Bret Schundler (born 1960) is a Republican Party politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1992 until 2001. In 2001, he was the Republican candidate in the election for Governor of New Jersey, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent, James McGreevey 56%-42%.
Schundler announced in 2004 that he will run again for governor in 2005. His primary competitor in the Republican primary is New Jersey businessman and former Thomas Kean aide Doug Forrester.
Biography
From this Politcal Website:
Schundler was the youngest of nine-children growing up in Woodbridge and Westfield, NJ. He was a solid student and an All-State football player in high school. This led to him being recruited by Harvard University, where to help pay for his tuition, Schundler washed dishes, cleaned bathrooms and worked as a security guard.
Upon graduating with honors, and following a semester at the University of Haifa in Israel, Schundler worked for a Democratic Congressman and for Gary Hart's presidential primary, and then embarked on a successful career in finance at Salomon Brothers and C. J. Lawrence.
Inspired in part by Ronald Reagan and the fall of the Berlin wall, Schundler came to the conclusion that the policies that most helped society's poor escape poverty were those of the Republican party.
Bret Schundler rose to national prominence at the age of 33 by becoming the first Republican since World War I to be elected the Mayor of Jersey City, NJ a city that is two-thirds Black, Hispanic and Asian, and only 6% Republican. Schundler's victory and subsequent actions in office gained much media coverage. Schundler enacted sweeping reforms to root out corruption, slash crime, and lower property taxes (including innovative policies that Time Magazine called a national model for fiscal reform). He was re-elected in 1993 with 69% of the vote the largest margin of victory for the office of Mayor in that city's history.
In his second and (following another landslide victory) third terms of office, Bret added to these successes with effective innovations in education, healthcare, and economic development. The television program 20/20 highlighted one of his innovations as the very model of how government programs should be restructured in America. His was first in the nation to create government-sponsored Health Savings Accounts became a model for the federal government's sponsorship of such a program in its healthcare overhaul. And a Rutgers University study chronicled the fact that under his management, Jersey City went from leading the state in job losses to instead enjoying ten times the job growth of New Jersey's five other largest cities combined.
In 2001, Schundler won a divisive primary battle against Bob Franks for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey.
Bret is currently the Chairman of Empower the People, a citizens action organization that is "working to help the people of New Jersey take back control of their government", and lives with his wife Lynn and their two children daughter Shaylin and son Hans Otto III in Jersey City.
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