipal resources to advocate a particular referendum position . . . when no opposing viewpoint was afforded the same opportunity," according to Tiscornia's decision.

Tiscornia, however, disagreed with the idea that public officials, in their public capacity, are banned from voicing their opinion or support of a specific policy point or public issue.

Additionally, Tiscornia wrote that neither Sonenfeld nor Aronsohn had anything to gain from the establishment of the parking garage.

Neither of the former officials had any financial interest in the project, Tiscornia wrote, nor were they even commuters who would use the garage on a frequent basis.

"Thus, I find that neither petitioner could have possibly inured any personal benefit if the proposed referendum passed and the proposed parking deck was constructed," Tiscornia wrote.