Autistic man seeks Assembly seat in 37th

After months of speculation, Assembly Democrats Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood) and Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood) will face a primary challenge after all.

But it appears that it will not be a bloody one.

“They’ve done a very, very good job. I have no ill will towards them,” said their challenger, Christopher Gagliardi.  “As a matter of fact, they recognized me as a hero in Bergen County, and I am indebted to them for all they’ve done so far.”

Gagliardi, a 28-year-old Englewood resident, was born with infantile autism.  Doctors would eventually advise his mother, Lynda Grace Monahan, to put him in a group home and medicate him with Ritalin.

“My mother defied them and said I could go places,” he said.  “This assembly race will be a great adventure.”

Gagliardi caught the political bug at an early age, attributing it to his mother’s involvement in Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in the 1960's.  He wanted to run for governor, but didn’t meet the minimum age requirements, and his letter to the Democratic Party expressing interest in being a delegate to the Democratic National Convention was ignored.  So Gagliardi figured the legislature was in need of someone who will represent the mentally and physically challenged.

“During the time in the 80’s and 90’s, people who had challenges were either rejected in society or not recognized for their contributions to society,” he said.  “But with the recent breakthroughs in civil rights with the physically and mentally challenged, I thought it would be appropriate to stand up and take responsibility.”

Gagliardi graduated from Ridgefield Memorial High School in 2002, where he was student council president – the first special education student to ever hold the position, he said.

But Gagliardi never went on to college.  After high school, Gagliardi he found the transition to becoming a college student nearly impossible.  The environment was “hostile” he said, and “like shock therapy.”

Instead, he works part-time at a Starbucks in Englewood and does some public speaking about autism.

“It is the cause of mine to fight for educational rights for those who have physical and mental challenges,” he said.

Events that took place across the river in New York City -- including a bowling alley assault of a disabled person and a wheelchair-bound student with cerebral palsy being left overnight on a bus -- also pushed Gagliardi to run.

Although he is a Democrat, Gagliardi counts Ronald Reagan as one of his heroes.  But his mother noted that Gagliardi was also influenced by outgoing Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes (who has had a historically tense relationship with Huttle and Johnson).

“I think Mayor Wildes in a way influenced him, but they never spoke about it,” said Monahan.  “His connection with Mayor Wildes, I believe, helped him feel more comfortable in even trying it.”