Linda R. Greenstein

Linda R. Greenstein (born June 7, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American Democratic Party politician who represents the 14th legislative district in the New Jersey Senate. She is the first woman to hold the Mercer-Middlesex regional State Senate district.^[1] She previously served in the General Assembly from 2000 to 2010.

Biography

Greenstein was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. She received an A.B. from Vassar College in Psychology in 1971, an M.A. in 1974 from Johns Hopkins University and was awarded a J.D. in 1984 from the Georgetown University Law Center.^[2]

She was a Clinical Associate Professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law, where she supervised the Disability Law Clinic. She has served as a Deputy Attorney General in Trenton and as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia. She is a resident of Plainsboro Township with her husband Michael Greenstein and son Evan.^[3][4]

Greenstein was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Greenstein endorsed Obama prior to the 2008 Iowa caucus.^[5]

Political career

Early career

Greenstein served on the Plainsboro Township Committee from 1995 to 2000 and on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District's Board of Education from 1992 to 1994.^[2] Prior to her election to the General Assembly, she was a Senior Staff Attorney at the Community Health Law Project and supervised the Public Interest Legal Clinic at Montclair State University.

Legislative career

In the 1999 Assembly election, Republican incumbents Paul Kramer and Barbara Wright were narrowly defeated by Democrats Greenstein and Gary Guear, with the incumbents losing votes in Hamilton Township, where Democrat Glen Gilmore won the race for mayor. The two gains were among the three Republicans seats Democrats picked up in the Assembly in the 1999 elections, though the Republicans retained their majority.^[6]

She served in the Assembly for five terms from 2000 through 2010. She was the Assembly's Assistant Majority Leader from 2002, and the Deputy Speaker from 2006. Greenstein served in the Assembly on the Judiciary Committee (as Chair) and the Health and Senior Services Committee. Greenstein was reelected in 2007 while participating in the New Jersey Clean Elections public funding program. During this campaign, Greenstein faced radio attack ads from a national third-party conservative group with ties to President George W. Bush.^[7]

In the 2010 special Senate election to fill the remainder of Bill Baroni's term, Greenstein ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. She defeated appointed incumbent Senator Tom Goodwin, one of her opponents from the 2009 Assembly race.^[8] In 2011, Greenstein was re-elected over challenger Richard Kanka, father of murder victim Megan Kanka and driver behind Megan's Law.^[9]

In 2013, Greenstein faced former State Senator Peter Inverso, who represented the district from 1992 to 2008. Greenstein was re-elected to a second full term by 1,484 votes, the closest Senate margin in New Jersey that year.^[10]

In 2017, her opponent is Hamilton Township Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer.^[11]

2014 Congressional election

In 2014, 12th congressional district Representative Rush D. Holt, Jr. announced his retirement from Congress. Greenstein announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for the seat the same day of Holt's announcement.^[12]

Of the four counties in the district, she only received the county committee endorsement from her home county of Middlesex.^[13]

After Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman received the Mercer County endorsement on March 22, Greenstein was recorded telling local county Democratic leaders, "I hate everybody in here. Everybody in here is my enemy – except for the people from Hamilton. The rest of you are my enemies." Her campaign responded with a statement saying, "This thinly veiled attempt at intimidation from unnamed party bosses unfortunately reeks of the kind of sexism successful women have had to contend with throughout history." Mercer County Democratic Party chairwoman Elizabeth Maher Muoio refuted this claim, saying "Clearly, the results were not what she had hoped for, but to blame them on sexism or on a closed process is deceptive, untrue and insulting."^[14]

In the Democratic primary held on June 3, Watson Coleman defeated Greenstein, Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula and scientist Andrew Zwicker.^[15]

Legislation sponsored

Senior-related legislation

In 2008, Greenstein co-sponsored A1264, legislation requiring public disclosure of medical error rates at individual hospitals across the state. Greenstein also co-sponsored A3371, a bill designed to protect all hospital patients and their insurance companies from being charged for a hospital's preventable medical mistake.^[16]

Greenstein also sponsored a bill in 2008 that would require all assisted living facilities to dedicate 10% of their beds to people eligible for Medicaid coverage and 5% to people currently using Medicaid.^[17]

In February 2008, Greenstein introduced legislation designed to protect the elderly from insurance salesmen who push buyers into making unnecessary purchases, especially with annuities.^[18]

Family-related legislation

As chair of the Judiciary Committee, Greenstein was the prime sponsor of bill A-571, the Prevention of Domestic Violent Act. The bill called for harsher criminal punishment and longer jail time for those who impair their domestic partner's means of communicating with the outside world for purposes of control and abuse.

Greenstein sponsored the Jessica Rogers Law, a bill created to provide for harsher penalties for assaults caused by road rage.^[19]

In 2009, Greenstein introduced a package of 10 bills in the state Legislature that would increase penalties for communicating online with minors in sexually explicit ways as well as allow wiretapping in investigations concerning crimes against children.^[20]

Greenstein co-sponsored the Toxic-Free Children's Products Act in the spring of 2008, which would ban the sale, distribution and manufacturing of toys and children's products containing Bisphenol A or phthalates. These two chemicals are linked to hormonal diseases.^[21]

In March 2008, Greenstein was one of the chief sponsors of a bill that would allow workers to take up to six weeks paid leave for a new child or a sick relative.^[22] Greenstein’s bill received bipartisan support as her Hamilton district’s Republican State Senator, Bill Baroni, voted in favor of the Senate version of the bill in April 2008.^[23]

Greenstein is the author of New Jersey’s anti-telemarketing law.

Environmental legislation

Greenstein was the prime sponsor of several pieces of legislation providing funding for open space preservation and is a founder and co-chair of the Legislative Smart Growth Caucus, which is promoting an anti-sprawl agenda.

Greenstein has also advocated for a bottle and can deposit program that would increase state funding for environmental protection and encourage more recycling by consumers.^[24]

Miscellaneous legislation

Greenstein sponsored a bill in fall 2008 that gave local governments more authority over traffic controls on their roads.^[25]

In spring 2009, Greenstein also sponsored bill A1904, a “good government bill” that would bring transparency to county politics and allow non-establishment primary candidates to campaign on a more level playing field.^[26]

District 14

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 14th District for the 2016-2017 (217th) Legislative Session are:^[27]

• Assemblyman Daniel R. Benson (D)
• Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D)

Election history

References

External links

• Senator Greenstein's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature
• New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms - 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
• Linda R. Greenstein, Project Vote Smart