Brian P. Stack

Brian P. Stack (born May 16, 1966) is an American Democratic Party politician who represents the 33rd legislative district in the New Jersey Senate, where he serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has also served as the mayor of Union City, New Jersey, since 2000. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2008. to Edward J. Stack, a PATH train conductor, and Margaret Stack, a building superintendent. He is of Irish descent. At a young age the Stack family moved to Union City, The Stacks were active in their community, as their apartment was a hospitable place that was "a stop for tenants and neighborhood people seeking assistance or advice." It was with his parents that Stack first began to participate in the practice of providing turkeys and holiday gifts to the needy, a practice that Stack would later institute as mayor. He graduated from Emerson High School. He attended Jersey City State College,

Career Early career Stack began volunteering on campaigns for William Musto as a young boy, and was present at age 16 at Musto's sentencing for racketeering and fraud. Musto's conviction shocked many in the community that believed he was wrongly accused. and Stack and his family corresponded with Musto while the latter served time in federal prison. Stack simultaneously won the 7th District seat on the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders, where he served from 2000 until his swearing into the Assembly in 2004. He relinquished his Freeholder position when he was sworn into the New Jersey State Assembly on January 13, 2004. Stack was reelected in 2005 and served in the Assembly until 2007.

Stack being sworn in at Union City High School on May 18, 2010, after he was reelected. Holding the Bible is his mother, Margaret. As mayor, Stack has focused on quality of life issues in Union City, in particular that which was affected by local bars violating liquor licenses for noise and selling alcohol to minors. His initiative to change the mandatory closing time for bars from 3 am to 2 am gained support from local police and city residents, despite opposition from local tavern owners.

In the Assembly, Stack represented the 33rd Legislative District together with Senator Bernard Kenny. He served on the Regulated Professions and Independent Authorities Committee as Vice Chair, and on the Transportation and Public Works Committee and the Joint Legislative Committee on Public School Funding Reform.

Stack and his commissioners were re-elected on May 11, 2010, in a landslide victory over Vision 4 Union City's slate of candidates, headed by recurring opponent Frank Scarafile. Stack won nearly 11,000 votes to Scarafile's nearly 1,200, with Stack's slate, which included Tilo Rivas, Lucio Fernandez, Maryury Martinetti and Christopher Irizarry, registering a combined total of between 85% and 90% of the vote.

Stack has been noted to employ various methods to make himself available to Union City citizens, such as widely publicizing his cell phone number. Since 2000, Stack has spent a few days each quarter away from City Hall in a "mobile office" tent that is set up at various locations in Union City in order for people who do not have easy access to City Hall to see him. According to Stack, whereas he sees approximately 350 to 400 people a week at City Hall, his mobile office attracts upwards of 300 people a day. Stack, who employs a translator to communicate with Spanish-only speakers, is frequently asked by citizens for assistance in matters such as housing and employment. In July 2010, Stack increased his mobile office appearances to a monthly basis. Among the activities sponsored by his organization, the Brian Stack Civic Association, are annual delivery of free turkeys to the needy and free public Thanksgiving dinners.

In September 2010, as controversy arose over the Park51 project in Lower Manhattan, Feisal Rauf, the imam in charge of that project, came under scrutiny by Stack's administration over problems faced by a number of rental properties Rauf owns in Hudson County, including four in Union City, which residents complained had fallen into disrepair, with cited problems including lack of heat, rats, bed bug infestations, and inoperable fire alarms and sprinklers. Stack, who criticized Rauf as a "slumlord", announced the creation of a Quality of Life Task Force that would identify buildings in need of renovations, and filed suit against Rauf to have his properties placed into receivership. Some Union City residents, however, questioned why the timing of these actions against Rauf's properties did not become an issue in New York City and the national media, and why the long-standing problems faced by these properties were not addressed until the larger controversy over Park51 came to light, particularly given that Stack became mayor in 2000.

Stack and his four-member Board of Commissioners ran unopposed for reelection in the May 2014 election. They were reelected on May 13, with over 9,000 votes. Their new term began that July. They ran unopposed again in the May 2022 election. Stack garnered the most votes in the election with 9,607 or 21.83 percent of the vote, winning a sixth term.

On January 24, 2024, Stack served for the 23rd year and 91st day, making him the longest serving mayor of Union City. He broke the record held by Harry J. Thourot, who held the job from 1939 to 1962.

State legislator Simultaneous with his work as Mayor of Union City, Stack holds a seat in the New Jersey Senate. This dual position, often called double dipping, is allowed under a grandfather clause in the state law enacted by the New Jersey Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jon Corzine in September 2007 that prevents dual-office-holding but allows those who had held both positions as of February 1, 2008, to retain both posts.

In 2007, Stack ran for the New Jersey Senate in the primary election for the Senate seat held by retiring State Senator Bernard Kenny, with a team of eight other 33rd District Assembly candidates vying for nine legislative seats, under the banner Democrats for Hudson County. Their main opposition was the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), which was headed by West New York Mayor and then-33rd Legislative District Assembly member Silverio Vega. On June 5, 2007, Stack won the primary, beating his opponents by a wide margin of 18,213 votes to Vega's 5,582, though only three of the candidates in Stack's column, including himself, were victorious. Stack and running mates Ruben Ramos and Caridad Rodriguez subsequently swept the state Senate and state Assembly in the November 6, 2007, general election. He has served in the Senate since January 8, 2008. Stack was reelected on November 8, 2011, garnering 18,244 votes over opponent Beth Hamburger's 2,815 votes.

Stack was re-elected to the state senate in 2021.

On February 24, 2022, Stack's colleague, North Bergen Mayor and State Senator Nicholas Sacco, announced that he would not run for re-election as state senator in 2023, following North Bergen's re-districting to the 33rd district, which placed Sacco in the same district as Stack. Sacco said he would support Stack, a move that InsiderNJ said could make Stack the most powerful state senator in New Jersey.

Committees Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are: Judiciary (as chair) Community and Urban Affairs (as vice-chair)

District 33 Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 33rd District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are: Senator Brian Stack (D) Assemblywoman Julio Marenco (D) Assemblyman Gabe Rodriguez (D)

Hudson County Democratic Organization After Vincent Prieto stepped down in 2018 as chair of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, historically one of the most powerful remaining political machines in the United States, Stack ran for Prieto's seat against Jersey City school board member Amy DeGise. Stack and Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop had previously been critical of her father, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise.

The internal campaign for support from the county party committee members lasted months and was highly divisive. Fulop and Stack were joined by Hoboken mayor Ravi Bhalla. In a major upset, Stack lost the election on June 12 with 360 votes out of 812, with the chair going to Amy DeGise. Stack was reportedly "galled" by Fulop's inaction during the campaign and joined DeGise in criticism of Fulop shortly after the election. Stack was an advocate of New Jersey's same-sex civil union law. The law, which was signed by governor Jon Corzine on December 21, 2006, and went into effect February 19, 2007, grants same-sex couples the same legal protections and benefits of marriage. Said Stack,

Commenting on opposition to the bill, Stack explained,

Stack was one of many statewide Democrats to endorse Republican Governor Chris Christie's bid for re-election in 2013.

Following the legalization of recreational marijuana in New Jersey in November 2020, Stack decided to prohibit retail establishments in Union City, in contrast to some other municipalities in Hudson County, citing Union City's population density as his rationale. Stack responded by asserting that he does not accept contributions from bar owners and establishments, and explained that "[Medrano] used her name and address in Fairview. We make it a practice of not accepting donations from bar owners or establishments, and we do not accept cash." Stack pointed out that Medrano's establishments were not mentioned on the form with which she made the donations, and that he decided to donate the money to the Battered Women's Shelter of Hudson County once the donations were revealed, claiming that in addition to not being aware of the source of the money, he was unaware of the illicit activities going on in the bars. Stack also defended the Union City Police, who are assigned to watch the taverns for quality of life reasons, and who incurred criticism for their apparent ignorance of the goings-on in the taverns, on the same basis, arguing that they only patrolled the streets, but did not enter the taverns when they did so, and thus, could not see what occurred in them.

Some critics remained skeptical of Stack's position, such as then-Republican candidate for Assembly Richard Valdes, who said, "I challenge Assemblyman and Mayor Brian Stack to disclose the nature of his relationship and questionable campaign contributions from Medrano." Stack responded that he never met Medrano until a fundraiser held a year earlier, saying that Medrano was stopped at the door and was turned away from contributing to the event. Valdes also questioned the acceptance by Stack's campaign committee of $5,000 from Union City truck driver David Lopez, who had sold a vacant Union City lot to the Jersey City School Construction Corporation for $1.48 million, after Lopez had already gotten zoning approval and began advertisement for condominiums to be built on it. Stack also stated that he was unaware of that donation, that it was donated to the PERC Homeless Shelter, and that Valdes' comments were politically motivated.

Daycare funds subpoena On March 26, 2007, Stack was one of three legislators subpoenaed regarding the disbursement of at least two $100,000 grants that went to the Union City Day Care, which is headed by Stack's estranged wife, Katia, and partially government funded. The subpoena was based on a complain by Republican activist Steve Lonegan, who filed 36 conflict of interest complaints against state legislators. A state ethics panel cleared Stack in late November 2009, ruling unanimously that he did not benefit from the grants, and that there was no conflict of interest.

Influence on local boards In 2007, Stack was accused by developer Ralph Lieber of political favoritism in zoning and building approvals, alleging that Stack influenced the zoning board into voting against a residential building that Lieber wished to build on his property because he was not a political favorite of Stack's. Lieber sued the city for $4 million, later settling out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Private use of municipal vehicles In January 2011, Stack was criticized in one of Arnold Díaz's "Shame Shame Shame" segments for WNYW Fox 5 for allowing the use of city-owned vehicles by his ex-wife, Katia Stack. Katia is the director of The Union City Day Care Program, a private organization with a $6 million budget, and was assigned by Mayor Stack a car owned by the Union City Police Department, as well as free gas and insurance. The Day Care Program also has at least one other public vehicle. In addition, Díaz reported that the day care center itself does not pay any rent for the city building in which it is housed. Stack stated that his administration did nothing wrong, and that the center's housing and vehicle status was initiated before he became mayor in 2000, but according to Díaz, WNYW did not receive requested documentation of this fact. Díaz states that the car Katia Stack had been using had been returned to the police department parking lot after their investigation began, and that she reimbursed the city for the cost of gas and insurance.

Stack again came under Díaz's scrutiny in February 2013 for the free rides that residents of the luxury high-rise Troy Towers in Union City are given to Hoboken Terminal, a service that began a few months prior, as indicated in a letter residents of that building received from Stack. The city van, which is normally used to transport seniors, picks up residents three times every weekday morning at the Troy Towers, despite the fact that a public bus stops there as well. Joseph Blaettler, a former Deputy Police Chief of Union City and Mayor Stack's former police liaison,

In December 2016, the city settled a lawsuit with former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Ricky Patel, who accused Stack of using government resources to harass him. According to Patel's November 2014 lawsuit, about two weeks after the FBI raided the Union City Community Development Agency, he found a note on his vehicle informing him that the car was "part of an ongoing investigation", and noticed his apartment was being surveilled by a woman revealed to be Stack's girlfriend. When Patel asked the woman why she was parked in front of his apartment, she called Stack, who then arrived and as Patel described, exclaimed, "I am the f**king Mayor! This is my city! F**k the feds!" Patel was then escorted to police headquarters, where a police lieutenant told her that she was concerned federal agents were “conducting an unsanctioned investigation against our mayor." The Union City insurance carrier settled the lawsuit for $100,000, with neither the city nor its officials admitting any wrongdoing.

Personal life Stack's father Edward died on November 16, 2003. His mother, Margaret, died on May 14, 2015, at the age of 83, following a long illness. The Stacks were estranged by 2007,

Election history