Harry Lerner Archives

Labor Leader: John J. Giblin served as State Senator, Essex County Freeholder

September 6, 2021 12:10 amSeptember 5, 2021 6:05 pm

John J. Giblin (1909-1975) was one of New Jersey’s most powerful labor leaders, serving as president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68, chairman of the national union, Essex County Freeholder and State Senator. Giblin was the patriarch...

Labor Leader: Joel Jacobson picked a public fight with Frank Sinatra

September 6, 2021 12:10 amSeptember 4, 2021 3:48 pm

One of the great New Jersey fights of the 1970s was between labor leader Joel R. Jacobson (1918-1989) and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra and Dean Martin were playing blackjack before their performance at the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City in...

Labor Leader: Paul J. Krebs, last president of NJ CIO served one-term in Congress

September 6, 2021 12:07 amSeptember 4, 2021 3:50 pm

The last New Jersey Democrat to lose a U.S. Senate race in New Jersey was Paul Krebs (1912-1996), labor leader and one-term congressman from Livingston. His story involves one of the great New Jersey labor union feuds. The account starts...

The story of a maid who became an assemblywoman

May 13, 2021 1:48 pmMay 13, 2021 2:45 pm

A former maid and the granddaughter of slaves, Remay Pearce served as an assemblywoman from Essex County for about seven weeks in 1979 and 1980. In those days, when a seat in the legislature became vacant, it would remain empty...

Harry McEnroe, 8-term Essex assemblyman, dies at 90

February 9, 2021 2:05 pmFebruary 9, 2021 7:55 pm

Harry A. McEnroe, Jr., a popular South Orange Democrat who served on the Essex County Board of Freeholders and in the New Jersey State Assembly during a political career that began as the Democratic challenger against Assembly Majority Leader Thomas...

Decade before Joe Clark ran for freeholder, another nationally-known celebrity ran for State Senate in an East Orange-based district

December 30, 2020 12:23 pmDecember 30, 2020 5:21 pm

A bid for Essex County freeholder by bullhorn-toting, baseball bat-wielding high school principal Joe Clark in 1988 came eleven years after another nationally acclaimed celebrity sought public office in an East Orange-based district. Althea Gibson, the first Black win the...

Labor Leader: John J. Giblin served as State Senator, Essex County Freeholder

September 7, 2020 12:05 amSeptember 6, 2020 12:23 am

John J. Giblin (1909-1975) was one of New Jersey’s most powerful labor leaders, serving as president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68, chairman of the national union, Essex County Freeholder and State Senator. Giblin was the patriarch...