A man who used to don tights and a mask to walk the streets of New York City fighting drug dealers and gangbangers has reemerged in rural Jackson Township.
After suddenly going dark in his role as “The Dark Guardian” years ago, he has answered the bat-signal above Jackson Township.
Chris Pollack, previously of Staten Island, is more commonly known as The Dark Guardian, an adult male karate teacher who gave up his superhero cosplay and vigilante gig fighting New York’s drug dealers. prostitutes, gangbangers, peddlers, and other nefarious underbelly elements in the city, to move to suburbia.
And he’s not happy with what he found there.
Now he’s fighting a whole new set of perceived supervillains in one of New Jersey’s largest suburban communities: President Donald Trump, his donors, and local elected Republican officials.
And the Jews, of course, who now ‘control’ Jackson, according to the Dark Guardian.
Pollack, in a rant on his blog this week, blamed President Trump and members of the local Jewish Orthodox community for overdevelopment in Jackson Township.
“Trump won’t save Jackson, his donors [Jews] are the ones taking it over,” said Pollack, a lifelong activist who made the move from the big city to the suburbs a few years ago. “If you think help is coming from the top to save Jackson, you haven’t been paying attention.”
He blamed Trump megadonor and local philanthropist Richard Roberts and the local Jackson Republican Club President and Jackson Councilman Mordy Burnstein for orchestrating a Jewish takeover of the township.
Pollack was banned earlier this month from Facebook for inciting antisemitism, blaming the growing Orthodox Jewish community in Jackson for all of the town’s problems.
It’s the same dog whistle used by the previous Jackson Council and Democrats in Jackson, which led to the town being crushed in court by the Department of Justice and the Phil Murphy’s Office of the Attorney General.
Prior to coming to Jackson, Pollack, also known as the Dark Guardian used to patrol local city parks, according to a biography written by Amelia Pang.
“In the darkest hours of night, Chris Pollak roams the city for unscrupulous behavior. Wearing a bulletproof vest, and a belt that holds first aid, he shines his flashlight in the faces of gang members and drug dealers. “Hey!” he would shout in an authoritative voice. “This is a drug-free park,” Pang wrote. “For 12 years, he has voluntarily patrolled parks and crime-ridden neighborhoods. Pollak, 30, is a real-life superhero. He goes by “Dark Guardian.” And his life story somewhat resembles that of comic book superheroes, particularly Batman.”
Pollack’s inflamatory rhetoric is clear and he’s no longer confronting crackheads in the park. Now, he’s blogging about the jewish plight on his new hometown. From an apartment on the eastern side of Jackson, Pollack spews online conspiracy theories, blaming local Republican leaders for closing his neighborhood elementary school and a nearby middle school.
The Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School was closed by the Jackson School District two years and later sold, because the district is suffering from cutbacks made by Governor Phil Murphy’s administration. The board which is not Orthodox Jewish and a mix of Republicans and Democrats had no choice after years of cuts from the district.
McAulliffe Middle School was closed by a mostly Democrat school board in Jackson. No Orthodox Jews served on that board when the school was closed this year. The board was unanimous in its blame, Governor Phil Murphy and his flawed S2 funding formula.
But Pollack publicly blames Jewish leaders of orchestrating a ‘takeover’ of the town, even accusing former School Board President Giusseppe Palmeri, a Republican who has fiercely fought against Governor Murphy’s S2 funding formula, of being involved in the conspiracy.
Overdevelopment in Jackson has been a theme in the community fighting to keeps its rural charm for decades. Jackson is one of the last untouched resources in New Jersey. It’s a town where Republican leaders have fought vigorously against overdevelopment to the point where they were sued by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice and Phil Murphy’s Office of the Attorney General for ‘illegally’ blocking overdevelopment.
The council has done all it could. Over the years, Jackson has bought land from their open space fund to preserve thousands of acres from overdevelopment. It does not have the authority to stop overdevelopment. That lies with the local planning board, which is appointed by the Mayor.
The planning board is responsible for reviewing and approving all major development applications in the town.
Jackson Republicans lost both lawsuits and were forced to change their ordinances and zoning restrictions to allow more overdevelopment.
He claims Burnstein and Roberts are working “Trump’s ground game” in Jackson, saying, “While Roberts pulls strings on the national level, Burnstein works the ground game.”
Burnstein rose to power in Jackson through fair elections, according to reports on record with the Ocean County Election Board.
He was appointed to the Jackson Planning Board with the blessing of longtime Mayor Michael Reina and the all-Republican council. From there, he was elected by the members of the Jackson Republican Club to succeed longtime President Todd Porter, in an open club election. The majority of the club’s members are not Jewish.
Mayor Michael Reina then appointed him to fill a vacancy on the Jackson Council and in 2024, as an incumbent Republican, ran for re-election and defeated four other candidates to become an elected councilman. The Jackson Council, which consists of one Orthodox Jewish representative and four non-Orthodox Jewish members, elected Burnstein to be the council Vice President.
Pollack also blames Reina for the town’s problems and for appointing Burnstein.
Jackson’s longtime Mayor was “Bought”
“Reina was bought – A deal was struck. Money. Political favor. Influence. Something was put on the table that made selling out worth it,” he posted on his blog. “You don’t make a move like this unless something massive is on the table. Reina’s 180 wasn’t leadership—it was a mystery. A scandal. A warning.”
“Is Reina profiting from developments behind the scenes?” Pollack asked. “Was he offered a job? A deal? A path out of legal trouble?”
Pollack however says Burnstein bought his way into power, without the details of how that translated into an election victory in a town with just a few thousand Jewish families.
Burnstein credits his victory to his support of President Donald Trump in 2024, against candidates who appeared to be more liberal and not supporters of Trump. Burnstein and his runningmates Giuseppe Palmeri and incumbent Nino Borrelli won the election on a strong conservative platform in one of New Jersey’s most Trump-aligned communities.
“They didn’t win support. They bought their way in, flipped boards, and weaponized the system; all while claiming the Republican mantle and turning their backs on its principles,” Pollack writes. “Jackson belongs to us–Not them.”
It’s that sort of speech that got Pollack banned from Facebook earlier this month, according to Meta, “The only people who can save Jackson are the people who live here, who raise families here, pay taxes here, and believe that local government should serve us, not wealthy elites.”
Instead, Pollack and his new sidekicks in Jackson said, “The township council banned him from Facebook.”
It’s the latest conspiracy theory coming from the Dark Guardian.
While Jackson does have a problem with education and overdevelopment, the root cause of the problem can easily be traced back to Trenton, where Democrat Governor Phil Murphy and a Democrat controlled senate and assembly are forcing these conditions upon the town, not to President Trump or the Republican Party.
Jackson has been mandated to build hundreds and thousands of affordable low-income housing units under its affordable housing requirements. The town’s school district has also been defunded by Murphy’s S2 funding formula, but Pollack insists the problem is not Trenton Democrats, but Jackson Republicans, being led by a Trump megadonor, President Trump and the Orthodox Jewish community.
“If we don’t fight back, we’ll lose more than our town; we’ll lose our voice,” he said.
While the real answer to many of Jackson’s current problems lie in Trenton, Pollack remains focused on fighting Trump, local Republicans, and their Jewish donors.
