Paul D. Moriarty (born September 25, 1956) is an American Democratic Party politician who represents the 4th Legislative District 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 ...

since taking office on January 10, 2006. He served as the Assembly's Deputy Speaker since 2018.

Early life

Moriarty worked as an investigative journalist at

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel ...

for 17 years protecting consumer rights and investigating unscrupulous or unethical businesses. Before KYW, Moriarty was a news producer at

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...

-TV. Moriarty's has earned over 30

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s, honors from the National Press Association, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

and the Radio-Television News Directors Association. He was a member of

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording a ...

(AFTRA) for 20 years while working as a journalist. He served six years as a shop steward.

Mayor of Washington Township

Running on a platform of open government,

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inher ...

relief, and the elimination of waste and inefficiency, Moriarty was elected Mayor of Washington Township in November 2004. He garnered 60% of the vote in a hotly contested four-way race in which Republican voters were sharply divided. He was mayor of Washington Township for one term from 2005 until 2008. After forming a recall committee, on June 9, 2006, a Washington Township resident filed a petition to recall Moriarty from his post as mayor, with the goal of placing the initiative on the November 2006 general election ballot based on obtaining the requisite number of about 8,000 signatures needed for recall. The recall effort was ultimately unsuccessful.

New Jersey Assembly

Moriarty was elected to the Assembly on November 8, 2005, filling the seat of fellow Democrat

Robert J. Smith II Robert J. Smith II (born June 20, 1963) is an American attorney and politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the 4th Legislative District from 2000 to 2006. He was the Assistant Majority Whip from 2002 until he le ...

, who did not run for re-election and had held the seat in the Assembly since 2000. On June 1, 2006, Assemblyman Moriarty, along with State Senator Stephen M. Sweeney (D, 3rd legislative district) and fellow Assembly Democrat Jerry Green (D, 22nd legislative district), held a press conference to announce their support for significant cuts to New Jersey state worker salaries and benefits of up to 15%. This effort was proposed to avoid a one-point increase in the state's sales tax designed to cover a multibillion-dollar gap in the state's budget. Significant negative reaction from the state's labor unions resulted primarily because of Sweeney's position as an Ironworkers business agent and treasurer from Gloucester County for Ironworker's Local 399, and also due to his position as the chairman of the Senate Labor committee which controls most labor-related bills, but also because of Moriarty's history as an AFTRA shop steward and stated support of the collective bargaining process.

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session are:Assemblyman Paul D. Moriarty (D)

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

. Accessed February 4, 2022. *Consumer Affairs, Chair *Regulated Professions

District 4

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative 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, ...

and two members in the

. The representatives from the 4th District for the 2022—2023 Legislative Session are:Legislative Roster for District 4

. Accessed January 11, 2022. *Senator

Fred H. Madden Fred H. Madden Jr. (born March 30, 1954) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 4th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate since taking office on January 13, 2004. Early life and education Madden is a 19 ...

(D) *Assemblyman Paul D. Moriarty (D) *Assemblywoman

Gabriela Mosquera Gabriela M. Mosquera (born January 3, 1977) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 4th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since taking office on March 5, 2012. Early life Mosquera was born on ...

(D)

Personal life

Moriarty was raised in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the ...

and received a B.A. from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

in Communications. He has been a resident of

Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey Washington Township is a township in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 48,677, an increase of 118 from the 2010 census count of 48,559, which in turn reflected an i ...

since 1996. He and his wife Lisa have a daughter, Meghan. Moriarty, who had sponsored a bill for increasing penalties for those making false emergency calls in a process called

swatting Swatting is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by ...

, was the recipient of a hoax call at his home in April 2015. On July 31, 2012, Moriarty was pulled over by Washington Township police officer Joseph DiBuonaventura on Route 42 for allegedly driving while intoxicated. Moriarty denied the charges. The police dashcam in DiBuonaventura's car contradicted his police report and charges against Moriarty were dismissed. DiBuonaventura was found not guilty on charges of misconduct and further charges against him were dropped when a judge ruled that the Township's police procedures were unlawful. As a result of the incident, Moriarty has created legislation that would require dashcams in all new police cars.

Electoral history

Assembly

References

External links

Assemblyman Moriarty's legislative web page

*''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
20122011201020092008200720062005Assembly Member Paul D. Moriarty

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Initiatives to Curb Excessive State Employee CompensationMadden, Moriarty, Mosquera Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moriarty, Paul D. 1956 births Living people American television journalists Emmy Award winners Mayors of places in New Jersey Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly People from Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey Politicians from Gloucester County, New Jersey Politicians from Salem, Massachusetts Temple University alumni American male journalists 21st-century American politicians