Irvington, NJ lawsuit calls 82-year-old resident a bully for requesting public information

The township of Irvington has filed a lawsuit against an 82-year-old, claiming the retired teacher is "bullying" administrators because she has asked for public records.

Elouise McDaniel, 82, recently went public with the lawsuit that was filed in September.

The legal complaint accuses McDaniel of filing 20 "frivolous letters and complaints" of misconduct against township employees with agencies ranging from the U.S. Senate and the governor's office to local and state prosecutors.

Under the state's Open Public Records Act, people have the right to request a multitude of documents and data from public entities such as municipal and county governments and school districts.

In most cases, custodians of records are required to answer the requests within seven business days by either providing the documents or requesting more time to comply. Agencies that unlawfully deny access to records can be sued in Superior Court and end up paying the plaintiffs' legal fees.

Township calls former teacher a bully and annoying

The Irvington lawsuit against the woman, however, claims her OPRA requests have become "unduly burdensome, time-consuming and expensive." It seeks a court order preventing her from filing additional "meritless complaints."

"The defendant has bullied and annoyed Township administration on repeated occasions and has otherwise continued to disrupt Township operations," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also said McDaniel has made "defamatory and disparaging statements and false allegations of wrongdoing about the Township and its employees" including Mayor Tony Vauss.

McDaniel, who once ran for mayor against Vauss, told NBC 4 New York that as a taxpayer she is entitled to know how her tax dollars are being spent.

John Paff, an activist who has filed hundreds of public records requests in New Jersey over the years and who runs the website TransparencyNJ.com, said the township needs to get over it.

Paff doesn't think the lawsuits are about the volume of requests and that McDaniels' requests are far from excessive.

"It looks to me that it's more about a town trying to bludgeon a taxpayer into submission," Paff said.

In 2017, Teaneck failed to stop Elie C. Jones after he filed 380 OPRA requests. A judge said that while the township's frustration at the number of requests is understandable, the requests did not cause irreparable harm.

"If Irvington can make a showing that McDaniel's requests are truly disrupting its operations, it could offer to let her prioritize any unanswered requests and let the town respond to them, perhaps one per week, in order of priority," Paff said. "There are certainly better ways to go about this than suing her."

Dan Alexander is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com

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