Jay Webber
(Republican Co-Chair) |
|
John S. Wisniewski
(Democratic Co-Chair) |
 |
|
 |
Jay Webber is Chairman of the
Republican Delegation to the New Jersey Apportionment
Commission. He is serving his second term in the General
Assembly and represents the residents of the State's 26th
Legislative District, which includes parts of Morris and
Passaic Counties. He serves on the Assembly's Budget and
Labor Committees.
From 2009 to 2011, Assemblyman Webber served as Chairman of
the Republican State Committee, where he led the NJGOP to
its first statewide victory in 12 years.
TIME Magazine named Jay Webber as one of the nation's 40
Under 40 Rising Stars of U.S. Politics, described by TIME as
"a new generation of civic leaders . . . already at work
trying to fix a broken system — and restore faith in the
process."
He is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and Harvard
Law School and practices with The Law Firm of Jay Webber in
Morristown. He and his wife Johanna live with their five
children in Morris Plains.
|
|
John Wisniewski is Chairman of the Delegation for New
Jersey Democrats on the Apportionment Commission. He has
served as Assemblyman representing the 19th Legislative
District in Middlesex County since his election in 1996. He
serves as Deputy Speaker, Chair of the Transportation,
Public Works & Independent Authorities Committee and as a
member of the Appropriations Committee & the Financial
Institution & Insurance Committee.
He has sponsored legislation to expand safety inspections of
school buses, overhaul the Division of Motor Vehicles,
improve the safety of teenage drivers, and strengthen fire
safety in college dormitories.
Since his election in 2010 as Chairman of the New Jersey
Democratic State Committee, he oversaw victories in
Legislative special elections across the state including
helping the Democrats take the 14th District Senate Seat for
the first time in twenty years.
He also continues to serve as Chairman of the New Jersey
Fire Safety Commission, a position he has held for ten
years. He graduated from Rutgers University and Seton Hall
University School of Law. Mr. Wisniewski is the owner and
managing partner of the law firm of Wisniewski and
Associates, L.L.C. He and his wife, Deborah, have three
daughters, Emily, Sarah and Rachel.
|
Irene Kim Asbury
(Republican Vice Co-Chair) |
|
Nilsa Cruz-Perez
(Democratic Vice Co-Chair) |
 |
|
 |
Irene Kim Asbury has lived in New Jersey since 1976.
In addition to her solo
law practice,
she is an active member of the Asian-Pacific American Lawyers Association of
New Jersey, the
Hudson County Bar Association, and serves as a court-appointed mediator
in Hudson and Passaic
Counties.
Irene has also volunteered her time as a pro bono
attorney with the Mississippi
Center for Justice and the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers' Project on the
Gulf Coast, representing
low-income Hurricane Katrina victims who cannot obtain housing, federal
and state disaster assistance,
financial counseling, or health care. She also serves on the Hudson
Vicinage Advisory Committee on
Minority Concerns as the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Minority
Access to the Courts and the
Hudson Vicinage Law Day Committee.
She graduated from the
Johns Hopkins University with a
Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and received her Juris Doctorate
from the Seton Hall
University School of Law.
|
|
Democrat Nilsa I. Cruz-Perez was first
sworn into the New Jersey General Assembly on February 27,
1995, filling the unexpired term of Wayne Bryant, who
resigned to fill a vacancy in the New Jersey Senate. Ms.
Cruz-Perez was elected to her first full term on November 7,
1995. The first Hispanic woman to serve in New Jersey's
Legislature, she chose not to seek election to an eighth
term on March 17, 2009.
Ms. Cruz-Perez was born in Puerto Rico in 1961. She attended
the University of Puerto Rico and was a paid staff member of
Partido Popular Democratico, the Democratic Popular Party of
Puerto Rico.
In 1981, Ms. Cruz-Perez joined the U.S. Army. During her
military service, she pursued her education at the U.S.
Quartermaster School, Big Bend Community College and Temple
University's overseas division.
During her time in the Legislature, Ms. Cruz-Perez sponsored
bills to create a pilot program to allow corporations to
contribute to a scholarship program for urban youth, to
provide for increased allowances paid to certain disabled
veterans and to allow for exemptions from the tree-day
cancellation provision of home improvement contracts in
cases of bona fide emergencies. She also sponsored
legislation that regulates warranties, extended warranties
and service contracts for electronics, prohibits the sale of
tobacco products in vending machines and requires motor
vehicles window tinting retailers to inform customers of
state restrictions.
Ms. Cruz-Perez has three children: Luis, Angel and Linette.
|
Joseph Cryan (Democrat) |
|
 |
|
Democrat Joseph Cryan, of Union Township, was first
elected to the New Jersey General Assembly on November 6,
2001. He was sworn-in as Assembly Majority Leader on January
12, 2010.
Born September 1, 1961, Mr. Cryan received his Bachelor of
Arts in business administration from Belmont Abbey College
in North Carolina. He is an undersheriff with the Union
County Sheriff's Office.
Mr. Cryan has two children: Meghan and John
Mr. Cryan represents the 20th Legislative District, which
includes the Union County municipalities of Elizabeth,
Kenilworth, Roselle, and Union Township.
|
George Gilmore (Republican) |
|
 |
|
George R. Gilmore is a native of Ocean County. Mr. Gilmore
graduated from Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, New Jersey.
He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from West Virginia University with a B.A.
in political science and received his J.D. from Rutger’s School of Law, Camden.
Admitted to the bar in 1975, Mr. Gilmore began his law career in Ocean County as a
Law Clerk to the Hon. Henry J. Wiley, J.S.C. Upon completion of his judicial clerkship,
he became a sole practitioner and then an associate in the law firm of Hiering, Grasso,
Gelzer and Kelaher. In 1981 he formed a new law firm, Gilmore and Monahan, P.A.
A partner in Gilmore & Monahan, P.A., he has developed a strong practice in the representation of public
entities. His firm also serves as General Counsel for the South Jersey Transportation Authority.
Mr. Gilmore was New Jersey Chairman of the Giuliani for President campaign in 2008 and is currently
New Jersey State Chair of GOPAC, on which he also serves as a member of the National Board of Directors.
For the past 16 years, Mr. Gilmore has served as Chairman of the Ocean County Board of Elections.
He has served as Chairman of the Ocean County Republican Committee since 1996 and was Chairman of the
New Jersey Republican Chairman’s Association from 1998-2006. Mr. Gilmore has served as Legal Counsel
to the Republican State Committee, Legal Counsel to the Republican State Senate, Legal Counsel to the
Republican Members of the Apportionment Commission, Chairman of the Congressional Apportionment Commission
in 2001 and as Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association Election Law Committee.
Mr. Gilmore was appointed by Governor Christie to serve on his Transition Committee and he served as
Chair of the Agricultural Transition Subcommittee.
The proud father of five, he lives in Toms River with his wife Joanne and their two children.
|
Sheila Y. Oliver (Democrat) |
|
 |
|
Sheila Y. Oliver took the oath of office as New Jersey's 169th
Assembly Speaker on Jan. 12, 2010. Speaker Oliver is the first African-American woman
to lead a legislative house in New Jersey. She is also, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures, just the second African-American woman in
American history to lead a legislative house, following Karen R. Bass of California.
Speaker Oliver, who presides over the 214th Assembly, was first elected to the Assembly in 2003, and
re-elected in 2005, 2007 and 2009. In the 2008-09 Legislative Session, she served as Deputy Speaker Pro
Tempore, chaired the Human Services Committee, and served on the Higher Education and Labor committees.
She served as Assistant Majority Leader in the 2006-07 Legislative Session.
She represents the 34th Legislative District, which includes Clifton, the City of East Orange, Glen Ridge
Borough, Montclair, and West Paterson.
She co-sponsored the law creating the Department of Children and Families, and sponsored legislation signed
into law that requires that the Department of Human Services report physical assaults and deaths at state
psychiatric hospitals on its website and report deaths to the Public Advocate.
She has also sponsored legislation creating paid family leave, amending the state's wrongful
death law, providing specialized social services and medical treatment for persons in the criminal
justice system with mental health issues, and providing low-cost auto insurance for individuals with
low incomes.
Speaker Oliver was born in Newark in 1952. She graduated cum laude in 1974, with a Bachelor's degree in
sociology from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She earned a Master of Science degree in community
organization, planning and administration from Columbia University in 1976.
For much of her career, Speaker Oliver has been a non-profit administrator, specializing in program
development, grantsmanship and training. She is a former faculty member of several colleges and universities,
and taught a course in non-profit management at the Rutgers Graduate School of Business Administration
in Newark.
She is an assistant Essex County administrator, and previously served as director of the Essex County
Department of Citizen Services and the Department of Economic Development Training and Employment.
Prior to joining the New Jersey Legislature, she served as an Essex County freeholder from 1996 to 1999,
and as past president of the East Orange Board of Education for seven years. In 1997, she ran for mayor of
East Orange, losing by 51 votes.
Speaker Oliver has served on a number of civic boards and commissions and remains an active volunteer.
|
Kevin O'Toole (Republican) |
|
 |
|
Mr. O'Toole was elected to the General Assembly in 1995,
1997, 1999 and 2001 and served in the State Senate from May 2001 to January 2002.
He was re-elected to the Senate for a full term on November 6, 2007.
Born in Cedar Grove on October 5, 1964, Mr. O'Toole attended Cedar Grove High School and earned
his bachelor's degree in political science and public administration in 1986 and his juris doctorate
in 1989 from Seton Hall University. He passed the bar exam in 1989 and served a clerkship in the office
of the state attorney general.
Mr. O'Toole served a college internship in the office of former Congressman Joseph Minish; as a
legislative aide to Assemblyman John V. Kelly; Chairman of the Essex County Republican Committee and
serves on the Ramapo College Board of Governors.
Senator O'Toole also served on the Cedar Grove Town Council from 1989 to 1996 and as Mayor in
1990, 1993 and 1995.
During his legislative career, Senator O'Toole has sponsored laws to reform welfare, established
the New Jersey Better Educational Savings Trust, strengthened our state's domestic violence statutes,
increased penalties on businesses and individuals who engage in discrimination, preserved our state's
drinking water supply through the preservation of Sterling Forest, mandating insurance coverage for mammograms
and for those being treated for breast and cervical cancer, instituted the New Jersey Prepaid College Education
Expense Program, which allows parents to start education savings accounts that allow parents to pay for their
child's college education at today's prices, sponsored legislation to ban Pay to Play
which would prohibit campaign contributions from vendors who have government contracts, allowing for public
participation during meetings of municipal governing bodies and continued funding of full-day kindergarten
programs in the Abbott school districts.
Mr. O'Toole and his wife Bethany have two children, Kevin Jr. and Ryan Marie. |
Bill Palatucci (Republican) |
|
 |
|
Mr. Palatucci is Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Public Affairs at Community Education
Centers, Inc., America's leading provider of reentry services for offenders and currently operating
in 18 states. He had previously represented CEC for more than fifteen years as outside counsel and
lobbyist. Prior to joining CEC, Mr. Palatucci was a partner in the law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci,
P.C., founding and heading the firm's government affairs department. Mr. Palatucci is a graduate of Seton
Hall University School of Law and received his BA in business administration from Rutgers College. He also
completed the Eagleton Institute of Politics undergraduate program while obtaining his BA degree.
Mr. Palatucci is the Republican National Committeeman from New Jersey and served as Co-Chair of the
Inaugural Committee for Governor Chris Christie and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno in 2010. He has also
managed a number of successful statewide campaigns, including Governor Tom Kean's historic landslide
re-election victory in 1985. Following the 1985 campaign, he served as executive director of Governor
Kean's transition committee to his second term.
He is currently a member of the National Advisory Board for the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development
at Rutgers University, a member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Phoenix/Jersey City Campus,
and a member of the Board of Visitors at the Seton Hall University School of Law.
Mr. Palatucci lives in Westfield with his wife Laura, and they are the parents of three daughters.
|
Paul A. Sarlo (Democrat) |
|
 |
|
Senator Paul A. Sarlo was sworn into the New Jersey Senate
on May 19, 2003 following his selection by members of the 36th District Democratic
County Committee to fill an unexpired term. He was elected to a full term on November
4, 2003 and re-elected on November 6, 2007.
Senator Sarlo serves as Deputy Majority Leader and is chairman of the Budget & Appropriations Committee.
The Senator also sits on the Senate's Judiciary and Legislative Oversight committees.
Prior to his Senate service, Sen. Sarlo served in the General Assembly, having been elected in 2001.
The senator has been the mayor of the Borough of Wood-Ridge since January 2000 and served on the Borough
Council from 1995-2000.
As a legislator, Sen. Sarlo has been the prime sponsor of over 150 bills which have been signed into
law. He was a prime sponsor of legislation which reformed New Jersey's workers compensation system,
established the "Main Street Business Assistance Program," criminalized the illegal trafficking and
distribution of prescription drugs, required schools to adopt bullying prevention policies, and upgraded
penalties for identity theft. He also sponsored laws dealing with ethics reforms, energy efficiency,
environmental protection, homeland security and consumer protection.
Sen. Sarlo is a licensed Professional Engineer, licensed Professional Planner, and a certified Municipal
Engineer, holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
He and his wife, Concetta, are the parents of two sons, Anthony Joseph, born in 2000 and Michael Paul,
born in 2004.
The Senator represents the 36th Legislative District, which includes eleven municipalities in Bergen,
Essex and Passaic counties: Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Garfield, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington,
Nutley, Passaic, Rutherford, Wallington, and Wood-Ridge.
|