Jackson, NJ—A grant from Jackson’s Clean Communities program helped a local organization clear hundreds of trash bags of litter from the city’s roadways this weekend.
New Jersey Clean Communities is a statewide program that promotes volunteer cleanup of public lands.
This week, dozens of local groups hit the highways with trash bags and began cleaning the streets.
Each year, the township hosts these public cleanups and reimburses organizations and community groups $500 per mile of road cleaned. That funding comes from the NJ DEP’s New Jersey Clean Communities grant.
This year, approximately 30 groups, directed by Jackson DPW under Shawn Bolinksy hit the roads and cleaned up over 200 bags of trash. That doesn’t include the tires or wood pallets discarded along the roadside, which were also collected.
Jackson Council President Jennifer Kuhn worked alongside the Jackson Thunder Travel Little League to clean up Grawtown Road.
“This is a great way for the community to pitch in and help keep our roadways clean,” Councilwoman Kuhn said. I want to thank all of the organizations that came out to pitch in today.”
The Clean Communities Program was organized under Mayor Michael Reina’s administration. It was previously managed by Patricia Wood, who grew the program over the years before her passing in 2021.
- Mikie Sherrill paid $200,000 to daughter of Trump hating New York Judge Juan Merchan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A political consulting firm led by the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, the New York judge who presided over President Donald Trump’s historic 2024 criminal trial, has received more than $200,000 from Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s reelection campaign this cycle, according to federal campaign finance records.
His daughter’s firm is connected to an ongoing investigation by House Judiciary Committee Republicans, who argue that Judge Merchan’s impartiality has been compromised by his daughter’s deep ties to Democratic campaigns and that she has information to prove that her father’s crusade against Trump was motivated by money and politics, not justice.
The firm in question, Authentic Campaigns, Inc., a Chicago-based progressive digital consulting and strategy company, is run by Loren (Lauren) Merchan, who serves as its president. Authentic Campaigns specializes in digital persuasion, fundraising strategies, and social media operations for Democratic candidates and organizations nationwide. Since its founding, the firm has built a reputation as one of the most influential players in left-leaning political consulting, working with clients ranging from congressional campaigns to presidential candidates.
“Since 2019, you have been closely involved in presidential campaigns for both President Biden and Vice President Harris. In 2019, you served as the director of digital persuasion for then-presidential candidate Harris’s campaign while simultaneously serving as Vice President at Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm,” the committee stated in a letter to Ms. Merchan requesting cooperation with the investigation. “During your time working on behalf of Vice President Harris, Authentic Campaigns received over $7 million in compensation for its services. According to your now-deleted LinkedIn, after Vice President Harris dropped out of the Democrat primary, you were promoted to President of Authentic Campaigns.”
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan rose to national prominence in 2024 when he oversaw Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial, which ended with Trump’s conviction on multiple counts of falsifying business records. It marked the first time in American history that a former president was criminally convicted. Judge Merchan also held Trump in contempt of court during the proceedings, cementing his role as a pivotal figure in one of the most high-profile trials of the modern era.
Throughout the trial, Trump repeatedly criticized Merchan, alleging bias and citing his daughter’s work with Democratic political operations. While Merchan did not recuse himself, he faced scrutiny from conservative lawmakers who claimed his daughter’s professional and financial connections raised significant conflict-of-interest concerns.
That case has been “indefinitely postponed” since last November.
Authentic Campaigns and Democratic ties
Loren Merchan’s Authentic Campaigns has amassed an extensive portfolio of Democratic clients. Records show the firm previously worked on the Kamala Harris 2020 presidential campaign, where Loren Merchan served as director of digital persuasion before Harris dropped out of the Democratic primary. The firm later became heavily involved in the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign, handling digital paid media, social media management, and even experimental artificial intelligence-driven outreach to undecided voters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to its presidential-level work, Authentic Campaigns has partnered with Senate Majority PAC and Rep. Adam Schiff’s campaign for U.S. Senate in California, among others. Both of those clients reportedly raised tens of millions of dollars in donations referencing Trump’s indictment during fundraising appeals following the April 2023 charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Republican lawmakers have cited those fundraising surges as evidence that Authentic Campaigns, and by extension Loren Merchan, financially benefited from the very prosecution overseen by her father. According to House Judiciary Committee testimony from legal experts in 2024, even the appearance of such a conflict of interest should have warranted Judge Merchan’s recusal.
Sherrill’s payments to the firm
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat representing New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, has paid Authentic Campaigns more than $200,000 during the current election cycle for digital consulting and related services, filings show. Sherrill, a Navy veteran and former federal prosecutor, first won her seat in 2018 by flipping a longtime Republican stronghold. Since then, she has established herself as one of the Democratic Party’s key figures in competitive suburban districts.
The payments to Authentic Campaigns demonstrate the firm’s continued role as a go-to consultant for prominent Democratic campaigns. While such payments are standard within the political consulting world, the connection has drawn attention because of the Judiciary Committee’s broader investigation into what it calls “politically motivated prosecutions” of Trump.
In light of Mikie Sherrill’s U.S. Naval Academy cheating scandal, conservative media personality and close ally to Trump called out Sherrill on X.
“You’re just mad you got caught. @RepSherrill @MikieSherrill PS: who are you to say you’re against so called “weaponized government”? Your political consultant is Loren Merchan, the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who you have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to. Loren is the head of Authentic Campaigns @Authentic_HQ . Why have you sent so much money to the personal home address of Judge Merchan’s daughter? You were paying her during Trump’s trial as well, which her father was overseeing when he was trying to throw President Trump in prison. You love weaponized government. Here’s the receipts in case you forgot,” Loomer said.
Congressional scrutiny
The House Judiciary Committee, led by Republicans, has launched multiple oversight efforts into the Manhattan District Attorney’s case against Trump. Those efforts have included sharp criticism of Judge Merchan’s decision not to recuse himself, citing both his daughter’s work and his own past political contributions to Democratic causes.
In an August 2024 letter addressed to Loren Merchan, Judiciary Committee members requested records related to Authentic Campaigns’ fundraising activities and client work, arguing that her professional role created “at minimum, the perception of a conflict” in her father’s courtroom. The committee cited expert testimony, including from former judges, that questioned how the Judicial Ethics Committee could ignore potential financial benefits tied to Trump’s trial.
The letter also detailed Authentic Campaigns’ extensive past work for Vice President Harris and the Biden campaign, pointing to millions of dollars in compensation the firm received for services ranging from digital advertising to messaging strategy.
Key Points
- Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s campaign has paid over $200,000 this cycle to Authentic Campaigns, led by Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter Loren.
- Judge Merchan presided over Trump’s 2024 Manhattan hush money trial, drawing criticism from Trump and GOP lawmakers.
- The House Judiciary Committee is investigating possible conflicts of interest, citing fundraising benefits Democratic groups received during Trump’s prosecution.
The courtroom and campaign trail are colliding once more, placing both Judge Merchan and his daughter squarely in the political crossfire.
- Activist with ties to radical leftist group running for office in Republican stronghold of Jackson
JACKSON, NJ – Small business owner, Chris Pollak, a karate instructor and owner of Hybrid Combat Karate school in Jackson Township, has announced he is running for town council in one of the “Trumpiest” towns in New Jersey.
Now, questions are being raised about his activist past after his ties to a radical anti-fascist group based in his hometown of New York City surfaced this week.
Pollak, a former member of several New York City superhero-themed street vigilante groups such as Real Life Superheroes, Ronin, and the New York City initiative, is also tied to the radical far-left anti-fascist group “Fags Fight Back”.
Fags Fight Back – Anti Trump / Anti-Fascist propaganda – Facebook 2025 While a member of the New York Initiative superhero vigilante group, Pollak and his sidekicks formed a long-lasting alliance with Fags Fight Back, even marching in solidarity with them in the annual New York City Pride Parade. The New York City Initiative this week confirmed Pollak’s status in the organization, which to this day, remains united with Fags Fight Back.
The group, which formed to defend homosexual New Yorkers from discrimination aggressively, quickly evolved into an anti-fascist, anti-Donald Trump, and anti-conservative political mouthpiece.
It’s a far cry from the sleepy, predominantly conservative community of Jackson Township.
Jackson Township has been named one of the top 5 “Trumpiest” towns in New Jersey after winning a vast majority of votes in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections.
@shorenewsnetwork7 Chris Pollak for Jackson marches with anyi-fascist gay rights group in NYC Pride parade. @chrispollak02 ♬ Gangsta’s Paradise (feat. L.V.) – Coolio Above: Video posted by Fags Fight Back, with Jackson council candidate Christopher Pollak marching, swinging a bat in the air at the NYC pride parade.
Now Pollak, a former urban street activist turned small business owner is hoping he can sway the majority Republican town to vote for him in November.
Pollak’s campaign is using far-left radical propaganda to create tension and anger in the community of 65,000 that includes a large growing Orthodox Jewish population.
He has been pitting neighbors against neighbors in order to divide the town, creating an enemies list to ‘fight’ against.
His opponent, Al Couceiro, a Republican, said there’s no reason for the town to be divided and pitted against each other.
Fags Fight Back – Facebook “We are all fighting the same enemies, Trenton, and the Trenton legislature that has caused the problems in Jackson,” Couceiro said. “Our enemy is not our neighbor. We need to unite as a town if we wish to solve our problems.”
Couceiro said he is supporting Republican candidate for governor Jack Ciattarelli, and if they both win in November, they will fix the problem at the source, Trenton, together, with the town council, mayor and the residents of Jackson.
Fags Fight Back – Facebook – Christopher Pollak, a candidate for Jackson Council marching with the far-left group at the New York City Pride Parade. “Affordable housing mandates, cuts to school funding, housing shortages, illegal multi-family rentals…these are the problems the entire state is facing under eight years of Governor Phil Murphy,” Couceiro said. “Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve the problems that are changing Jackson from the town I grew up and am raising my children in.”
Pollak, on the other hand, has just recently moved to town and has not publicly endorsed a candidate for Governor in the New Jersey race, and continues to bash local elected officials for mandates being forced upon the township by Phil Murphy, the Democrat legislature, and the Department of Justice.
As for Pollak’s ties to Fags Fight Back, he has not commented on the matter.
We will continue our indepth look into both candidates running for council in Jackson, Stay tuned! Up next, Chris Pollak’s sordid past from a fallen Guardian Angel to his public apology for falsely accusing an innocent book author of being a pedophile and the real reason why Pollak left several superhero groups and the Guardian Angels on bad terms. Also, why all of his accounts were banned from Facebook. He blames the township council, but his former superhero mates told Shore News Network the real story of posts filled with hate, anger, antisemitism, false attacks, and threats, going back at least 10 years.