Don't piss on me!

(To preface this story, Steven Lipski is a Jersey City councilman who was recently arrested for urinating off the balcony of a nightclub and onto a crowd during a Dark Star Orchestra concert. Also for the record, Dark Star Orchestra is a Grateful Dead cover band and councilman Lipski is a huge fan. To read the full story click here. Or to read my earlier blog about the incident click here)

Jersey City councilman Steven Lipski is the story that keeps on giving. Everyday I walk into the office, there seems to be another tip in for Lipski, some other strange detail leaking out. The scandal has been spread wide throughout the news, as Jersey City laughs. I suppose I pitied the man at first. It's not like he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the people, or is part of a long list of corrupted officials in Jersey. But then he brought kids into it.

Following up on his story, writer Charles Hack and I traveled back to Lipski's C.R.E.A.T.E. Charter School where he works as the executive director. Driving over I asked Charles if he thought it was fair how the media crucified him before he even made a public statement. We ate up every detail and splashed them across the front pages before Lipski came out. Charles agreed with me, but we still thought of several new peeing puns on the way over. And besides this interview now was suppose to be Lipski's chance to tell his side of the story.

Outside the front of the school, Lipski waited for us at the steps. He greeted us warmly and with a firm, political handshake. "So what do you need? What you want to do?" Lipski asks.

"Wherever you'd be comfortable talking, perhaps your office," Charles suggests. "Unless you want to take a picture first?"

"Hang on a sec then-- let me go get the students," Lipski says, and than turns to go into the school.

"The kids?" I ask Charles. Suddenly about two dozen high school students come pouring out the school's front door. They are holding a sign that reads, "C.R.E.A.T.E. supports Lipksi!" and they swarm around my camera. "Is this going to be in the paper?" they ask, trying to squeeze into my view.

I knew that this was the picture Lipski wanted to run, him with his kids behind him. To say the least, I was not comfortable in the situation. I felt like this was exploitative of the high schoolers, so I addressed them.

"If you are in this picture, you are showing support for Mr. Lipksi during the current scandal he is involved in. If you are uncomfortable or do not wish to directly support him, please go ahead and get out of the picture," I try yell over their chatter.

The only response was, "Yeah, but this is going to be in the paper right?"

I moved them into the back of the frame, into a shadow and lowered my aperture so they would hopefully be blurred out of most the photo. Lipksi stood in the foreground and (without instruction) raised his knee on the steps of his school, like a conqueror standing on his land.

The whole ordeal was so ridiculous, I seriously considered not turning in the photos. When we got back to the office, I continued to question whether or not to submit them and eventually decided to turn them in after talking with my editors. In fact, they loved that I took the photo and ran it on the front page.

Click here to view the full photo online.

(These are the Lipski covers: The first is an old archived photo of Lipski, the second I took as the scandal broke, and the third is from this incident at C.R.E.A.T.E).
About a week later, I met Lipski at a housing authority meeting. Before the meeting began, he motioned for me to come over to a corner to talk, leaning in so close I could feel his breath.

"I wanted to thank you and that writer for the story. I thought it was real fair and balanced," Lipski says in a half whisper. "But what was up with that editorial?"

After my photo ran, we put out an editorial labeled, "Sad: Lipski's use of pupils as props." My editors agreed over the photo's absurdity, thus spurring the editorial. And I agreed fully with it's content; Lipski should not have dragged students into a personal affair. Lipski continued breathing out his point to me.

"That whole editorial was absurd! You know, that you pulled those kids out from the gym for the photo--" Lipski says as he touches my forearm.

I look up, and than down into the much shorter politicians eyes. I pull my arm away to point my index finger back at his chest. "No. You were the one that brought those kids out for the photo."

"Yeah, yeah, but you knew what you were doing and set me up," Lipski says.

"No," I say, feeling the blood suddenly rush from heart through my neck. "I did not ask those students to wait after school for the photo. I did not ask those students to come outside into the photo. And definitely did not instruct those kids to make a poster for the photo. You brought them from inside the school and asked them to line up for a photo."

"But you didn't have to run the photo," Lipski says. The tension of my integrity attacked subsides a moment, as I ask myself the same question. Was it right to run the photo? Was it truthful of his character? Was it telling and correct?

The portrait was shot quickly and without much thought for the technical side. But I did consider whether or not to take the photo, as I shot it. This was my reasoning--

The students pictured were legally allowed to be photographed. We had permission from the school's director, who also clearly organized them to be a in the photo. Lipski understood this interview and photo were his chance to tell his side of the story. The writer Charles Hack clearly explained why we wanted to interview and photograph the councilman. Lipski also showed an understanding by having a prepared statement, and also by asking the students to wait after school for the photo. There is no other way the students could have known of us coming without him telling them. The prepared poster is evidence enough.

"So let's just agree to disagree," Lipksi says to me, after sputtering a few more remarks about how he doesn't blame me and actually likes me.

"No," I say, picking up my camera to set up for the current assignment. "You were in the wrong."

List of full stories mentioned:
"Sad: Lipski's use of pupils as props," by the Jersey Journal editorial board.
"Cops arrest Jersey City councilman for urinating on concert goers," by Charles Hack
"Jersey City stands by councilman accused of urinating on concert goers," by Russell Ben-Ali