Bill Pascrell
William James Pascrell Jr.[1] /pæsˈkrɛl/ pass-KREL (born January 25, 1937) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 9th congressional district, having served in the House since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party and a native of Paterson, New Jersey, Pascrell represented New Jersey's 8th congressional district until 2013; due to the federally mandated redistricting after the 2010 United States census, which resulted in New Jersey losing a seat in the House, Pascrell's home city was placed in the 9th district, which he has represented since. Before his election to the House of Representatives, Pascrell served in the New Jersey General Assembly for four terms beginning in 1988, and was elected to two terms as mayor of Paterson.
Bill Pascrell
8th district (1997–2013)
9th district (2013–present)
Anna Dopirak
3
1958–1967
Early life, education, and academic career[edit]
The grandson of Italian immigrants, Pascrell was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Roffie J. (née Loffredo) and William James Pascrell (originally Pascrelli).[2] He attended St. George's Elementary School, and in 1955 graduated from St. John the Baptist High School, where he was elected student council president. He served in the United States Army and United States Army reserves. Pascrell attended Fordham University in New York City and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in philosophy.
Pascrell spent 12 years as a high school teacher in Paramus, New Jersey, teaching several subjects including psychology, before being hired as a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He was appointed to the Paterson Board of Education, and served as president of the board. He also served on Passaic County Community College's board of trustees.
Early political career[edit]
State Assembly[edit]
Pascrell first ran for elected office in 1987, when he ran for the New Jersey General Assembly seat being vacated by the retiring Vincent O. Pellecchia. He and incumbent Assemblyman John Girgenti retained the District 35 seats for the Democrats by defeating Republican nominees Martin Barnes, a Paterson city councilman, and Robert Angele, who worked in the city housing administration.[3] Pascrell received 34% of the vote, enough to earn him the seat.[4]
Pascrell and Girgenti were reelected in 1989 over Republicans Joaquin Calcines, Jr. and Jose Moore, with Pascrell polling at 36%.[5]
After District 35 State Senator Frank X. Graves Jr. died suddenly in 1990, Girgenti was appointed to serve in Graves's place and a special election was called to fill the Assembly seat alongside Pascrell. Hawthorne's Frank Catania, a Republican, defeated Cyril Yannarelli, whom the Democrats had appointed to the seat, in the special election that November.
In 1991, Pascrell and Eli Burgos ran for the Assembly on the Democratic ticket. The Republican ticket saw a returning Barnes look to take Pascrell's seat alongside Catania and shift the district to the GOP. In a tight race, the incumbents retained their seats with Pascrell as the leading vote-getter, with 29%.[6]
In 1993, Pascrell and Reverend Alfred E. Steele of Paterson attempted to put Democrats in full control of District 35 again while Catania ran with Paterson's Harvey Nutter to try to win the seats for the Republicans. Once again, the incumbents won, with Pascrell as the leading vote-getter, at 31%. Catania had a tighter race with Steele.[7]
Pascrell and Steele broke through as a pair and won control of the Assembly seats for the Democrats in 1995. Facing Donald Hayden, who was appointed to the seat after Catania was selected to serve in a state administrative position, and Dennis Gonzalez in the general election, both emerged with significant victories and Pascrell once again topped out at 33%.[8][9] He eventually became Minority Leader Pro Tempore.
Pascrell resigned from the General Assembly in January 1997 in order to take his seat in the House of Representatives; his replacement was Nellie Pou.
Mayor of Paterson[edit]
While serving in the state legislature, Pascrell stayed active in city politics. It was the death of one of his legislative colleagues that set him on a new course in 1990.
As mentioned earlier, Frank Graves passed away on March 5, 1990. In addition to his role as State Senator from the 35th District, Graves was also serving as the Mayor of Paterson. Having already served two terms as mayor in the 1960s, Graves ran for and won a third term in 1982 and had been re-elected in 1986; he had planned on running for another term when he suffered his fatal heart attack.
Pascrell faced City Council President Reverend Albert P. Rowe, Passaic County Freeholder Michael Adamo, and former councilman and police officer Roy Griffin in the nonpartisan election. He won 51.4% of the vote and was sworn in on July 1 of that year, while keeping his seat in the General Assembly.[10]
Pascrell ran for a second term in 1994 and faced two challengers, his former District 35 rival Martin Barnes and long-standing Sixth Ward councilman and former mayor Tom Rooney. He won the three-way contest with 46% of the vote.[11]
Pascrell resigned as mayor on January 3, 1997, in order to take his congressional seat. The city council appointed Barnes to replace him.
U.S. House of Representatives[edit]
Elections[edit]
In 1996, Pascrell ran for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey's Eighth Congressional District. The seat had been reliably Democratic for many years; it had been in Democratic hands without interruption from 1961 to 1995, with Robert A. Roe serving from 1969 until 1993 But in the 1994 Republican Revolution, Republican Bill Martini, a Clifton councilman and Passaic County freeholder, defeated Roe's successor Herbert Klein. Pascrell won the nomination and the seat, defeating the incumbent with 51% of the vote.[12] The district reverted to form, and Pascrell never faced another contest nearly that close; winning reelection seven more times with at least 62% of the vote.