Michael Patrick Carroll

Michael Patrick Carroll (born April 8, 1958) is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey. He represented the 25th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly, first taking office in 1996. Carroll did not run for re-election in 2019, choosing instead to run for Morris County Surrogate,[1] though he lost the Republican Party primary for Surrogate to Morris County Freeholder Heather Darling.[2]

Michael Patrick Carroll
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 25th District
In office
January 9, 1996 – January 14, 2020
Preceded byArthur R. Albohn
Succeeded byBrian Bergen
Assembly Minority Parliamentarian
In office
January 10, 2012 – January 14, 2020
LeaderJon Bramnick
Preceded byJames Holzapfel
Succeeded byTBD
In office
January 8, 2002 – January 10, 2006
LeaderAlex DeCroce
Succeeded byRick Merkt
Personal details
Born (1958-04-08) April 8, 1958
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Sharon Anderson
ChildrenSix
ResidenceMorris Township, New Jersey
Alma materJohns Hopkins University (B.A.)
Rutgers School of Law–Newark (J.D.)
OccupationPolitician, Attorney
WebsiteLegislative Website
Assembly Republicans Website

Early life

Carroll was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on April 8, 1958, the son of Maurice C. and Margaret W. Carroll. Although his parents resided in New Jersey, his father's military service carried him to Fort Bragg at the time of his son's birth. Both of Carroll's parents are former reporters, his father having written for the New York Herald Tribune, The New York Times and Newsday, while his mother wrote for the Daily Record. His father has been the director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. He is of German and Irish descent. Carroll moved with his family to Morris Township, New Jersey in 1960. Carroll attended public school in the Morris School District through grammar school, then Delbarton School, from which he graduated in 1976. He attended Johns Hopkins University, earning a B.A. in Social and Behavioral Sciences in 1980. He pursued his legal education at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, receiving his J.D. in 1983.[3] While at Johns Hopkins, Carroll served as the Region II Co-Director for the College Republican National Federation and held various offices in the Johns Hopkins Republican Club, including President. In 1978, he interned in the offices of Congressman Jack Kemp. During law school, he served briefly as an aide to State Senator John Dorsey. He also founded the Morris County Young Republicans, serving as the Chairman of that group for four years. He was first elected to the Morris County Republican Committee for Morris Township in 1980. In 1984, after moving to Morristown, he was elected to the Republican County Committee there, serving as Chairman for one term. Returning to Morris Township, he was once again elected to the Republican County Committee, a position he presently holds. He is also a Member of the Knights of Columbus, the Federalist Society and the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick.

New Jersey Assembly

Carroll first ran for the Assembly in 1993 using as his campaign slogan "Roll Back Florio's Taxes" and pledging to work for the complete repeal of Governor James Florio's entire 1990 tax increases; he lost that election by fewer than 400 votes to incumbent Assemblyman Arthur R. Albohn (then-Assemblyman Rodney Frelinghuysen received the most votes in the primary).[4] When Albohn retired in 1995, Carroll and Anthony Bucco, who was appointed to the Assembly after Frelinghuysen's election to Congress, prevailed in a Republican primary against Rick Merkt, Chris Christie, and two others, going onto victory in the fall.[5] Upon his election to the Assembly, Carroll served on the Judiciary and State Government Committees. Over the course of the next nine terms, he also served on the Health, Regulatory Oversight, Human Services, Law and Public Safety, Housing and Local Government, and Higher Education Committees. At present, he sits on the Judiciary Committee and the State and Local Government Committee. He served as Republican Parliamentarian from 2002 to 2005, and again from 2012 to the present.[3] He also served of the State Human Relations Commission, the Sentencing Review Commission, the New Jersey Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and as the Assembly Republican Liaison to the State Historical Commission. For the 2018-19 session, Carroll has been assigned to serve on the Higher Education Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the State and Local Government Committee.[3] During the term of Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Carroll became one of her most consistent Republican critics, voting against all but one of her budgets. He and fellow conservatives, including Marion Crecco, Scott Garrett, Guy R. Gregg, Rick Merkt, and Guy Talarico formed a loose-knit coalition dubbed by the press "The Mountain Men" for their conservative stances. Carroll was among only a handful of Assembly Members Legislators to vote against Governor Whitman's "Pension Bond" proposal. He and fellow conservatives were early opponents of Governor Whitman's proposal to raise the gasoline tax and they have, ever since, taken credit for killing that initiative. Along with Rick Merkt and others, Carroll was an early proponent of ending defined benefit pension plans and warned against the looming crisis of unfunded liabilities in the 1990s. Carroll was also among the earliest opponents of HOV lanes along Interstate 287 and Interstate 80 (created as a result of an initiative by Senator Frank Lautenberg). When they were finally abolished, local media proclaimed him one of the "heroes" in the fight against those lanes. While serving with the Republican majority, Carroll secured passage of a bill which exempted the first $500,000 of profit from the sale of a couple's home from state income tax. He proposed a Bill to mandate the reading, in school each morning, of a section of the Declaration of Independence.[6] Assemblyman Carroll has never voted for a single tax increase. The April 2003 issue of New Jersey Monthly magazine cited Carroll as the "Most Conservative" member of the New Jersey Legislature. The magazine cited Carroll's "...missionary zeal and his talent for articulating his stances on behalf of individual and property rights, the sanctity of family—including unborn children—and the cult of Reaganism..." in elaborating on their choice. .[7] Carroll is one of the prime sponsors of a proposal to name a stretch of highway in Morris County after Ronald Reagan. A longtime opponent of what he characterizes as "judicial usurpation of the legislative function", Carroll introduced proposals to amend the New Jersey Constitution to reverse the affordable housing mandate contained in the Mount Laurel doctrine, to repeal the school funding decisions that created Abbott districts and to preclude the judiciary from imposing any requirement that the Legislature raise taxes or spend money. A strong proponent of Second Amendment rights and freedoms, Carroll sponsors a proposal to repeal New Jersey's present statutes and replace them with laws akin to those extant in Vermont. He has also sponsored proposals requiring that no tax increase be imposed absent a super-majority of legislative votes; to limit the salaries of state and local officials; and to preclude governmental workers from participation in partisan politics.

Committees
  • Higher Education
  • Judiciary
  • State and Local Government
  • Joint Committee on Housing and Affordability

District 25
New Jersey's 25th Legislative District-2011 Apportionment

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 25th District for the 218th New Jersey Legislature are:[8][9]

Personal life

An attorney admitted to the Bar in 1983, Carroll practices in Morristown. A general practitioner with a focus on family law, appellate practice, municipal and land use law, he represents the Montville Planning Board. He also taught Business Law at County College of Morris for several years as an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers Law School, Newark. In 1983, Carroll married Sharon, née Anderson, whom he met when the two of them worked together at McDonald's. The couple has six children: Sean Michael, James Patrick, Brian Christopher, Jane Eleanor, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Edward Lee.[10] Carroll has often appeared at Junior State of America conventions in New Jersey, including a conference at Princeton University in October 2008 and another in March 2009.

Electoral History

New Jersey Assembly
New Jersey general election, 2017[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 30,323 26.2 2.0
Republican Tony Bucco (Incumbent) 30,278 26.1 3.4
Democratic Thomas Moran 27,848 24.0 3.2
Democratic Richard Corcoran 27,386 23.6 2.0
Total votes '115,835' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2015[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Tony Bucco (Incumbent) 13,974 29.5 13.5
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 13,372 28.2 12.2
Democratic Richard J. Corcoran III 10,230 21.6 N/A
Democratic Thomas Moran 9,849 20.8 N/A
Total votes '47,425' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2013[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Tony Bucco (Incumbent) 35,536 43.0 13.5
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 33,393 40.4 10.4
Listen, Lead, Succeed Rebecca Feldman 9,209 11.2 N/A
Principle Before Politics Jack Curtis 4,426 5.4 N/A
Total votes '82,564' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2011[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 18,481 30.0
Republican Tony Bucco (Incumbent) 18,218 29.5
Democratic Gale Heiss Colucci 12,564 20.4
Democratic George Stafford 12,432 20.2
Total votes 61,695 100.0
New Jersey general election, 2009[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Tony Bucco 39,150 33.0 3.3
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 38,188 32.2 3.3
Democratic Wendy Wright 21,431 18.0 3.5
Democratic Rebekah Conroy 20,010 16.8 3.1
Total votes '118,779' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2007[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Rick Merkt (Incumbent) 22,102 29.7 1.6
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 21,468 28.9 2.1
Democratic Dana Wefer 16,001 21.5 1.1
Democratic Marshall L. Gates 14,780 19.9 2.6
Total votes '74,351' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2005[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Rick Merkt (Incumbent) 32,089 28.1 9.0
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 30,636 26.8 10.8
Democratic Thomas Jackson 25,751 22.6 2.8
Democratic Janice Schindler 25,709 22.5 N/A
Total votes '114,185' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2003[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 23,841 37.6 7.6
Republican Rick Merkt (Incumbent) 23,525 37.1 7.1
Democratic Thomas A. Zelante 16,094 25.4 4.6
Total votes '63,460' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 2001[19]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 33,426 30.0
Republican Rick Merkt (Incumbent) 33,414 30.0
Democratic Ann Huber 23,110 20.8
Democratic Dick Tighe 21,408 19.2
Total votes 111,358 100.0
New Jersey general election, 1999[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Rick Merkt (Incumbent) 17,259 30.5 0.2
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 17,204 30.4 1.4
Democratic Ronald J. Pellegrino 10,607 18.7 1.1
Democratic Gerald A. Nunan 10,018 17.7 0.1
Conservative James Spinosa 772 1.4 0.0
Conservative Stephen Spinosa 750 1.3 0.2
Total votes '56,610' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 1997[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll (Incumbent) 37,935 31.8 3.2
Republican Rick Merkt 36,649 30.7 0.1
Democratic Chris Evangel 20,968 17.6 0.7
Democratic Harriet Lerner 20,967 17.6 0.5
Conservative James Spinosa 1,630 1.4 0.7
Conservative Stephen Spinosa 1,296 1.1 1.0
Total votes '119,445' '100.0'
New Jersey general election, 1995[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Anthony Bucco (Incumbent) 21,787 30.8 6.1
Republican Michael Patrick Carroll 20,215 28.6 2.6
Democratic Stephen D. Landfield 12,943 18.3 2.0
Democratic Stanley B. Yablonsky 12,795 18.1 3.1
Conservative Joseph Long 1,495 2.1 N/A
Conservative Jim Spinosa 1,478 2.1 N/A
Total votes '70,713' '100.0'

References
  1. "Carroll to run for Morris County surrogate". New Jersey Globe. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  2. "Darling wins beats Michael Patrick Carroll for Surroagte". New Jersey Insider. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  3. Assemblyman Carroll's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 31. 2018.
  4. "Official List Primary Election Returns for the Office of Senate and Assembly for Election Held June 8, 1993" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. August 3, 1993. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  5. "Official List Primary Election Returns for the Office of General Assembly for Election Held June 6, 1995" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. July 6, 1995. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  6. "July 4, 1999 - Declaration of Independence Dispute - 2002-02-01", Voice of America, February 1, 2002. Accessed January 31, 2018. "RS: There's debate over a bill in the state of New Jersey to require schoolchildren to recite two sentences from the declaration of independence each day.... MICHAEL CARROLL Our students, I think, our children, are not getting a sufficient sense these days of what makes it special to be an American, and in these two short sentences, these fifty-six words, Jefferson distills the essence of what America is all about. AA: Michael Patrick Carroll sponsored the bill in the New Jersey assembly."
  7. Otis, Lauren. ""Statehouse Confidential"". Archived from the original on June 22, 2003. Retrieved 2007-02-02.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), New Jersey Monthly, April 2006. Accessed August 17, 2007.
  8. Legislative Roster 2018-2019 Session, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 31, 2018.
  9. District 25 Legislators, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 31, 2018.
  10. Michael Patrick Carroll biography Archived 2006-02-02 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed August 17, 2007.
  11. "2017-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  12. "2015-official-ge-results-nj-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  13. "2013-official-general-election-results-general-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  14. "2011-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-results-121411.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  15. "2009-official-gen-elect-gen-assembly-tallies-120109.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  16. "2007-official-general-election-tallies(ga)-12.12.07.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  17. "05831236.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  18. "2003g_a_candidate_tally.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  19. "2001-general-elect-gen-assembly-tallies.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  20. "1999-general-elect-gen-assembly-candidate-tallies.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 29, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  21. "1997-general-election-results-state-assembly.pdf" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  22. "NJ General Assembly 25". Our Campaigns. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
New Jersey General Assembly
Preceded by
Arthur R. Albohn		 Member of the New Jersey General Assembly for the 25th District
January 9, 1996 – present
With: Anthony Bucco, Rick Merkt, Tony Bucco, Aura K. Dunn		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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