Randy Corman

J. Randall "Randy" Corman (born September 25, 1960) is an American Republican Party politician who served a single term in the New Jersey Senate, from 1992 to 1994, where he represented the 19th Legislative District, which covers portions of Middlesex County.

Biography

Corman was born in El Paso, Texas and raised in Sayreville, New Jersey, where he graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School in 1978.[1] He was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2006.[2] He graduated from Rutgers University in 1982.[1]

He continues to reside in Sayreville with his wife and 4 children.

Elective office and government service

Together with Emery Z. Toth, Corman ran for Assembly in the 19th District in 1989, losing to incumbent Democrat George Otlowski and Jim McGreevey. As a councilmember in Sayreville, Corman had opposed the construction of an incinerator project in Sayreville based on environmental concerns that did not justify the development on the former NL Industries site.[3]

Mikulak ran for the Senate in what had traditionally been a solidly Democratic district, as part of a campaign that targeted the Democrats statewide as being responsible for higher taxes. As part of the Republican landslide that year in the New Jersey Legislature in the wake of Governor of New Jersey Jim Florio's $2.8 billion tax increase package, Corman was elected to the Senate together with running mates Stephen A. Mikulak and Ernest L. Oros in the New Jersey General Assembly, defeating Laurence S. Weiss in the Senate and incumbent Democrat Thomas J. Deverin and his running mate Jay Ziznewski in the Assembly.[4][5][6] After one term in office, Corman lost his seat in the Senate to Democrat Jim McGreevey, one of three Senate seats that the Democrats picked up in that year's election cycle.[7]

Corman sponsored one of a set of bills proposed in October 1992 that would increase penalties for motor vehicle theft, arguing that it deserves more than "a slap on the wrist". He cited an incident in which a juvenile sought to be arrested so that he could join his friends in a juvenile detention center, with Corman insisting that juvenile car thieves "should not look at incarceration like summer camp".[8]

In December 1992, Corman introduced legislation in the Senate that would subject "anyone conducting unauthorized surveillance of customers in a retail business in New Jersey" to arrest on disorderly conduct charges; New York City had been sending investigators to shopping malls in New Jersey to record the license plate numbers of vehicle from New York State as part of an effort to determine if shoppers from New York were liable for use tax on purchases made in the Garden State.[9]

Corman was named as director of law for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in April 1997, a position paying an annual salary of $95,000, as part of what The Record (Bergen County) described as "a parade of former Middlesex County officials who have landed lucrative jobs at the toll-road agency".[10]

Corman is a judge with the Middlesex County Worker's Compensation Court, having been nominated by then-Governor Chris Christie in 2013.[11]

References

1. Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1992, p. 215. J.A. Fitzgerald, 1992. Accessed December 24, 2019. "Senator Corman was born Sept. 25, 1960, in El Paso, Texas. He was the valedicotian of his Sayreville War Memorial High School graduating class in 1978. In 1982 he graduated from Rutgers University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa."
2. Acker, Michael. "Inductees include boro officials, judge, diver; Second annual round of SWMHS inductions scheduled for May", Suburban, April 13, 2006. Accessed October 9, 2018. "The honorees in this second round of inductions - the Hall of Fame was created last year - are Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) Executive Director and former state Sen. Randy Corman, Borough Councilman Stanley Drwal, national diving champion Reyne Borup Quackenbush, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Victor J. Wolski, and SERA Vice Chairman and volunteer firefighter Raniero Travisano.... Corman, who graduated from Sayreville with the class of 1978, is another public official being inducted into the Hall of Fame."
3. Sullivan, Joseph F. "Taxes and Environment Affect a New Jersey Race", The New York Times, October 4, 1989. Accessed July 11, 2010.
4. Gray, Jerry. "Tax Increase Turns a Once-Confident New Jersey Senator Nervous", The New York Times, November 1, 1991. Accessed July 11, 2010.
5. NJ Senate District 19 - History, OurCampaigns.com. Accessed July 11, 2010.
6. NJ Assembly 19 - History, OurCampaigns.com. Accessed July 11, 2010.
7. Sullivan, Joseph F. "THE 1993 ELECTIONS: Legislature; Republicans Keep Their Control of the Senate and Assembly for Life Under Whitman", The New York Times, November 3, 1993. Accessed July 11, 2010.
8. King, Wayne. "Bills Against Car Thefts Gain in Trenton", The New York Times, October 20, 1992. Accessed July 11, 2010.
9. King, Wayne. "Trenton Aims at Dinkins In Commuter-Tax Battle", The New York Times, December 18, 1992. Accessed February 15, 2011.
10. Gilbert, Pat. R. "Ex-State Senator Lands Turnpike Job", The Record (Bergen County), April 30, 1997. Accessed July 11, 2010.
11. Bell, Deborah. "Christie Nominates Freeholder Director Christopher Rafano to NJ Superior Court Rafano is one of two Middlesex County men who have been picked by Gov. Chris Christie for NJ Superior Court slots.", Woodbridge, NJ Patch, January 29, 2013. Accessed December 24, 2019. "Christie also nominated a Republican candidate to the Superior Court. J. Randall Corman is an attorney and currently is employed as an administrative law judge. Corman, who served as a Sayreville councilman and director of law to the NJ Turnpike Authority, was elected in 1991 as the 19th District state senator in the anti-tax sentiment against then-Governor Jim Florio."

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