Kathleen A. Donovan (born 1952) is an American Republican Party politician, who served as County Executive of Bergen County, New Jersey. She previously served as County Clerk of Bergen County, New Jersey for four terms, and one term 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 ...

. Donovan unsuccessfully sought support to run for Bergen County Executive in the 2002 Republican primary, and lost a campaign for the 2006 Republican nomination for County Executive. She ran again for County Executive in 2010, where she defeated incumbent Dennis McNerney.

Early life and education

Donovan, a graduate of Queen of Peace High School, earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in Political Science from

Rutgers University-Newark Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

and was awarded a J.D. from

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. The school traces its origins to Cleveland Law School (founded in 1897), which merged in 1946 with the John ...

. She is a resident of

Rutherford, New Jersey Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 18,834. Rutherford was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, fr ...

Public service

Donovan was a part-time public defender of

Lyndhurst, New Jersey Lyndhurst is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 20,554, reflecting an increase of 1,171 (+6.0%) from the 19,383 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn ...

(her hometown), from 1983 to 1988. From 1986 to 1988, she represented the 36th Legislative District in the

. In the Assembly, Donovan served on the State Regulatory Efficiency Committee (as Vice-Chair) and as a member of the Environmental Quality Committee.Kathleen A. Donovan
, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed August 28, 2007. She served as chairman of the

New Jersey Republican State Committee The New Jersey Republican State Committee (NJGOP) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in New Jersey. It was founded in 1880 and is currently led by Bob Hugin. Current leadership * Bob Hugin, Chairman * Lynda A. Pagliughli, V ...

from June 1989 to February 1990, before being replaced by her predecessor, Union County Assemblyman

Bob Franks Robert Douglas Franks (September 21, 1951 – April 9, 2010) was an American Republican politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New Jersey. Early life Franks was born on September 21, 1951, in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of Nor ...

. She was first elected County Clerk in 1988 and was reelected in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008. As County Clerk, Donovan was in charge of maintaining land use records in the county, including deeds and mortgages, preserving county records, handling certain election functions including counting ballots, receiving petitions, handling absentee ballots and designing ballots, serving as the local passport office for Bergen County and handling other services including identification cards for veterans. As County Clerk she also functioned as a

Recorder of Deeds Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over ...

for Bergen County. In 1994 Donovan was appointed by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

with the designation of Chairwoman of the Port Authority. As Port Authority Chairwoman, Donovan was a part-time official overseeing a bi-state agency governing all of the New York area ports, including

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

, Newark Liberty International Airport and

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

, along with the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

and the

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

mass transit system between New York and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Donovan stepped down as Port Authority Chairwoman in December 1995 in order to unsuccessfully run for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in the 1996 election, but she retained her seat on the agency's Board of Commissioners. Donovan remained a Port Authority Commissioner until 2002 when she was replaced by Gov. James McGreevey when her term expired. She was a commissioner when the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

destroyed the World Trade Center. Seats on the Port Authority Board are considered one of the top political appointments that can be awarded by the

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 r ...

or the Governor of New York.

Bergen County Executive

Donovan ran for County Executive in 2010, where she defeated incumbent Dennis McNerney and swept into office with her three Freeholder running mates, in an election in which perceived corruption by the Democratic incumbents, and rising spending and taxes were the major issues. Donovan won with 52.9% of the vote (117,104), while McNerney received 47.1% (104,366). On November 4, 2014, Donovan lost her reelection bid to Democratic Freeholder James J. Tedesco III, in an election in which the major issues were the county budget, consolidation of the county police and sheriff, and issues regarding lawsuits filed between the different branches of government. Election results showed her garnering 45.8% (91,299) of the vote compared to Tedesco's 54.16% (107,958).Staff
"RESULTS OF MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY RACES"
'' The Record'', November 5, 2014. Accessed December 27, 2014.

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Kathleen 1952 births Living people Chairmen of the New Jersey Republican State Committee Cleveland–Marshall College of Law alumni County clerks in New Jersey Bergen County, New Jersey executives Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly People from Rutherford, New Jersey Politicians from Bergen County, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Women state legislators in New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey people Chairmen of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 21st-century American women