Bill Brennan has been an irritant to local officials for more than 20 years.
Bill Brennan has been an irritant to local officials for more than 20 years.
The activist and retired firefighter is in the middle of a fight to drag Gov. Chris Christie to court on an official misconduct charge, alleging that he knew about the Bridgegate scheme.
On Monday the Wayne resident announced that he would also aim to succeed Christie and join the elected officials he's been plaguing for most of his adult life by running for governor.
Here are five things you should know about the prospective gubernatorial candidate:
He started out as a firefighter
Brennan became a Teaneck firefighter in April 1993. Almost immediately, he became an agitator.
He loudly opposed township plans in 1994 to close two fire stations, posting signs, distributing leaflets and talking to the press, court documents say. Also that year, Brennan criticized Gary Saage, then the township manager, for ignoring the fire sub-code official's instructions about sprinklers in the police departments and for trying to hire a civilian, rather than a firefighter, to fill the position.
Brennan bought a newspaper advertisement, spoke out in council meetings and gave interviews to local news outlets criticizing Saage. The criticism sparked years of conflict between Brennan and his superiors, leading him to file various lawsuits against Teaneck and its government and fire officials.
Teaneck finally settled with Brennan in 2009, paying him and his attorneys more than $3 million.
Judge Roy McGeady questions William Brennan during a probable cause hearingon Oct. 13, 2016. McGeady ruled that a complaint by Brennan charging Gov. Chris Christie with official misconduct could move forward. (Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) He's got a Seton Hall University law degree
Brennan had retired from the Teaneck Fire Department and started law school by the time he got the settlement. That's partly why he felt confident bringing an official misconduct charge against Christie in October.
While police file most criminal complaints in New Jersey, private citizens can also file complaints in municipal court. That's what Brennan did in Fort Lee after David Wildstein, a former Christie appointee at the Port Authority who pleaded guilty to masterminding Bridgegate, testified that Christie knew about the scheme beforehand.
Judge Roy McGeady found probable cause to issue Christie a summons on the official misconduct charge. Brennan said the judge had no choice.
"Anything short of probable cause today would have been official misconduct on the part of the judge," he said at the time.
He once had a public-access TV show
Brennan's no stranger to the camera. He's given plenty of interviews since opening his legal battle with Christie and in the midst of his many previous conflicts.
In 2010, he began producing "New Jersey Civil Circus," a program on a Wayne Township public access TV channel managed by William Paterson University employees. Here's a sample:
The New Jersey Civil Circus - Episode 2 -NHRFR, Charlie Severino and Cosmo the Dog from New Jersey Civil Circus on Vimeo.
This too, ended in court. University employees refused to air an episode because Brennan used a crude slang for breasts.
Brennan sued Wayne Township and the university, contending that he wasn't using the word in a lewd way--only to criticize politicians who sucked money from the public. William Paterson and Wayne settled the suit for $75,000.
He's spent plenty of time in court
If you haven't figured it out yet, Brennan is fairly litigious. That's what Brian Murray, a spokesman for Christie, hinted at in his response to Brennan's complaint against the governor.
Murray called Brennan "a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system." Before his latest battle with Christie, Brennan was a frequent critic of John L. Molinelli, who served as Bergen County Prosecutor until January.
In a 2015 Freeholder meeting, Brennan accused Molinelli's office of failing to adequately prosecute Gangaram Ravi, a Teaneck dermatologist accused of sexually assaulting multiple female patients.
After that meeting, Molinelli said, "I regret that the Board of Chosen Freeholders was subjected to the continued antics of Mr. Brennan, who has a track record statewide for his belligerent conduct and abuse."
Brennan also sued Molinelli over his handling of an auction for seized baseball memorabilia, much of which turned out to be fake.
Steve Lonegan, former mayor of Bogota, once sued Brennan for publicly criticizing him. When the suit was dismissed, Brennan sued Lonegan for malicious prosecution.
Brennan is an agitator outside of court, too. A judge found him guilty of defiant trespass after he went over his allotted three minutes in a Teaneck township council meeting in 2000. Brennan appealed the conviction, for which he had to pay a fine.
Pictured, former Teaneck firefighter Bill Brennan plays a video of a woman who said she was a victim of a dermatologist who received two pre-trial interventions. Several individuals, including a mayor, retired police officer and retired cop, a lawyer and a man who said he was unjustly accused, all spoke out against Prosecutor John Mollinelli at the Bergen County Freeholder's Meeting in October, 2015. (Laura Herzog | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) He's running for governor as a Democrat?
Brennan describes himself as a lifelong Democrat, though he said he's more of a Bernie Sanders Democrat than an "establishment" Democrat. He's run for office before, unsuccessfully, for a council seat in Wayne and a seat on the State Assembly.
He said he wants to build on his years fighting waste, fraud and corruption in New Jersey, only this time from the top down. Brennan said Monday he has yet to appoint a treasurer, open a campaign account or get signatures for a petition, but that he would get there.
Brennan has bigger priorities at the moment.
"It's more important to me that a special prosecutor be appointed than I be elected governor," he said.
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.