Gina Genovese

Infobox Politician
name = Gina Genovese


office = Mayor of Long Hill Township
successor2 = incumbent
birth_date = birth date and age|1959|30|4
birth_place = Newark, NJ
party = Democratic Party
occupation=businesswoman
residence = Long Hill, New Jersey
footnotes =|

Gina Genovese (born April 30, 1959) is an American businesswoman and local politician. Currently, she serves on the Township Committee in Long Hill Township, New Jersey, where she has also served as mayor. In 2007, she was a candidate for the State Senate in district 21 in New Jersey. She currently lives in Long Hill with her partner of ten years, Wendy McCahill.

Biography

For the past 36 years Genovese resided in the 21st District.
* graduated from the Kent Place School in Summit in 1977
* spent three years refining her tennis game and teaching students at the Warren Racquet Club.
* In 1978, won the National Lipton Mixed Doubles Classic in Houston.
* attained a world ranking of 150 in tennis. Unfortunately, due to an injury, Gina was forced to retire.
* in 1983, she opened Gina's Tennis World. Gina built this Berkeley Heights-based business from 10 clients to a roster of thousands.
* For several years, Gina also ran an inner city tennis program for children in Jersey City.

Committee

In 2003, Genovese ran as a last minute fill-in candidate for Long Hill Township Committee and lost. The following year, Gina ran again and defeated a four-time Republican incumbent. Serving as the lone Democrat on the committee electing another Democrat to the committee within a year.

Mayor

In 2005, Gina was selected unanimously by the Republican majority committee to become the first Democratic mayor in the history of Long Hill Township. She made history by becoming the highest-ranking, openly gay elected official in the state. [cite news | url = http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-21-gay_x.htm | title = Same-sex unions in New Jersey legal, with limits | author = Tom Baldwin | publisher = USA Today]

Mayoral achievements

*She saved $300,000 by reducing the police administrative staff by 40% and cooperatively negotiating with the police leadership to create a new administrative structure.
*Developed and taught civics lessons to students in both Millington and Gillette about the election and budgeting processes.
*Signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to promote clean, environmentally-friendly technologies. As a small business owner, another highlight was instituting a business economic forum to support the needs of local businesses. She also opened the budget process to the public so people could understand the costs of services in the community.

Actions

*When Gina Genovese was Mayor of Long Hill Township, the 2006 Long Hill Township budget raised taxes by 3%, the second lowest increase for that year in Morris County. (See, Star-Ledger New Jersey Property Tax Rankings).
*On April 26, 2006, Mayor Genovese voted in favor of a pay-to-play ordinance and said such laws are needed in Trenton. (The Echoes-Sentinel, 5/4/06).

2007 Senatorial elections

Gina challenged incumbent NJ 21st District Senator Thomas Kean Jr.. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, she self-financed $225,000 of her campaign, the largest amount of any campaign listed. [http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1197784028124280.xml&coll=1] On Election Day, Kean received 29,795 votes (60%) and Genovese received 20,092 votes (40%). [http://www.nj.gov/oag/elections/2007results/2007-general_election_results.html]

On Election night Genovese stated, "I don't regret (the campaign). The last five months of my life have been the best of five months of my life. I would not change a thing." [http://www.goleader.com/07nov08/07nov08.pdf]

References

External links

* [http://www.ginagenovese.com campaign website]
* [http://www.longhillnj.org/ Website of Long Hill Township]