ELIZABETH – It’s a waterfront city so no one expects people to stand on ceremony in the hours leading up to an especially brutally competitive election.
In just a few short hours, an exhausted competitor will stand victorious over the city, but in Elizabeth this weekend, street fight storylines intensified, leading right through Election Day.
The latest fracas started when another edition of The County Post hit mailboxes containing attacks on incumbent state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-20). Lesniak is running against Roselle Board of Education President Donna Obe, who’s running with the political support of the Elizabeth Board of Education.
Someone in the opposition spotted Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage, Lesniak’s chief Elizabeth ally, with what appears to be a roll of opposition newspapers under his arm and accused him of stifling free speech.
The mayor denied it.
“The mayor was walking door to door with local candidates and he was picking up trash left behind on the sidewalks,” said Bollwage spokesman Bill Reyes.
Contacted for a response, Rafael Fajardo, an ally of Obe’s, said, “Shame on you, Mr. Bollwage. The pictures speak for themselves. The people will know that you do not believe in freedom of speech. We will let the world know that Mayor Bollwage is part of a political machine that wants to stay in power to continue enriching themselves at the expense of the taxpayers.”
Lesniak looked at the picture of Bollwage walking along the sidewalk.
“Looks like trash to me,” he said of the wad of papers in the mayor’s hand.
It went from there.
