{"id":13532,"date":"2018-10-11T05:19:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T09:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=13532"},"modified":"2018-10-11T15:01:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T19:01:16","slug":"fact-check-on-fake-news-lawsuit-brick-democrat-did-not-get-patronage-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2018\/10\/fact-check-on-fake-news-lawsuit-brick-democrat-did-not-get-patronage-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check on &#8216;Fake News&#8217; Lawsuit: Brick Democrat Did NOT Get Patronage Job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VhB5Dw7Ja5E?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The vice chairwoman of the Brick Township Democratic organization has filed a lawsuit against a sitting council member in Toms River, accusing him of operating \u201cfake news\u201d websites which reported that she had obtained a job with the municipal government in Brick.<\/p>\n<p>Robyn Gedrich serves as a volunteer member of the Brick Township Housing Authority, but does not now, nor has she ever, worked for Brick Township, Mayor John Ducey confirmed Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Toms River Councilman Daniel Rodrick \u2013 who switched from the Democratic party to the Republican party earlier this year \u2013 has been served with a lawsuit that alleges he operated several Republican-aligned websites and Facebook pages. One of those websites, on which bylines did not refer to anyone\u2019s legal name, ran a story titled: \u201c<span class=\"st\">Job Given To Mayor Ducey\u2019s New Democratic Party Underboss<\/span>.\u201d It included a screenshot from Gedrich\u2019s Facebook account \u2013 also included with this story \u2013 that announces a job with Brick Township. The job, however, is a volunteer position as Democratic vice-chair, which has no connection with the municipal government itself. Gedrich, by way of an examination of her social media accounts, has never claimed to hold a position with the township.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-11-at-4.15.46-AM.png\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-11-at-4.15.46-AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-11-at-4.15.46-AM.png 560w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-11-at-4.15.46-AM-400x276.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit was served on Rodrick in a bizarre interruption to the township council meeting Tuesday night. A man rushed up to the dais in the middle of the meeting and said, \u201cCouncilman, you\u2019ve been served with a lawsuit regarding websites serving defamation.\u201d The man then refused to identify who he was when asked by the council president. It was also unknown who posted a close-up video of Rodrick during the encounter, however sources said the photographer was Paul Williams, a freelance videographer. Rodrick did not appear to react to the incident.<\/p>\n<p>Gedrich told Shorebeat she cannot comment on the matter because she is being represented by an attorney. A copy of the lawsuit, obtained by Shorebeat, says local Democratic operative Jon Salonis \u2013 a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/2017\/07\/brick-mayor-faces-criticism-for-thousands-spent-on-newsletter-hirings\/\">Brick Township employee<\/a> \u2013 personally informed a \u201cco-worker\u201d that he was aware of the fact that a website known as the Ocean County Chronicle was operated by Rodrick, along with several other sites. Salonis, himself, once operated a Democrat-aligned website known as Jersey Shore Insider.<\/p>\n<p>Salonis, in an e-mail to Shorebeat, said the lawsuit\u2019s allegation is not accurate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did NOT speak to any coworker or anyone at all about Mr. Rodrick owning any website and the lawsuit is completely frivolous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the Chronicle website, the lawsuit alleges, is to \u201cundermine his political enemies\u201d and \u201cpromote his own political interests,\u201d referring to Rodrick.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8134\" style=\"width: 809px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/robyn_gedrich.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8134\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8134\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/robyn_gedrich.jpg\" alt=\"Robyn Gedrich (Photo: Facebook)\" width=\"799\" height=\"799\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/robyn_gedrich.jpg 799w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/robyn_gedrich-400x400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/robyn_gedrich-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8134\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robyn Gedrich (Photo: Facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The author of the article claiming Gedrich obtained a paid position with Brick Township acted \u201cin reckless disregard of the truth,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts tell Shorebeat the suit would traditionally be considered a long shot, however courts have wavered on whether blogs or websites operated by political figures, rather than credentialed journalists, are covered under New Jersey\u2019s fair report privilege, which widely shields news publications from civil liability.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit seeks undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages for defamation and false light.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fb-share-button fcbkbttn_large_button \" data-href=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2018\/10\/fact-check-on-fake-news-lawsuit-brick-democrat-did-not-get-patronage-job\/\" data-type=\"button_count\" data-size=\"large\"><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The vice chairwoman of the Brick Township Democratic organization has filed a lawsuit against a sitting council member in Toms River, accusing him of operating &#8220;fake news&#8221; websites which reported that she had obtained a job with the municipal government in Brick&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,3486,2081],"class_list":["post-13532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-daniel-rodrick","tag-robyn-gedrich"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/robyn_gedrich.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-3wg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}