In a digital echo of a town hall door slamming shut, a decorated Marine veteran in Wayne finds his emails to the mayor returned unopened, stamped with a “permanent failure.”
The error message, a cold and mechanical rejection, has ignited a fundamental question about the First Amendment in an era where a public official’s inbox is the new public square.
Stewart Resmer, a retired Hollywood stunt coordinator and limo driver who served in Vietnam from October 1969 through September 1970, is the constituent whose email address was blocked by Vergano’s mayor@waynetownship.com inbox, which is reserved for official business.
His offense, it seems, was paying too much attention.
Resmer has become a persistent user of New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, a tool he calls the “sword and shield of a functional and healthy democracy.”
His inquiries to Wayne Township officials range from the procedural to the personal, including reports of a burglary at his home and complaints about neighbors who refuse to clean up after their pets.
The correspondence to the official mayoral address, mayor@waynetownship.com, now bounces back with a terse notification: “550: permanent failure for one or more recipients (mayor@waynetownship.com:blocked).”
Resmer, who earned the Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars for his campaign service and is one of an estimated 1,500 wartime veterans living in Wayne, believes the block is retaliation for his activism and his involvement with the local Democratic Party in a township where Mayor Christopher P. Vergano is a Republican.
The Bronze Star Medal is a prestigious U.S. military decoration awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement/service that recognizes bravery and distinguished performance in ground combat against a foreign enemy force, often for actions above that normally expected.
NJTODAY verified Resmer’s service records detailing his specific campaign participation through the National Archives and the Bureau of Naval Personnel, which handles records for both Navy and Marine Corps members.
United States Navy Rear Admiral Kevin M. Kennedy serves as the Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel and is also a native of Gloucester, New Jersey.
This is the only tool we have to fight government opacity, Resmer said of government records laws, arguing that public apathy allows officials to act with impunity.
The email block, he said, is an insult not just to him, but to the principle he fought to defend. He is now consulting an attorney.
Rear Admiral Kevin M. Kennedy
“Our Veterans seek neither glory nor fame,” wrote Vergano in a letter marking Veterans Day 2016. “They are our best, our brightest, our bravest. Please always know that we appreciate you. We thank you. And we will never forget you.”
We are wondering whether Vergano forgot all that or if he was merely pandering. His campaign website claims that “Team Vergano prides itself on public accessibility,” but the Mayor has been caught shutting out a member of the community.
The ACLU of New Jersey states unequivocally that when public officials use a communication channel for government business, they generally cannot block constituents based on viewpoint.
Such action transforms a public forum into a private fiefdom and violates the First Amendment. Exceptions exist for true threats, obscenity, or harassment, but there is no indication that Resmer’s messages crossed any of those lines.
Vergano, who is serving his fourth term as mayor, is no stranger to public controversy.
In January 2023, he requested a 647% pay increase for the part-time mayoral position, seeking to raise the salary from $18,750 to $140,000 annually and make it a full-time, benefits-eligible role. Following significant public backlash, he asked the township council to withdraw the ordinance.
Vergano has also spoken out against New Jersey’s state-mandated affordable housing program, which requires municipalities to provide a “fair share” of low- and moderate-income housing, prohibits exclusionary zoning, and has been credited with reducing veteran homelessness.
In September, Vergano attended the ribbon-cutting of a project that will provide six affordable housing units for disabled veterans and their families. No veteran should ever be without housing, and this amazing initiative goes a long way to support our veteran community.
The question at hand is simpler and more profound than a pay raise.
It is whether a citizen, having once offered his service and his safety to the nation, must now beg the attention of his local mayor.
An official government email address, maintained at taxpayer expense, is not a personal commodity. It is a conduit for the grievances, questions, and criticisms of the public.
If a town’s leading representative can selectively silence voices he finds disagreeable from an official account, then the foundation of representative government grows frail.
The principle is clear: you may not like what your constituents have to say, but you must, by oath and law, hear them. The alternative is a silence that speaks volumes about the health of a democracy.