Bob Franks

In the 1996 campaign for Congress in New Jersey’s seventh district, GOP incumbent Bob Franks made an issue of the hiring practices of a law firm run by his Democratic challenger, Larry Lerner.  The Westfield firm, Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krumholz and Mentlik, with more than 25 lawyers, had no women employed as attorneys.  Lerner responded that he was a patent and intellectual property lawyer, and since that specialty required some engineering background, it was hard to find qualified women.  Not great spin; Franks won, easily.

HAMILTON - Today former Congressman Bob Franks (R-7) officially endorsed Bill Baroni for State Senate in the 14th District with the following statement:

In his 2000 campaign for U.S. Senate, Jon Corzine received six daily newspaper endorsements --The Star-Ledger, the Trenton Times, the Jersey Journal, the Herald News, the Home News Tribune and the New York Daily News -- while seventeen newspapers supported Republican Bob Franks. As a candidate for Governor, so far, Corzine has picked up five endorsements from newspapers that backed Franks -- The Press of Atlantic City, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, the Gloucester County Times and the Express-Times. He also lost one endorsement he had five years ago: The Star-Ledger endorsed Doug Forrester.

If Douglas Forrester wins, he will become the third consecutive elected Governor of New Jersey to have started out as a government staffer. Christine Todd Whitman began her public career working for the Nixon administration in the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, and then at the Republican National Committee. James E. McGreevey worked on the Assembly Democratic staff and for the state Parole Board before running for the Legislature. Forrester worked on the Assembly Republican staff (when Tom Kean was Minority Leader) and as Assistant State Treasurer.

Other ex-staffers-turned-politicians: Bob Torricelli, who worked for Gov. Brendan Byrne and Vice President Walter Mondale before running for Congress; Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, who was an aide to then-Morris County Freeholder Dean Gallo (he later joined Gallo on the Freeholder Board and in the Assembly, and succeeded him in Congress; Congressman Bob Menendez, who worked for Union City Mayor/State Senator William Vincent Musto; former Congressman Bob Franks, who was Political Director on Ray Bateman's 1977 campaign for Governor; State Senator Nia Gill, who was an aide to longtime State Senator Wynona Lipman; State Senator Tom Kean, Jr., who worked in Franks' Washington congressional office; State Senator Joseph Kyrillos, who worked for the U.S. Secretary of Energy; Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, who was an Assistant Counsel to Gov. Kean; former State Senator Byron Baer, who was an aide to Assemblyman Arnold Brown in the 1960's; new state Labor Commissioner A.J. Sabath, who worked on the Senate Democratic staff; and South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross III, who began his political career working in the district office of Assemblyman Ernest Schuck.

You can add other staffer-turned-politicans in the comments section.