Gina Genovese

Gina Genovese (born April 30, 1959) is an American businesswoman and local politician. She has served on the Township Committee in Long Hill Township, New Jersey, where she has also served as mayor. In 2007, she was a candidate for the State Senate in district 21 in New Jersey. She currently lives in Long Hill with her partner of 13 years, Wendy McCahill. She no longer holds elected office.

Biography

For the past 36 years Genovese resided in the 21st District.

• Graduated from the Kent Place School in Summit in 1977
• Attained a world ranking of 150 in tennis. Due to injury however, was forced to retire.
• In 1983, opened Gina's Tennis World, in Berkeley Heights, NJ. She has coached over 25 nationally ranked players and has taught thousands of children and adults.
• In 2009, Gina formed the non-partisan organization Courage To Connect NJ and serves as its Executive Director. This organization was created to educate the public about their role in restructuring the State of New Jersey. The first educational video about home rule in New Jersey is on her website www.CourageToConnectNJ.org

Committee

In 2003, Genovese ran as a last minute fill-in candidate for Long Hill Township Committee and lost. The following year, Gina ran again and defeated a four-time Republican incumbent. Serving as the lone Democrat on the committee electing another Democrat to the committee within a year.

Mayor

In 2005, Gina was selected unanimously by the Republican majority committee to become the first Democratic mayor in the history of Long Hill Township. She made history by becoming the highest-ranking, openly gay elected official in the state.^[1]

Mayoral achievements

• She saved $300,000 by reducing the police administrative staff by 40% and cooperatively negotiating with the police leadership to create a new administrative structure.
• Developed and taught civics lessons to students in both Millington and Gillette about the election and budgeting processes.
• Signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to promote clean, environmentally-friendly technologies. As a small business owner, another highlight was instituting a business economic forum to support the needs of local businesses. She also opened the budget process to the public so people could understand the costs of services in the community.
• Created an interfaith service for peace with numerous religious leaders in the area from nine different religions.

Actions

• When Gina Genovese was Mayor of Long Hill Township, the 2006 Long Hill Township budget raised taxes by 3%, the second lowest increase for that year in Morris County. (See, Star-Ledger New Jersey Property Tax Rankings).
• On April 26, 2006, Mayor Genovese voted in favor of a pay-to-play ordinance and said such laws are needed in Trenton. (The Echoes-Sentinel, 5/4/06).

2007 Senatorial elections

Gina challenged incumbent NJ 21st District Senator Thomas Kean Jr.. On election day, Kean received 29,795 votes (60%) and Genovese received 20,092 votes (40%).

On Election night Genovese stated, "I don't regret (the campaign). The last five months of my life have been the best of five months of my life. I would not change a thing."

References

External links

• Website of Long Hill Township