Cultivating Justice in the Garden State : My Life in the Colorful World of New Jersey Politics

Born into a working-class Polish immigrant family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Raymond Lesniak went on to become a major force in the tough and bruising world of state politics. In this remarkable memoir, he reflects upon his life and career fighting for social justice in the Garden State. He recounts the many causes he championed in his forty years as a state legislator, from the landmark Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act to bills concerning animal protections, marriage equality, women’s reproductive rights, and the abolition of the death penalty. He also delves into his experiences on the national stage as a key advisor for Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s presidential campaigns. With refreshing candor, Lesniak describes both his greatest achievements and his moments of failure, including his unsuccessful 2017 gubernatorial run. __Cultivating Justice in the Garden State__ is both a gripping American success story and a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of our political system. It offers an insider’s perspective on the past fifty years of New Jersey politics, while presenting a compelling message about what leaders and citizens can do to improve the state’s future. "Anyone looking at the first two decades of his life would never have predicted Ray Lesniak would reach the highest levels of New Jersey state government, become a friend of US presidents, serve forty years in the New Jersey State Legislature and become Democratic State Chairman and New Jersey Chair of the Clinton/Gore and Gore/Lieberman campaigns for President. He had neither the family finances nor the ambition to predict that he would achieve such prominence. His father, John D. Lesniak, quit school in 8th grade and took a job as a dockworker in Elizabeth, NJ. His mother, Stephanie, worked as a housecleaner. Growing up, the future state senator displayed little apparent ambition. He dropped out of Rutgers -- twice. But, after serving in the US Army, he finally graduated Rutgers and went on to matriculate at St John's Law School. After a stellar academic showing in law school, he was adopted by a political mentor, Katharine "Ma" Green, a machine politician who championed the causes of Polish American immigrants and their families. Green secured the new law school graduate a job as Staff Attorney with the Office of Poverty and the Law, Department of Community Affairs, State of New Jersey in Trenton. In his role as a public litigator, Lesniak argued the landmark Ponter v. Ponter case which established a woman's right to choose any medical procedure involving her body, in this case a sterilization operation. Lesniak's career in electoral politics began when he was elected to the State Assembly in 1983. As an assemblyman, he sponsored some of the most stringent environmental protection laws in the country, advanced significant criminal justice reforms, including abolishing the death penalty, and championed same sex marriage"-- Provided by publisher Contents Foreword Prologue 1. My Hometown 2. Ma Green’s Boy 3. Settling Scores 4. Elections Matter 5. Working Together 6. The Natural: The Saga of Jim McGreevey 7. Christie, Golan Cipel, and the Kushner Connection 8. Fighting Injustices 9. The Fight for LGBTQ Rights 10. On the Banks of the Old Raritan: My Love Affair with Rutgers University 11. Sports Betting: A Good Bet 12. A Wakeup Call and a Near Loss 13. Animal Welfare 14. Tax Incentives 15. Gubernatorial Campaign: Not the Last Hurrah Epilogue Acknowledgments Index In this remarkable memoir, Raymond Lesniak reflects upon his life and career fighting for social justice in the Garden State. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of our political system, it offers a unique insider's perspective on the past fifty years of New Jersey politics.