Raymond Lesniak

Raymond J. "Ray" Lesniak (born May 7, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has been serving in the New Jersey State Senate since 1983, where he represents the 20th Legislative District. Before entering New Jersey's upper house, the Senate, Lesniak served in the General Assembly from 1978 to 1983.^[1] Lesniak is considered a major power broker in the Democratic Party in Union County.^[2]

Lesniak was defeated by incumbent Elizabeth Mayor Thomas G. Dunn, whom he challenged in the 1980 Democratic primary election. Dunn scored about 7,100 votes to Lesniak's 6,600 while about 2,000 went to David Conti, the challenger who came 276 votes away from toppling Dunn in 1976 and was (in 1980) endorsed by the Regular Democratic Organization of Union County.

Subsequently, Dunn orchestrated Lesniak's removal from the 'party line' -- a preferred ballot position aligned with almost all other incumbents—when it was time for the lawmaker to seek re-election to the General Assembly in 1981. Party leaders did not inform Lesniak about his loss of support until two days before the petition filing deadline. Elizabeth Health Director John Surmay was selected to replace Lesniak on the ballot between Sen. John T. Gregorio and Assemblyman Thomas J. Deverin, his prior running mates.

Building on the organization assembled during his race for mayor, the Elizabeth Democratic Association, Lesniak waged an aggressive campaign with support from organized labor, environmentalists, minority communities and others. On June 6, 1981, Lesniak won renomination with approximately 20% more than the number of votes cast for Deverin and almost twice as many ballots as Dunn's proxy, Surmay.^[3]

In a June 1983 special election, Lesniak won the Senate seat of John T. Gregorio who was forced to vacate his office after being convicted of hiding his ownership of a pair of Linden go-go bars.^[4]

Lesniak serves on the Economic Growth Committee (as Chair), Commerce Committee (as Vice-Chair), the Legislative Services Commission, the Judiciary Committee and the Legislative Oversight Committee.^[1]

Lesniak has also been involved in national politics over the course of his tenure. In 1996, he was Chairman of the New Jersey Clinton-Gore Presidential Campaign, and in 2000 he was a key insider in the Al Gore campaign. Lesniak served as Chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and Chairman of the 1997 Jim McGreevey campaign for Governor of New Jersey.

Lesniak grew up in Elizabeth, NJ. He served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969 and received an A.B. from Rutgers University in Economics in 1971, and a J.D. from St. John's University School of Law in 1974.^[1]

He is an attorney with the firm of Weiner Lesniak.^[1]

Lesniak is ethnically Polish. Although he was raised a Roman Catholic, he is now an evangelical Christian.^[5]

First BankAmericano directorship

On February 9, 2010, The Wall Street Journal published a copy of a letter^[6] from Senator Robert Menendez to the Federal Reserve pushing for approval of a deal for the sale of First BankAmericano of Elizabeth where State Senator Lesniak served on the Board of Directors.^[7] A media controversy arose due to BankAmericano’s political connections. Its board members included several major campaign contributors to Menendez — among them State Senator Lesniak. Following the media controversy over the bailout request, it was disclosed that Lesniak had also received "insider loans" from the bank.^[8] Prior to the bailout request, First BankAmericano had been under financial pressure for more than a year because of mounting loan losses. A highly critical report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.(FDIC) also found the institution had engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices, including "operating without adequate supervision by its board of directors", an excessive level of delinquent or bad loans, inadequate earnings and insufficient coverage of its assets.^[9] First BankAmerico was closed in 2009 by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. Accounts were transferred to Crown Bank.

District 20

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 20th District for the 2012-2013 Legislative Session are:^[10]

• Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, and
• Assemblywoman Annette Quijano

Election history

References

External links

• District 20 Webpage
• Senator Lesniak's legislative webpage, New Jersey Legislature
• New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms
  • 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
• New Jersey Senate Democrats biography of Senator Lesniak