TRENTON – About four hours or so into last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a ballot redesign bill, Leonard Filipowski stepped to the mic. For the occasion, he used another name – Leroy Truth.
He said he opposed the bill, but that didn’t seem to be his main point.
Filipowski, or if you prefer, Truth, a proclaimed independent journalist, has been waging a sort of private war against Sen. Brian Stack, the committee chair and the mayor of Union City.
The dispute has had its share of drama. Filipowski has loudly complained about Stack at meetings. He was arrested at a meeting. And, not surprisingly, there is pending litigation between the two.
On this day, he called the ballot design bill, “corrupt,” which was not all that out of line with some of the other critics.
But then he said he was investigating something like 3,000 corruption complaints against Stack.
Sen. Paul Sarlo quickly came to his colleague’s rescue.
“We don’t want to be attacking members on either side of the aisle. That’s not how we conduct business here,” he said.
Filipowski, who referred to his First Amendment rights, continued.
But when he called Stack the “king of corruption,” things again went off the rails.
Stack himself summoned the authorities.
“State police – escort him out of the meeting,” Stack said.
As Filipowski was leaving a few shouted curses were heard, but it was hard to tell if they were from him or some of his supporters.
Stack apologized for the commotion, adding that this is something he must put up with at every city commission meeting.
As he has done previously, the mayor said Filipowski and others are being paid by some of the “Hudson County political bosses.”
Then he identified Nick Sacco, a former state senator and the mayor of neighboring North Bergen, as the culprit..
Stack said that in the end, people will find out that Filipowski and his supporters “are paid to do what they’re doing.”
It was those comments that prompted Sacco to release a statement denying his involvement in this drama, something he has done before.
Maybe we can have a duel with the men positioned on either side of Kennedy Boulevard.
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