Bernard Hartnett Archives - New Jersey Globe

Happy 101st Birthday, Congressman Frank Guarini

August 20, 2025 12:00 amAugust 21, 2025 11:22 am

Frank J. Guarini, Jr., who served as a congressman from a Hudson County district for fourteen years, celebrates his 101st birthday today. The Jersey City Democrat is the oldest living former congressman from New Jersey, the oldest living former statewide...

Freedom Rider Byron Baer spent 34 years in the NJ legislature — and 45 days in a Mississippi prison

July 29, 2021 12:01 amJuly 28, 2021 6:39 pm

Today is the 60th anniversary of the arrest of Freedom Rider Byron Baer, a longtime New Jersey legislator who was charged with attempting to desegregate a blacks-only waiting room at the Greyhound bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi. He spent 45...

Freedom Rider Byron Baer spent 34 years in the NJ legislature — and 45 days in a Mississippi prison

July 29, 2020 12:10 amJuly 29, 2020 12:59 pm

Today is the 59th anniversary of the arrest of Freedom Rider Byron Baer, a longtime New Jersey legislator who was charged with attempting to desegregate a blacks-only waiting room at the Greyhound bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi. He spent 45...

Henry Cioffi, former three-term Long Branch mayor, dies at 87

April 30, 2020 3:35 pmDecember 23, 2020 1:00 pm

Henry R. Cioffi, a former three-term mayor of Long Branch whose endorsement of 30-year-old Frank Pallone for a city council seat helped launch the political career of one of the nation’s most powerful congressman, died on April 27. He was...

Threatening to run if he didn’t get the line almost cost Howard 24 years in Congress

April 12, 2020 3:51 pmJuly 25, 2021 12:51 pm

A political misstep in a closed-door party screening committee might have cost James J. Howard the chance to spends 24 years as a Democratic congressman from a heavily Republican Monmouth-Ocean district. Howard, one of the most politically adept, naturally-gifted politicians...

Freedom Rider Byron Baer spent 34 years in the NJ legislature — and 45 days in a Mississippi prison

July 29, 2019 8:02 amJanuary 18, 2021 4:17 pm

Today is the 58th anniversary of the arrest of Freedom Rider Byron Baer, a longtime New Jersey legislator who was charged with attempting to desegregate a blacks-only waiting room at the Greyhound bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi. He spent 45...

Baer vs. Helstoski vs. Hollenbeck ’76

April 29, 2018 10:55 amApril 30, 2018 4:52 pm

There’s a great, mostly-forgotten story about Byron Baer and how he came excruciatingly close to winning a congressional seat 42 years ago. The congressman from the 9th district was Henry Helstoski, a six-term Democrat with a trademark crew cut who...