Craig John Coughlin (born January 31, 1958) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 19th Legislative District in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

since 2010. He has served as the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018.

Early life

Born in

Perth Amboy, New Jersey Perth Amboy is a city (New Jersey), city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,4 ...

, Coughlin grew up in

South Amboy South Amboy is a suburban city in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Raritan Bay. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 9,411.South Amboy Middle High School South Amboy Middle / High School (also known as H. G. Hoffman High School) is a seven-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in sixth through twelfth grades from South Amboy in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state ...

in 1976. Coughlin received a B.S. degree in 1980 from St. John's University and a J.D. degree in 1983 from

St. John's University School of Law St. John's University School of Law is a Roman Catholic law school in Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States, affiliated with St. John's University. The School of Law was founded in 1925, and confers Juris Doctor degrees and degrees for Maste ...

. He served on the Board of Education of the

South Amboy Public Schools The South Amboy Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district that serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from South Amboy, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.

from 1983 to 1987. In 1987 he was elected to the South Amboy City Council, serving until 1993.Assemblyman Craig J. Coughlin (D)

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

. Accessed January 24, 2022. He worked as an attorney before serving as a municipal court judge for Edison Township in 2005.

Controversy

In 2016, shortly after attaining the position of Assembly Speaker, Coughlin formed the law firm Rainone Coughlin Minchello. Coughlin's firm includes four other attorneys who had worked for Decotiis FitzPatrick & Cole LLP, providing legal services to municipal and county governments totaling $14 million in FY2016. As of 2017, Coughlin's firm secured contracts with dozens of local municipalities totaling over $1 million. Coughlin's law firm currently provides for-profit legal counsel to the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, and has recently acquired a $150,000 public contract with North Brunswick to fulfill the position of Municipal Attorney. Th
Middlesex County Improvement Authority
was awarded a $70 million contract by NJ Transit to manage the North Brunswick Train station project. In a statement made to

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

, Coughlin denies any conflicts of interest or "involvement with respect to Middlesex County’s or the improvement authority’s discussions with the state concerning North Brunswick transit village and never had any intention of performing any work in connection with this project."

New Jersey Assembly

He resigned from the court in 2009 to run for the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...

seat vacated by

Joseph Vas Joseph Vas (born January 18, 1955) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2010, where he represented the 19th Legislative District. He did not seek re-election to the assemb ...

, after the Democratic candidate, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, dropped out of the race. On September 8, 2009, a special convention of Middlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mate

John Wisniewski John Scott Wisniewski ( ; born June 28, 1962) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1996 to 2018, where he represented the 19th Legislative District. He was a Democratic candidate for Gove ...

. Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010. On November 13, 2017, was selected by the Assembly Democratic Conference to be Speaker of the Assembly starting in January 2018 when the new legislative term begins.

Committees

*Legislative Services Commission

District 19

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

and two members in the

. The representatives from the 19th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are:Legislative Roster for District 19

. Accessed January 11, 2022. *Senator Joseph Vitale (D), *Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D), and *Assemblyman Yvonne Lopez

Electoral history

References

External links

Assemblyman Coughlin's legislative webpage

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Coughlin, Craig 1958 births 21st-century American politicians Living people New Jersey city council members New Jersey lawyers People from Perth Amboy, New Jersey People from South Amboy, New Jersey People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey School board members in New Jersey Speakers of the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly St. John's University School of Law alumni