John T. Gregorio, Sr. (February 6, 1928 − October 23, 2013) was an American

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician who served 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 for ...

from 1976 to 1978 and 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, ...

from 1978 to 1983. Gregorio represented the 21st Legislative District until 1978, when redistricting following the

1980 United States census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

shifted him to the 20th Legislative District. In 1983, following a felony conviction for failing to disclose his interest in a pair of Linden

go-go Go-go is a music subgenre, subgenre of funk music with an emphasis on specific rhythmic patterns, and live audience Call and response (music), call and response. Go-go was originated by African-American musicians in the Washington, D.C. area du ...

bars, he was forced to resign from the State Senate and from his position as Mayor of

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

. After receiving a gubernatorial pardon in January 1990, Gregorio staged a political comeback and won election as mayor of Linden, serving in that position until 2006.

Biography

Gregorio was born in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

and moved to Linden in 1949 after serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a radar man. He went into the family trade and opened a floral shop there, which was operated by his wife, Marie. Active in the local Democratic Party organization, he was elected to the Linden City Council in 1964 and became mayor for the first time in 1967. He was elected to the General Assembly, where he served from 1976 to 1978 and then moved up to the State Senate where he was in office starting in 1978 and served as chair of the Senate Labor, Industry, and Professions Committee. After being convicted of conspiracy for concealing his ownership of two go bars operated by his son, Gregorio was forced to resign in 1983. The jury that convicted him in December 1982 found him not guilty on nine charges, including

official misconduct An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

and tampering with official records. Under the terms of his conviction, Gregorio was required to relinquish his mayoral and Senate seats and would be unable to seek elected office.Narvaez, Alfonso A
"GREGORIO GUILTY OF A CONSPIRACY IN NETWORK CASE"
''

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'', December 20, 1982. Accessed July 14, 2010.Strupp, Joe
"A Man of Influence"
''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...

'', February 5, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2010. In a June 1983 special election,

Raymond Lesniak Raymond J. "Ray" Lesniak (born May 7, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1983 to 2018, where he represented the 20th Legislative District. Before entering New Jersey's upper house, th ...

won the seat Gregorio was forced to vacate. Gregorio asked Lesniak, his successor in the Senate, to pursue the possibility of getting a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Kean served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Following his tenure as governor, ...

granted the pardon in January 1990 on his last day as governor, which allowed Gregorio to re-enter the world of politics. In the June 1990 primary, Gregorio won the Democratic nomination for mayor and was elected again as mayor by overwhelming margins. Gregorio maintained a grip on political power in Linden and surrounding Union County that earned him recognition as "one of the few remaining old-time local

political boss In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...

es in the state—and one of the most controversial". In his last years in office, Gregorio earned an annual salary of $114,000, making him one of the highest paid mayors in New Jersey. Gregorio argued that he fulfilled the municipal responsibilities of a business administrator in addition to his role as mayor. In the 2006 general election, Gregorio lost narrowly to candidate Richard Gerbounka, an independent candidate who had served 12 years on the city council. After serving 33 years as mayor and never having lost a political race before, Gregorio said "I have no regrets. There comes a time. You can't stay in office forever" and blamed his loss by fewer than 100 votes to a lack of sufficient campaigning.Russell, Suzanne C
"Gregorio's Loss Bittersweet"
copy of article from ''

Home News Tribune The ''Central New Jersey Home News Tribune'' is a Daily newspaper serving Middlesex County, New Jersey. The paper has an average daily weekday circulation of about 49,000. The newspaper is the result of the 1995 merger of ''The Home News'' of ...

'', November 9, 2006. Accessed July 15, 2010. After his son was charged in 2007 with kidnapping two men who had been harassing his teenage daughter, Gregorio had no regrets about the arrest saying "he did what any father would do" and he "should have given him a medal". Gregorio died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

on October 23, 2013, aged 85, in

.John T. Gregorio of Linden: 1926-2013
/ref>

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregorio, John T. Sr. 1928 births 2013 deaths Mayors of places in New Jersey New Jersey city council members Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Party New Jersey state senators People from Linden, New Jersey People from Staten Island Politicians from Union County, New Jersey United States Navy sailors Deaths from leukemia Deaths from cancer in New Jersey