Paul Anthony Sarlo (born August 31, 1968) is an American

construction industry Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive d ...

and

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, who has served in the

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State Senate since 2003, where he represents the 36th Legislative District. Sarlo is a former Assistant Majority Leader of the Senate, a position held from 2004 until 2007, is currently a Deputy Majority Leader of 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, ...

(since 2008), and is also mayor of the borough of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey.

Personal life

Sarlo was born in Passaic on August 31, 1968, to

pipefitter A pipefitter or steamfitter is a tradesman who installs, assembles, fabricates, maintains, and repairs mechanical piping systems. Pipefitters usually begin as helpers or apprentices. Journeyman pipefitters deal with industrial/commercial/marine pi ...

and construction supervisor Anthony Sarlo and Providence Munofo, along with his siblings Diane, Charles and Tom. He grew up in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey and graduated from Wood-Ridge High School in 1986 where he was a scholar-athlete earning

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

s in football, basketball and baseball. He was named First Team All-Division and All-County in Baseball and was inducted into the WRHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. Sarlo studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the

New Jersey Institute of Technology {{Infobox university , name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology , image = New Jersey IT seal.svg , image_upright = 0.9 , former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...

, earning both a B.S. in 1991 and an M.S. in 1993. He is

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of Joseph M. Sanzari, Inc., a

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specializing in heavy construction, site work and

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located in Hackensack near

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

. Sarlo has overseen more than $150 million in projects and has worked with a skilled workforce of more than 200 men and women. He worked on the Route 4 and Route 17 interchange near Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, which was completed two years ahead of schedule. He has been a supporter of the construction of

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest ''chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered ...

USA's headquarters in

Englewood Cliffs Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, whose population at the 2010 United States census was 5,281.The Palisades near the

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. He married Concetta Maria Sarlo in 1997 and has two sons named Michael Joseph and Anthony Paul Sarlo, who was appointed to the

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

by the 56th

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 ...

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to German ...

. Sarlo serves as an Executive Board Member on the NJSIAA as an

ex officio member An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

. His brother Thomas is a councilman in Little Ferry.

Mayor of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey

Paul has served as Mayor of the Borough of Wood-Ridge since January 1, 2000. He was re-elected in 2003, 2007, 2011 and most recently 2019. He was a Councilman from 1995 to 2000 and served as Fire Commission. As Mayor, Sarlo has overseen the redevelopment of the former

Curtiss-Wright The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and ...

aircraft manufacturing site in Wood-Ridge, which is now known as Wesmont Station. The project includes a new

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing s ...

called Wesmont station that opened on May 15, 2016. Nearly 500 units have already been built with an additional 300 units planned to start construction in 2015. The area includes softball and baseball fields as well as a new indoor complex known as the Wood-Ridge Athletic Complex slated to open in 2022. During Sarlo's tenure as Mayor over 50% of the town's roads have been resurfaced, over 1,000 new trees have been planted, 14th Street Field was built, Donna Ricker Field at Wood-Ridge High School was upgraded with

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

, the Robert I. Stoesser Senior Center and

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, th ...

with the were renovated and completed in 2012–2013 and Historic Bianchi House was preserved and improved. Additionally, Bowman Park on Jocelyn Avenue, Veterans Park on Valley Boulevard and Bianchi House Park on 2nd Street were all rehabilitated. In 2013 the former Assumption

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The wo ...

was transformed into the Wood-Ridge Intermediate School for grades 4 to 6. Plans are in place to upgrade 14th Street Playground, Kohr's Park on 13th Street and the Little League Field on 6th Street in 2014–2015. Sarlo is a licensed professional engineer and a licensed Professional Planner. He and his wife, Concetta (the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

of Wood Ridge, New Jersey), have two sons, Anthony (born in 2000) and Michael (born in 2004). Paul coaches

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Babe Ruth League The Babe Ruth League is an international youth baseball and softball league based in Hamilton, New Jersey, US named after George Herman "Babe" Ruth. The parent program, Babe Ruth League, Incorporated, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. ...

baseball, Junior

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...

and Junior basketball. He is a parishioner at the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, is a member of the

Lions Club International The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquarte ...

and the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

and is an honorary member of the New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association.

Political career

Before his service as

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

, Sarlo spent one term in the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, the

lower house A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or ot ...

of the

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 ...

, from 2002 to 2003. He and Wallington, New Jersey mayor Walter Wargacki sought to unseat Republican

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-e ...

Paul DiGaetano and take the second seat that was vacated when John V. Kelly decided to challenge for the State Senate (which he lost). Although the Democrats did not gain both seats Sarlo was able to finish second in the voting and won a seat. As an Assemblyman, he served as Vice Chairman of the Labor Committee and as a member of the Appropriations Committee. He was a member of the Assembly Light Rail Panel and the Assembly Task Force on

Fiscal Responsibility A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...

. While in the Assembly, Sarlo was the prime sponsor of the bill creating a $29 million grant to establish a statewide bio-terrorism response plan. He also sponsored legislation to restore the Office of Public Advocate and to provide benefits and incentives for members of volunteer

fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression s ...

s and

rescue squad A rescue squad is an emergency service that provides technical rescue services, and may also provide emergency medical services and firefighting services. Rescue squads may be standalone organizations or an integrated part of fire departments ...

s. He has also taken leading roles on legislation related to the health and welfare of women and children. Sarlo was appointed as state senator when former District 36 Senator Garry Furnari, an attorney and mayor of Nutley was appointed to the

New Jersey Superior Court The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts.Jeffrey S. Mandel, New Jersey Appellate Pr ...

. Sarlo had been the choice of Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joe Ferriero to succeed Furnari. After he was appointed to the State Senate, Frederick Scalera was appointed to fill his vacant seat in the Assembly. In the 2003 general election, Sarlo was challenged by former

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 ...

member John V. Kelly. Sarlo outspent Kelly by a nearly three-to-one margin in a pivotal race at a time when the Senate was evenly split between the two major parties and a change in party for any one seat could tip control of the upper house. Democrats won full control of the Senate and Sarlo won election to a full term in office by a margin of 53–44%. Exactly one year after being elected to the state senate Sarlo would serve as Assistant Majority Leader from 2004 to 2007 under Majority Leader

Bernard Kenny Bernard F. Kenny Jr. (born November 17, 1946, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American Democratic Party politician, who represented the 33rd Legislative District in the New Jersey State Senate from 1993 to 2008, after serving in the New Je ...

from

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey Apportionment Commission The New Jersey Apportionment Commission is a constitutionally-created ten-member commission responsible for reapportioning the forty districts of the New Jersey Legislature. The commission is convened after each decennial U.S. Census, and the di ...

, the committee delegated to redraw the state legislative districts following the 2010 Census. Sarlo has been a long-time proponent of the EnCap proposal to build golf courses and homes on remediated landfills in the New Jersey Meadowlands. He sponsored a bill in 2004 that enabled three Meadowlands communities -- Lyndhurst, North Arlington, and Rutherford—to negotiate their own deals with EnCap under which the impacted area municipalities would receive 40% - 50% of all future tax revenues. A judge knocked Sarlo's 2007 GOP opponent, Michael Guarino, off the ballot, ruling that the outspoken critic of the EnCap project, had not collected enough valid signatures to qualify for a ballot position. Even though Guarino was knocked off the ballot because of a lack of signatures, he received enough write-in votes to win the GOP nomination. Sarlo served five years on the Wood-Ridge Borough Council (1995–2000). Since 2000, Sarlo has served as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Wood-Ridge Borough. He was Borough Engineer for the Borough of Carlstadt from 1998 to 2009 but had to step down due to a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

and is currently serving in the New Jersey State Senate as Assistant Deputy Majority Leader to Senator Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (politician) since January 11, 2022, and from 2012 to 2022 under Loretta Weinberg. Sarlo is also the

of Joseph M. Sanzari, Inc. He simultaneously holds a seat in the New Jersey Senate and as Mayor. This dual position, often called

double dipping A dual mandate is the practice in which elected officials serve in more than one elected or other public position simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain and ''cumul des mandats'' in France; not to be confused ...

, is allowed under a

grandfather clause A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

in the

State law (United States) In the United States, state law refers to the law of each separate U.S. state. The fifty states are separate sovereigns, with their own state constitutions, state governments, and state courts. All states have a legislative branch which en ...

enacted by the

and signed into law by

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran ...

in September 2007 that prevents dual-office-holding but allows those who had held both positions as of February 1, 2008, to retain both posts. In February 2019, Sarlo recommended that Mark Musella, a 56-year-old attorney from Wood-Ridge, should be chosen to replace outgoing Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal. Musella became Bergen Country Prosecutor on May 20, 2019, four months after Sarlo had made the recommendation. In April 2019, Sarlo had made a statement on the Newark water crisis by saying, "The United States of America is not a Third World developing country. In America, people should never, ever have to live in fear that the water they drink could sicken them or cause disabilities in their young children." On February 24, 2022, Sarlo announced that he would introduce legislation that would bar public entities in New Jersey from doing business with Russia or Russia-tied companies in response to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. In the statement he said, “Russia’s unjustified attack of Ukraine is an assault on democracy that demands a response that sends a clear message that these actions will have consequences,” Sarlo said in a statement. “They violated the sovereignty of another country with complete disregard for the lives of innocent people. This demands a response by everyone who respects freedom and values human rights.”

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session are:Senator Paul A. Sarlo

. Accessed February 20, 2022. *Budget and Appropriations, Chair *Joint Budget Oversight *Judiciary

District 36

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

and two members in the

. The representatives from the 36th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are: *Senator Paul Sarlo (D) *Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese (D) *Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D)

Election history

Honors and distinctions

While playing baseball as a NJIT student-athlete from 1989 to 1991, Sarlo earned

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

All-American honors. As a senior, he was named the Independent Athletic Conference Player of the Year. In 2005, he was inducted into the NJIT Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005 for his accomplishments on the field, which include holding the program's highest single-season batting average. NJIT awarded Sarlo an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad h ...

of Doctor of Science at its May 17, 2022 Commencement Ceremony.

References

External links

Legislative webpageSenator Sarlo's Page
* anuary 24, 2022 Senator Sarlo's legislative web page

*''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
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, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarlo, Paul 1968 births 21st-century American politicians American chief operating officers Living people Mayors of places in New Jersey Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly New Jersey Institute of Technology alumni Democratic Party New Jersey state senators People from Wood-Ridge, New Jersey Politicians from Bergen County, New Jersey