Henry Helstoski

Infobox Congressman
name=Henry Helstoski


width=
state=New Jersey
district=9th
party=Democrat
term=January 1965 - January 1977
preceded=Frank C. Osmers, Jr.
succeeded=Harold C. Hollenbeck
date of birth= birth date|1925|3|2|mf=y
place of birth= Wallington, New Jersey
date of death= death date and age|1999|12|16|1925|3|2|mf=y
place of death= Wayne, New Jersey
spouse=
current occupation=

Henry Helstoski (March 2, 1925 - December 16, 1999) was an American politician. Helstoski, a Democrat, represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives for twelve years, lasting from 1965 until 1977.cite web
title = Henry Helstoski Profile
publisher = United States Congress
author =
date =
url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000465
accessdate = 2006-12-28 ] He was the representative for New Jersey's 8th congressional district.cite web
title = Henry Helstoski Biography
publisher = The Political Graveyard
author = Lawrence Kestenbaum
date =
url = http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/helme-hendershott.html
accessdate = 2006-12-28 ] Helstoski is best remembered for being indicted on charges of receiving bribes from illegal aliens in 1976, but he was never tried as all his charges were dropped by the United States Supreme Court.cite news
title = 1964 Democrat Electoral Landslide
publisher = New York Times
author = Nick Ravo
date = 1999-12-18
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907EFD61230F93BA25751C1A96F958260
accessdate = 2007-10-29 ]

Background

Helstoski was born in the Bergen County town of Wallington, New Jersey. He attended public schools in Wallington and Rutherford. After the completion of high school, Helstoski enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and served as an instructor and radio technician until the end of World War II in 1945. After the war, he went to Paterson State College and graduated from Montclair State Teachers College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947 and Master of Arts degree in 1949. Over the next thirteen years, Helstoski served as a teacher, high school principal and finally superintendent of all Bergen County schools. In 1956 he served as councilman of East Rutherford, New Jersey, and he served as mayor of the borough from 1957 until 1965. During his term as mayor, Helstoski also served as a management consultant in advertising until 1964.

Politics

Helstoski, a Democrat, then ran for the House of Representatives seat for New Jersey's 8th congressional district. The anti-Vietnam War Helstoski beat the nine-term Republican incumbent Frank C. Osmers, Jr. by 2,428 votes to win the election, and he was sworn in to the 89th United States Congress on January 3 1965. In 1969, Helstoski ran for Governor of New Jersey, becoming a candidate in the election just thirty minutes before the filing deadline, and he finished second in the Democratic primary. In Congress, he served as a member of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce from 1971 to 1974.

After being re-elected five more times to the House of Representatives, Helstoski ran into some problems. First, in 1975, he became the target of a federal corruption investigation that would span two years and four grand juries. In April of the following year, his brother was convicted of filing a false income tax return. In the 1976 congressional elections, three-time state assemblyman Byron Baer challenged Helstoski in the Democratic primary. A week before the primary, Helstoski was indicted on charges of extortion from illegal aliens from Chile and Argentina who in exchange wanted Helstoski to support a bill that let them remain in the United States. He was also accused of obstruction of justice, providing a false testimony before a grand jury, and conspiracy, in order to influence other witnesses to lie. In the primary, Helstoski polled 20,189 to 18,520 against Baer, winning as a result of 2,000 absentee ballots that had nearly a unanimous vote for Helstoski. Fraud allegations resulted, and a judge ordered the absentee ballots to be impounded for the time being. The challenge by Baer dragged on for months, until New Jersey Superior Court Judge John Marzulli ordered that a new primary election be held on September 21. In the new election, Helstoski captured 55% of the vote, and was proclaimed the Democratic candidate for the election against Harold Hollenbeck, a state assemblyman and senator. [cite web
title = Harold Capistan Hollenbeck Profile
publisher = United States Congress
author =
date =
url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000722
accessdate = 2006-12-28 ] Hollenbeck ended up winning the election against Helstoski, capturing a 54%-46% margin.

The Supreme Court ruled against government lawyers on several of the counts, and the others were dropped. [cite web
title = Former "duo of deceit" no lecture students about ethics
publisher = USA Today
author = Jayne O'Donnell
date = April 19 2005
url = http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/entrepreneurship/articles/20050424.htm
accessdate = 2006-12-28 ] One of Helstoski's outside counsel, Alfred Porro, was indicted and sentenced to six-year sentence at the Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp. [cite web
title = White-Collar Prisoner Recalls Downfall
publisher = Reuters
author = Deborah Lutterbeck
date =
url = http://www.fraudtech.bizland.com/news_link5.htm
accessdate = 2006-12-28 ]

After failing his re-election bid, Helstoski ran again in the 1978 election as an independent, winning only 13% of the vote. He ran for the Democratic primary in 1980, but lost to Gabriel Ambrosio. In 1981, Helstoski became the superintendent of the North Bergen School District, and held that position until 1985. He later served as a public relations consultant. Helstoski died on December 16 1999 at the age of 74, in Wayne, New Jersey.

References

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000465 Biography] at the "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress"
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/helme-hendershott.html The Political Graveyard profile for Henry Helstoski]

Persondata
NAME=Helstoski, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH=March 2 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH=Wallington, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH=December 16 1999
PLACE OF DEATH=Wayne, New Jersey