JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – As the 2025 township council election heats up, a war of words against the local government and members of the public has escalated in recent days online by an anonymous agitator who until today, operated from the shadows. On Monday, that anonymous user slipped up, posting a screenshot taken from his real Facebook identity, Chris Walther.
Walther it turns out, is the campaign manager for former New York City superhero cosplaying vigilante Chris Pollak, also known as “The Dark Guardian”. Walther posted a photo of his campaign’s opponent under the anonymous pseudonym. After realizing he exposed his personal profile in an anonymous political post, Walther quickly deleted the post, but not before a resident saved it.
The anonymous post that exposed Ricky Bobby
That post was made under a fake profile named “RickyBobbyShake and Bake9478,” which clearly showed Walther’s profile in the cellphone screenshot. After realizing his mistake, Walther quickly deleted the post, and that account has since been deleted or locked by Walther.
Walther is now also suspected of running other anonymous accounts and facebook pages meant to sow division in the community.
In the post, Walther was visibly upset over Pollak’s opponent, Al Couceiro, exposing the former street superhero’s strong ties to Jackson Mayor Michael Reina, whose team is now admittedly closely advising Pollak’s campaign and providing them with opposition research and false, defaming information about Pollak’s political opponents.
Reina and Pollak
It is widely believed that Reina pushed Pollak to run for office since the two men share a mutual enemy, Jackson Council President Jennifer Kuhn. Kuhn got into Reina’s crosshairs after she blocked a 1,200 unit high density apartment complex proposed by Reina’s close ally, developer Vito Cardinale. Since that ordinance was introduced, Pollak emerged, defaming Kuhn at every opportunity, guided by the mayor.
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Kuhn then blocked another high density project by another Reina ally, Randy Johnson, who is now suing the township after a recent ordinance affected his bottom line for the project.
In recent weeks, Facebook groups in Jackson have been flooded with personal attacks from anonymous users. Most of those anonymous users have been traced back to Pollak and his team. Pollak has been banned from Facebook over multiple violations of Meta’s community standards, according to the social media giant.
Pollak’s ties to Mayor Michael Reina
“My opponent is supported by Mayor Mike Reina and his team and was asked to run by Mike Reina,” Couceiro said. “I am running because I love my town. If you want to say no to Mike Reina, then vote for Al Couceiro.”
Couceiro confronted Reina this weekend over the false rumors the mayor has been spreading in town about him, to which the mayor denied, even though he has spread the rumors to many people, including a pitch last month to Shore News Network to defame Couceiro.
Coucerio did not kiss the ring and he could pay dearly for it
After researching Reina’s alleged ‘rumors’ against Couceiro, the mayor was unable to provide any factual evidence of the rumors he was spreading. Reina took it personally when Couceiro did not include him in his decision-making process to run for office. Feeling slighted, Reina and his team began advising Pollak on political strategy. Couceiro immediately entered Reina’s line of fire for not kissing Reina’s ring or asking him for his blessing to run for office.
Moments after deleting the exposed anonymous post, Pollak took to TikTok to create a video whining that his opponent is “attacking him”, saying that he is a victim, although his campaign team and the Reina team have been anonymously attacking anyone and everyone on Facebook who does not support Pollak.
Pollak feels that Coucerio exposing his ties to the currenty mayor was an ‘attack’, when in reality, it was the truth, confirmed by Shore News Network by the mayor and his associates directly.
Who is RickyBobbyShakeandBake9478?
Walther, last month, was confronted by township code enforcement over his alleged operation of an illegal gunsmithing shop in his home. Walther says he hopes to one day open a legitimate gunsmithing shop in Jackson, but has publicly blamed township officials for the hurdles faced when opening a gun shop in the state of New Jersey. Instead, Walther posted on Facebook, bragging that he runs his illegal gunsmithing shop out of the garage of his Jackson home, leading investigators from the township and state to take notice.
Under state and federal law, anyone who works on, or modifies guns for others must possess a legitimate Federal Firearms License, and operate a legitimate gun shop to operate legally.
Couceiro, a lifelong volunteer firefighter who served at Ground Zero after 9/11, is also the head of the Jackson Volunteer First Aid Squad and has been running on a positive platform of saving Jackson from overdevelopment and stopping the status quo in local government. The two campaigns are in stark contrast.
Who is the Dark Guardian?
Pollak’s campaign involves attacking anyone and everyone in government, outlandish conspiracy theories, and slandering anyone who disagrees with him, including members of the public and sitting councilmembers. He has not publicly criticized Reina.
Pollak also has a troubled backstory that begins with him masquerading in New York City as a superhero vigilante for over 17 years. During his time dressing up as a batman-like costumed figure, armed with fart spray and a ballistic vest, he has made some outlandish statements.
Earlier this year, in two interviews published to YouTube, Pollak mocked people’s ‘fake outrage’ of the Holocaust and said he wanted to fight the Pope. He founded the Staten Island chapter of the Guardian Angels after three of his superhero groups fell apart, but that didn’t last long. Shortly after the Guardian Angels’ Staten Island chapter was founded, it was quickly disbanded.
Curtis Sliwa, head of the Guardian Angels who is also running for office in New York City declined comment publicly on Pollak’s status as a Guardian Angel and his outlandish remarks made about the Holocaust and the Pope.
Note: Shore News Network will continue to exercise its First Amendment right to Free Speech and will not be intimitated, extorted, or threatened by Chris Pollak , his army of anonymous Facebook users, or laid off former Asbury Park opinion editor Randy Bergmann. The company’s contract with Jackson Township does not infer that we must cede our rights to free speech, which is a very LEFTIST approach being taken by Pollak and Bergmann. No matter how many crazy cat ladies they convince to speak at town meetings, we will be committed to the truth and will not have the local government, or local politicians deter us from our mission which has remained stedfast for 15 years. To expose the frauds in local government. There’s a reason Randy Bergmann went from Gannett to the unemployment line to Facebook blogger and hasn’t been picked up by another major media outlet since his dismissal.