Bill Pascrell

William J. "Bill" Pascrell, Jr. (born January 25, 1937) is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 8th congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in Paterson and includes most of Passaic County and suburban Essex County.

Early life, education, and academic career

The grandson of Italian immigrants, Pascrell was born in Paterson, New Jersey and attended St. George’s Elementary School, and in 1955 graduated from St. John the Baptist High School, during which he was elected Student Council President. Pascrell later went on to attend Fordham University in New York with 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, during which he taught several courses including Psychology, and was quite possibly the single most popular teacher in Paramus High School during his tenure, before being hired as a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Previously, Pascrell was appointed to Paterson Board of Education, where he served as President of the Board. He also served as Board of Trustees of Passaic County Community College.

Early political career

He was mayor while he served as an Assemblyman (a practice that many New Jersey politicians followed for many years, but has recently been outlawed).

State Assembly

Pascrell was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1988, eventually rising to the position of Minority Leader Pro Tempore.^[1] He won his seat in 1987 with 34% of the vote.^[2] He won re-election in 1989 (36%),^[3] 1991 (29%),^[4] 1993 (31%),^[5] and 1995 (33%).^[6]

Mayor of Paterson

In 1990, Pascrell ran for Mayor of Paterson, New Jersey a seat that had been left vacant by the death of the city's sitting mayor, Frank Xavier Graves, Jr., two months prior to the election. Pascrell won with 51% of the vote in a nonpartisan four candidate election.^[7] He won re-election in 1994 with 46% of the vote in a three candidate nonpartisan election against Martin Barnes and Thomas C. Rooney, Jr.^[8]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

In 1996, Pascrell ran for New Jersey's 8th congressional district and defeated Republican incumbent Bill Martini 51%-48%, a margin of 6,249 votes. Pascrell was likely helped by Bill Clinton's easy victory in New Jersey in that year's presidential election.^[9] After that, he never won re-election with less than 62% of the vote.

2012

After redistricting, Pascrell's home was place in the newly redrawn New Jersey's 9th congressional district. Fellow Democrat U.S. Congressman Steve Rothman has decided to move into the 9th and challenge Pascrell in the primary. Rothman was placed in a Republican leaning district against Republican Scott Garrett.^[10] Rothman currently represents 53% of the new 9th, as Pascrell represents 43% of the CD.^[11] Rothman has been endorsed by Hudson County Democratic Chairman Mark Smith.^[12]

Tenure

Pascrell is the first New Jerseyan to serve on the House Committee on Ways and Means in 10 years.

Pascrell was one of the original members of the Homeland Security Committee, eventually rising to the post of ranking Democrat on the Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee. He has a particular interest in fire safety, and authored the bill that created the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which gives federal grants directly to all fire departments, including volunteer fire departments, which he calls "the forgotten part of the public safety equation".

He was also a member of the House Transportation Committee, where he worked to modernize roads, bridges, airports and mass transit systems. He has secured funding for reconstructing various dangerous roads and bridges throughout New Jersey, including bringing attention to the Route 46 corridor. In addition, he has helped craft legislation to renew federal surface transportation programs, providing funding toward New Jersey Transit. The new legislation tackled projects of rail expansion between Passaic and Bergen counties, bridge construction throughout Route 46, and the establishment of a bike-pedestrian path in South Orange.

Pascrell is an Italian American and has been outspoken about the representation of Italian-Americans in the media regarding what he sees as negative stereotypes in shows such as HBO's The Sopranos. His Italian heritage was famously questioned by comedian Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, who alleged in an interview that Pascrell could not truly be of Italian descent because Italian surnames must end with a vowel. Pressed by Colbert for an example of an Italian surname ending in a consonant, Pascrell responded with "Sole".^[13]

During Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2009 Working on a Dream Tour, Pascrell asked for investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice into the practices of Ticketmaster and TicketsNow in regard to sales of tickets to the tour's New Jersey shows.^[14] Pascrell subsequently introduced proposed federal legislation, titled the "BOSS ACT" (Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing), which would require primary ticket sellers to disclose how many tickets were being held back from sale, prohibit ticket brokers from buying tickets during the first 48 hours on sale, and prohibit primary ticket sellers, promoters, and artists from entering the secondary market.^[15]

After the death of a young boy in his district who returned to playing football without having fully recovered from a concussion sustained earlier in the season in October 2008, Pascrell introduced the Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act (the ConTACT Act), which has received the endorsements of the National Football League, the National Football League's Players Association, and the Brain Injury Association of America. The legislation brings together a conference of experts to produce a consensus set of guidelines for the treatment and care of concussions for middle and high school students. It also provides funding for schools' adoption of baseline and post-injury neuropsychological testing technologies.^[16]

In January 2011, Congressman Pascrell responded to the Tucson shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by stating, "[t]here's an aura of hate and elected politicians feed it, certain people on Fox News feed it." His comments drew the ire of many journalists and commentators.

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Health

Caucus Memberships

• Congressional Arts Caucus

Party leadership

• Regional Whip

Electoral history

References

External links

• Congressman Bill Pascrell official U.S. House site
• Pascrell for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times