Bill Baroni

Early life

Baroni was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Catholic Charities arranged for him to be adopted by William Sr. and Geraldine Baroni of Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey a few days later.

He attended Steinert High School in Hamilton, New Jersey.

He received a B.A. from George Washington University in history and was awarded a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Career

Baroni became interested in politics as a teenager, working on the campaign of his hometown congressman, Christopher H. Smith (R), who was seeking re-election to his fourth term. He was also a driver for Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian in his campaign for U.S. Senator against Frank Lautenberg in 1994 and worked on the advance staff for the 1996 presidential campaign of Steve Forbes.

He served on the Mercer County Community College Board of Trustees from 1998 to 2003. He was a member of the Hamilton Township Planning Board from 1998 to 2000.

In 2003, Baroni mounted an aggressive campaign for the General Assembly, knocking on over 10,000 doors to defeat the Democratic incumbent Gary Guear. He was re-elected to the Assembly in 2005. In 2004 and 2005, he was the Assembly's Assistant Parliamentarian.

On November 6, 2007, he won election to become State Senator of the 14th Legislative District. He captured 62.3% of the vote, defeating Democratic Party opponent Seema Singh. Baroni filled the State Senate seat vacated by Republican Senator Peter Inverso.

There had been speculation that Baroni would seek the Republican nomination for United States Senate in 2008 against Frank Lautenberg, but his run for the New Jersey Senate effectively ended that speculation.

In 2008, Baroni served as State Chairman of John McCain's presidential campaign in New Jersey. Baroni served in the Senate on the Joint Committee on the Public Schools, the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, the Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee and the Judiciary Committee. He was also the only Republican state senator who voted for a 2010 measure to allow same-sex marriage in New Jersey. He supports same sex marriage in Ireland, of which he is also a citizen.

Legal career

Baroni was an associate at DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick & Cole, and then at Blank Rome. He was of counsel at Fornaro Francioso, a Hamilton firm. He served as chief counsel to Congressman Bob Franks in his 2000 U.S. Senate race. In 2002, when U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli withdrew his candidacy for re-election five weeks before Election Day after the Senate admonished him on ethics charges, Baroni argued for the Republicans in the New Jersey Supreme Court against a last-minute switch of candidates to Frank Lautenberg.

Since 2002, Baroni has been an adjunct professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law, where he teaches classes on Professional Responsibility, voting rights, legislation, and campaign finance reform. Baroni served on the Foundation Board of both The College of New Jersey and Mercer County Community College. Baroni is also chairman of the board of trustees of the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra and on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and on the board of trustees for Visitation Home, which builds homes for New Jersey residents with disabilities. Baroni is also a special advisor to the New Jersey Boys' State Foundation, and is a former delegate at Jersey Boys' State.

Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie

On February 19, 2010, the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, announced that he was appointing Baroni to the position of Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He resigned his Senate seat to assume the new post on March 1, 2010. Tom Goodwin was selected to fill the vacant seat.

On December 12, 2013, Christie announced that Baroni had resigned as Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This occurred after the scandal over lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, perhaps to punish Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie. Later email disclosures indicate that Baroni attempted to squelch press that the lane closures were improper.

On January 9, 2014, Baroni was named as a defendant in a federal class action lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey which cited a civil conspiracy and "willful, wanton, arbitrary, and egregious official misconduct". On May 1, 2015 he was indicted on nine federal counts of conspiracy, fraud and related charges. to which he pleaded not guilty. He is contesting the District Attorney's decision not to release certain documents in the discovery process to mount his defense. A continuance for the trial was granted in September 2015. Baroni was also a FBI informant, Baroni's secret life as an FBI informant came out in opening statements of his trial. He provided detail saying he met about every other month with an FBI agent to give him information and "context" about what was going on in Trenton for about 6 years starting in 2005.

Conviction

On November 4, 2016 the jury in the "Bridgegate" trial returned guilty verdicts on all counts against Bill Baroni and co-defendant Bridget Anne Kelly. On March 29, 2017, although Baroni faced imprisonment of up to twenty years, he was sentenced to two years in prison and 500 hours of community service.

Fat Kid Got Fit

Along with a childhood friend, Baroni co-authored Fat Kid Got Fit, and So Can You, a 2012 book chronicling Baroni's early struggles with obesity and his successful efforts to overcome the problem. Baroni wrote the book because he wants others to know that his successful weight loss came from “being healthy and working out” and that other people could share similar success.