Leonard Kaiser, former mayor of North Arlington, dies at 73

Leonard Kaiser, a 20-year mayor of North Arlington who abated catastrophe and evaded taxes, died Saturday, Sept. 11.

Services will be through Costa Memorial Home in Hasbrouck Heights.

The 73-year-old was born in Jersey City but considered himself a North Arlington native. The graduate of Queen of Peace High School entered local politics at an early age, embarking on his first successful campaign at 26.

Kaiser perhaps fought for his borough the hardest in 1989, when he lobbied for $2.2 million in federal funds to infill Colonial-era copper mines. The homes above them were sinking into the void. Kaiser and the borough received another $700,000 from federal and state coffers to close more than three dozen vertical mine shafts.

Former U.S. Rep. and Sen. Robert Torricelli coordinated with Kaiser to secure the funding.

"Lenny Kaiser was a model of civic leadership, who reached across the aisle to anyone to address the interests of his community," Torricelli said. "I couldn't speak more highly of him."

Kaiser won his first Borough Council race in 1974. His winning ticket, which flipped the governing body red, was led by his predecessor, then-Councilman turned Mayor Ernest Cerone.

Kaiser, who then smoked filterless Lucky Strikes, said bringing cable television to the borough was the first thing on his agenda, The Record reported.

"It was the people's choice, and they've been denied," he said, referring to the then-controlling Democrats' refusal to permit a cable franchise in town.

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Kaiser proved a solid backup to a faltering Cerone before taking on a leadership role in defiance of the one-term mayor during his 1977 reelection campaign, The Record reported. Then 29, Kaiser hinted at further political aspirations. He was active in youth programs at Queen of Peace R.C. Church and the Catholic Youth Organization. 

"He was the first guy to lend a hand," said Thom Ammirato, a North Jersey public relations agent who worked with Kaiser. "He couldn't say no to people who needed help. It didn't matter if you were a Republican or a Democrat."

In the years to come, Kaiser would add far more than cable to his agenda, such as fighting proposed high-rise development along Schuyler Avenue, supporting Meals on Wheels programs and paratransit bus service and developing a borough-financed visiting home health care program for seniors.

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He dropped plans to campaign for a third term in August 1980. By spring 1981, the borough's Republican Club chairman was back in the mix, The Record reported. He was reelected that fall.

One year later, in 1982, he ran for mayor.  

"There's been a lack of leadership," he told The Record.

Kaiser won that election. As mayor, he continued to fight development off Schuyler Avenue, with mixed results. He nonetheless led the town through a fire emergency in 1983, pursued the refurbishment of recreational areas, spurred a crackdown on drunken teens cruising Ridge Road and took a new role on the Bergen County Freeholder Board, now the Board of Commissioners, in 1985. 

In 1986, voters reelected him as both a freeholder and North Arlington mayor. However, one year later, a change in government forced another race on the county level. He bought radio ad time on "The Howard Stern Show" to build publicity, but a kickback scandal that August saw the FBI levy allegations against the husband of Kaiser's political aide and two municipal employees, The Record reported. His father, Harry, died the same month.

Kaiser later lost the 1987 election by a margin of 503 from more than 202,000 votes. Later that year, his job as an aide to Board of Public Utilities Commissioner Robert Guido seemed doomed.

"What do I have to be thankful for, other than the fact that I'm still breathing, sitting up and have a pulse," he told The Record at 39.

Still, the powerful county executive office created by the change of government beckoned. During the last week of 1987, Kaiser was named the executive's executive assistant. He held the position through 2002, when County Executive William "Pat" Schuber retired.

"What he did for us, serving as a liaison between county government, labor unions and municipalities, was important work," Schuber said. "The effort he put in that resulted in Bergen County having the first central Municipal Court in the state was immensely beneficial to the county."

In 2002, Kaiser lost the mayor's seat. He nonetheless gained the directorship at the Bergen County Utilities Authority, which he would hold until retiring in 2009.

In 2003, he accepted a governor's appointment to a seat on the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. The year would come to haunt him. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion after failing to declare $28,000 in income that year, The Record reported. It was campaign money that he and his wife, Barbara, admittedly diverted for personal use.

Kaiser, who died after a short illness, is survived by his wife, daughter Amy Coleman, stepchildren Michael Kraft and Cindy Smithlin, sister Catherine Quigley, three nephews and five grandchildren.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.