Dear Editor:
Once again, rather than address the serious issues facing Union City, Mayor Brian Stack and now his taxpayer’s paid corporation counsel Ms. Vanek would like to deflect from the issues and engage in personal attacks and insults against the Hudson Reporter and its journalist. His most recent rant involved reporting by the Hudson Reporter regarding the FBI raid on City Hall and the Bryant Venegas indictment. (Venegas was accused of paying off “unnamed Union City officials”.)
Over the last several years I have written many letters to the Hudson Reporter and have been quoted in numerous articles. Each and every piece of information I have given them was fully vetted. They are one of the few newspapers in the area which actually make you provide documentation to support your statements and/or claims. Therefore, if they stated that they received information from an unnamed source, then I believe them. If Stack has proof the information is not true then he should publicly speak out about the facts regarding the raid on city hall and the Bryant Venegas indictment. Why did the FBI raid city hall and who are these unnamed officials? More importantly what does Stack know and why is he refusing to inform the public?
Stack attacked the Hudson Reporter for their coverage of a recent commission meeting; once again I must dispute Stack’s position. In regard to Stack’s allegation that a resident challenged him to “Step outside” that is completely false and Mr. Stack knows it. I urge all readers to go to Hudsoncountytv.com and watch the video. The person simply stated “me and you one on one”. When asked what he meant by his statement the resident stated he wanted to speak to the mayor one on one. If Mayor Stack believes that a taxpayer’s request to speak to him one on one is a threat then he has become so paranoid that he is unfit to serve as an elected official. It may be time for him to go back to his previous career as a PSE&G employee.
Stack may have held the commission meeting within the guidelines of the law, but his conduct was unacceptable and unbecoming of an elected official. I arrived at the commission meeting at 7:09 to find that the meeting which had begun at 7:00pm was already over. Although there may have been some confusion regarding the public portion of the meeting, Mayor Stack and his commissioners were still at the table when members of the public made it clear they wished to address their elected officials and ask questions. There was no reason Stack could not have sat down and listened to what the people had to stay. Only a person who has something to hide or is ashamed would walk away from a group of citizens and taxpayers who have legitimate questions to ask of their elected officials. So much for the transparency Stack always talks about.
Joe Blaettler