Bret Schundler
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Bret Davis Schundler (born January 14, 1959) is an American politician from
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
who served as the 42nd
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of
Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous
from 1992 to 2001. He remains the last Republican to hold that office. He also unsuccessfully ran for
Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...
in
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
and
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
. Earlier in his life, Schundler was a Democrat, and the State Coordinator in New Jersey for Gary Hart's 1984 campaign for President. He then served as the
chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...
of The King's College, a Christian
liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...
college in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. He served in the cabinet of Governor
Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...
as New Jersey commissioner of education from January to August 2010, when he was dismissed.


Early life

Schundler grew up in Woodbridge Township and
Westfield, New Jersey Westfield is a Town (New Jersey), town in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 31,032, an increase of 716 (+2.4% ...
as the youngest of nine children. At Westfield High School, he was an All-State
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player. He was recruited by
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, where, to help pay for his tuition, he washed dishes, cleaned bathrooms, and worked as a security guard. He graduated with honors in 1981. Schundler's ethnic heritage is
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and Barbadian. Following his graduation from college, Schundler worked for Democratic
Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...
Roy Dyson of
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. He later worked for
Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential nominations, until in 1988, he dropped out amid revelations of ex ...
's 1984 presidential campaign. After Hart lost the nomination race, Schundler began his career in finance in the sales department of
Salomon Brothers Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York City. It was one of the five List of investment banks, largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and a very profitabl ...
. While he had no experience in the field, his interviewer thought that anyone who could sell Hart in western
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
had a future in finance. In 1987, he moved to a different firm, C. J. Lawrence, which has since been absorbed into
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...
, where he did very well financially. He retired in 1990, and after traveling around the world for a year, changed his registration to Republican. He later said that he felt the Democratic Party had been taken captive by special interests.


Mayor of Jersey City

His first run for elective office was an unsuccessful campaign for the
New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is 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 232,225 (2020 figure ...
in 1991, where despite the partisan nature of the election, and overwhelmingly Democratic composition of the district (only 6% of voters were registered Republicans), Schundler lost to incumbent Edward T. O'Connor, Jr. by only a 55.1% to 44.9% margin. The next year, Gerald McCann was removed as mayor of Jersey City because of a criminal conviction unrelated to his public duties, and Schundler entered the special election to finish the remaining eight months of McCann's term. He won the election with 17 percent of the vote, in a crowded field of 19 candidates. Like most major cities in New Jersey, Jersey City elections are officially nonpartisan. While Schundler never announced himself as a Republican on his campaign literature or ads, he was known to be a Republican based on his campaign for the State Senate a year earlier, and was thus considered Jersey City's first Republican mayor since 1917. Contributing to his victory was the fact that two African American candidates split the black vote, and two siblings, Lou and Allen Manzo, also split a large number of votes. Once in office, Schundler developed a reputation as a politician who was incorruptible, which strongly resonated in a city with a long legacy of corruption dating to the
Frank Hague Francis Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956), known as Frank Hague, was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, from 1917 to 1947, and vice-chairman of the Democratic National Comm ...
era in local politics. He subsequently won a full term in 1993 with 69% of the vote—the largest margin of victory since Jersey City returned to the Mayor-Council form of government in 1961, and according to some sources, in the city's entire history. He won his second full term in 1997; while coming up short of a majority in the first round, he won the run-off by a substantial margin. During his tenure as mayor, Schundler reduced crime, lowered property taxes, increased the city's tax collection rate and property values, instituted
medical savings account A medical savings account (MSA) is an account into which tax-deferred amounts from income can be deposited. The amounts are often called contributions and may be made by a worker, an employer, or both, depending on a country's laws. The money in ...
s for city employees and privatized the management of the city's water utility. He also led the battle to pass New Jersey's
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
legislation. Moreover, according to a Harvard University study, during his tenure Jersey City led the 100 largest cities in the United States in job growth and
poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classi ...
. The redevelopment and gentrification of waterfront Jersey City opposite lower Manhattan had begun during the McCann era, but it grew markedly during Schundler's tenure because of his policies, raising the per capita income in the city. Schundler attracted considerable national attention because he was the Republican mayor of an overwhelmingly Democratic city. During his tenure, Jersey City remained a Democratic stronghold, as it has been for over a century. Indeed, on the same night as Schundler's special election victory,
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
carried
Hudson County Hudson County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River, the No ...
(which includes Jersey City) by an overwhelming margin, which was enough to swing New Jersey into the Democratic column for the first time since
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
. Clinton carried Hudson County by an even larger margin in 1996. Additionally, no Republican has represented a significant portion of Jersey City in Congress in over a century, and Schundler was succeeded by a Democrat, Glenn Cunningham, in 2001. Indeed, no candidate known to be a Republican has come anywhere close to winning a mayoral election in Jersey City since Schundler left office.


2001 gubernatorial campaign

Toward the end of his tenure as mayor, Schundler served as chairman of the Hudson County Republican Committee, and in 2001, he ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, facing former Congressman Bob Franks, who was favored by the party establishment. Franks entered the race in April, two months before the primary, after Governor
Donald DiFrancesco Donald Thomas DiFrancesco (born November 20, 1944) is a retired American politician who served as the 51st governor of New Jersey from 2001 to 2002. He succeeded Christine Todd Whitman after her resignation to become Administrator of the Enviro ...
dropped out of the race because of a series of news stories regarding his alleged unethical behavior. Franks was backed by Governor DiFrancesco's political organization, which gave him the endorsement of every county Republican state committee in New Jersey, except, ironically, Schundler's very own Hudson County Republican state committee, as well as the Republican committee in Monmouth County, then led by William F. Dowd. Schundler ran on a conservative platform, which was somewhat unusual, since most
New Jersey Republicans New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...
tend to be more moderate-to-liberal by national standards. He employed a more grassroots style of campaigning, visiting many local GOP organizations, and forming close relationships with the
Young Republicans The Young Republican National Federation, commonly referred to as the Young Republicans or YRNF, is a 527 organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization ...
and
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, as well as conservative issue-based organizations, including those active in
homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...
and other educational issues. This grassroots campaign enabled him to win the nomination by a robust 14% margin. After winning the primary, Schundler tried to reunite the party by connecting with the leaders who had endorsed Franks. This included a unity lunch with Franks, hosted by former governor
Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American politician, statesman, and academic administrator from the state of New Jersey. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, Kean served two terms as the 48th governor of New Jersey f ...
, and retaining State Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos as state party chairman. Kyrillos had been appointed by DiFrancesco as state party chairman just six weeks before the primary, and he had supported Franks in the primary. However, the party remained divided. The Democratic candidate that year, Woodbridge Township Mayor
Jim McGreevey James Edward McGreevey (born August 6, 1957) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 amidst a sex scandal. McGreevey served in the New Jersey Genera ...
( the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in 1997), exploited this division by attacking Schundler as too conservative for the overall state of New Jersey. Schundler made frequent campaign appearances on the late Bob Grant's radio show to help bring voters out the polls on election day. Schundler also travelled to Israel, as part of his campaign to court Jewish voters in New Jersey, and while there, the historic September 11 attack on the World Trade Center occurred. The attack caused most air traffic in the U.S. to be shut down for weeks, leaving Schundler stranded in Israel less than one month before the election. In November, Schundler was badly defeated, gaining 42% of the vote to McGreevey's 56%. Schundler even lost Hudson County by 50,000 votes, despite his overwhelming electoral success in Jersey City. Schundler did not run for office again until the 2005 gubernatorial campaign, but remained one of the most visible spokespeople for the more conservative wing of the Republican Party in New Jersey.


2005 gubernatorial campaign

Schundler's 2005 gubernatorial campaign focused on the issue of property taxes. He proposed a series of state constitutional amendments to control state and local spending in New Jersey, with the savings dedicated to property tax reduction statewide. As in 2001, Schundler focused mostly on grassroots campaigning. However, he also targeted Republican county conventions to spread his message and won several county endorsements. Besides his base in Hudson County, he also won the endorsement of the Republican Party organizations in
Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...
, Hunterdon, and
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
counties. In the week before the primary election, Schundler's campaign was criticized for using a photograph on its website that showed Schundler apparently standing with a crowd of enthusiastic young supporters. The photograph, which appeared for only a few days on a web page advertising campaign T-shirts and mugs, had actually been taken at a
Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...
rally in 2004, with Dean's image digitally replaced by Schundler's and with campaign signs, hats, and shirts modified as well. Schundler's campaign responded that the photograph had been prepared by the campaign's website contractor (which had also done work for the Dean campaign), and the campaign removed the picture from the website when it learned of the miscue. Schundler lost the primary to Doug Forrester, who had been New Jersey's Republican nominee for United States Senate in 2002. Forrester's considerable wealth enabled him to outspend Schundler during the campaign by about 6-1. The results were: * Forrester: 35% * Schundler: 31% * Morris County Freeholder John J. Murphy: 11% * Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan: 8% * Washington Township Councilman Bob Schroeder: 6% * Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano: 6% * Former
Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Union, Hudson, Hunterdon and Somerset counties. He had the county line in Somerset and Hudson, and shared it with Forrester in Hunterdon. Forrester held the county line in Union County, which was the only county where he had the line, but still lost in the primary.


2009 Jersey City mayoral campaign

On August 14, 2008 Schundler confirmed, in a news interview, his intent to run again for the office of Mayor of Jersey City in the 2009 election. Schundler stated that his formal announcement would happen after the 2008 presidential election. He would have faced Mayor Jerramiah Healy, former Assemblyman
Louis Manzo Louis Manzo (born February 28, 1955, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2008, where he represented the New Jersey L ...
(who he had already defeated, in part, in the special election in relatively early 1993), and community activist Dan Levin for the mayor's office. State Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham, the widow of Schundler's successor as mayor, was also considering a race for the mayoralty. Councilman
Steven Fulop Steven Michael Fulop (born 1976/1977) is an American politician serving as the 49th mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. A Democrat, he was formerly the Councilman for Jersey City's Ward E. Fulop was first elected mayor on May 14, 2013, defeating ...
announced that he would not run for mayor in 2009. On January 12, 2009, Bret Schundler dropped his bid for mayor, citing financial difficulties due in large part to the ongoing financial crash on Wall Street.


Commissioner of Education

On January 13, 2010, Governor-Elect
Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...
announced that Schundler was his nominee to serve as New Jersey Commissioner of Education. On March 11, the
New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is 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 232,225 (2020 figure ...
approved his nomination by a vote of 35-2. On August 27, 2010, he was dismissed by Governor Christie after an error on a $400 million
Race to the Top Race to the Top (R2T, RTTT or RTT) was a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education competitive grant created to spur and reward innovation and reforms in state and local district K–12 education. Funded as part of the American Reco ...
education grant may have contributed to New Jersey narrowly missing out on the government funding.


Other activities and family

Schundler was a Professor of Public Policy at The King's College, a Christian liberal arts college located in the Empire State Building. On January 20, 2009, he was named COO of the college. The King's College is accredited in New York,Institution Accreditation – Search Page
and by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.Middle States Commission on Higher Education
/ref> Schundler was also Managing Partner of People Power America, LLC, which licenses TeamVolunteer, an online utility that helps political campaigns and non-profit organizations coordinate phone banks. He is currently the principal of School Partners, LLC, a firm that provides consulting to charter schools on everything from facility finance to their education program. Schundler and his wife, Lynn, have two children, a daughter named Shaylin, and son named Hans Otto III.


See also

* '' American Civil Liberties Union v. Schundler'' (
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
)


References


External links


Salon feature after school debacle
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Schundler, Bret 1959 births 20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey 21st-century mayors of places in New Jersey American chief operating officers Harvard University alumni Living people Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey New Jersey Democrats New Jersey Republicans Politicians from Westfield, New Jersey Politicians from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey State cabinet secretaries of New Jersey Westfield High School (New Jersey) alumni Candidates in the 2001 United States elections