Stephen B. Wiley

Stephen B. Wiley is an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey Senate from 1974 to 1978, where he represented the 23rd Legislative District.

Wiley earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and was awarded a law degree from Columbia Law School. He served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956. After completing his military service, Wiley was named in 1957 to serve as Assistant Prosecutor for Morris County. He was named in 1960 as legal counsel to Governor of New Jersey Robert B. Meyner.[1]

A resident of Morris Township, Wiley has been a practicing attorney, specializing in litigation in federal and state courts. After Meyner left office in 1962, he and Wiley formed a law practice. As of 1973, Wiley joined the firm of Wiley, Malehorn and Sirota in Morristown.[1]

He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1973, and served as Chair of the Senate Education Committee, the Joint Committee on the Public Schools and the Senate Rules Committee. He was responsible for drafting legislation which became the Public School Education Act of 1975, which established a state income tax in New Jersey that was specified as a source for school funding in addition to locally assessed property taxes.[1] Governor of New Jersey Brendan Byrne nominated Wiley to the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1977. His nomination was approved by the Senate, but was rejected by the Supreme Court, which ruled that as Wiley had voted to raise the salary of justices of the Supreme Court in 1974, he could not be appointed to serve on the court until after his term of office expired.[2]

Wiley ran for the Democratic Gubernatorial nomination in 1985, focusing on the state's toxic waste problem as a campaign issue, as he targeted incumbent Republican Thomas Kean.[3] Wiley also focused on the Kean administration's failure to provide state aid to public schools under the formula dictated by the Public Education Act of 1975 that Wiley sponsored.[4] Wiley and former U.S. Attorney Robert Del Tufo were excluded for a candidates forum held on New York City television station WABC-TV Channel 7.[5] In the June primary, Wiley came in a distant fourth place with 8.6 percent of the vote, behind winner Peter Shapiro with 31.0%, State Senator John F. Russo with 26.6% and Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson with 26.1%[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 About The Author, Hero Island, poems by Stephen B. Wiley. Accessed July 29, 2010.
  2. ↑ Waldron, Martin. "SUPREME COURT BARS WILEY APPOINTMENT; Cites His Membership in Legislature When It Raised Justices' Salaries Byrne to Nominate an Aide", The New York Times, February 12, 1977. Accessed July 29, 2010.
  3. ↑ Perlez, Jane. "WILEY FOCUSING RACE ON TOXIC WASTE ISSUE", The New York Times, May 31, 1985. Accessed July 29, 2010.
  4. ↑ Sullivan, Joseph F. "POLITICS: WILEY'S CAMPAIGN FOR THE NOMINATION FOCUSES ON 'DRIFT'", The New York Times, March 24, 1985. Accessed July 29, 2010.
  5. ↑ Staff. "LEFT-OUT CANDIDATES UPSET ABOUT TELEVISION PROGRAM", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 31, 1985. Accessed July 29, 2010.
  6. ↑ NJ Governor - D Primary 1985, OurCampaigns.com. Accessed July 29, 2010.