Joseph Pennacchio

Biography

Pennacchio received a B.S. in 1976 from Brooklyn College in Biology and received his D.D.S. degree in 1979 from the New York University College of Dentistry. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and currently resides in Montville with wife Diane.

Pennacchio served on the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1998 to 2001 and is a former member of Governor DiFrancesco's New Jersey Economic Development Authority. He is the founder and a former member of the Montville Education Foundation, and a former member of the Montville Economic Development Council.

Pennacchio was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in February 2001 by a special convention of district Republicans to fill the seat vacated by Carol Murphy following her nomination by Acting Governor of New Jersey Donald DiFrancesco to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Pennacchio serves in the New Jersey State Senate on the Budget Committee and the Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee. He was a member of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where he was the Republican Appropriations Officer from 2004 to 2007. Pennacchio was also a member of the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.

In the Senate, he serves on the Transportation and Legislative Services Commission committees. He has served as an Assistant Republican Leader since 2014.

On January 17, 2008, Pennacchio launched his campaign for the 2008 United States Senate race. On June 3, 2008 he was defeated in the Republican primary by former Congressman Dick Zimmer.

District 26

Each of the forty 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 26th district for the 2014-2015 Legislative Session are:

Controversy

In 1991, Pennacchio sent a 94-page white paper called the "Nationalist Agenda" to then-New Jersey General Assembly minority leader Chuck Haytaian. The manifesto, among other things, calls for a new "Nationalist Party," a Balanced Budget Amendment; Line-item veto Amendment; Term Length/Limit Amendment (Six-year terms for presidents, senators, and congressmen and twelve-year term limits for each office); Anti-Racism Amendment; Amend the 2nd Amendment to allow for regulation and banning of certain guns and ammunition; Death Penalty Amendment (make murder a federal crime and insure that the death penalty is allowed); Equal Rights Amendment (albeit slightly amended); Flag-Burning Amendment; abolition of the Electoral College; establishment of regional presidential primaries; Establishment of a federal "Department of Science"; A national lottery (funded by voluntary $52-per-year contributions on tax returns. Only those participating would be eligible to win), school vouchers; reforms to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,and Welfare Reform; letting the homeless stay in military bases and mandatory military service for non-violent criminals. This has been referred to by his primary opponent as a "fascist manifesto" and Sabrin had called for him to drop out of the Senate race and resign from the State Senate. Pennacchio refused to drop out and says that these are ideas he came up with before he ran for office and that he has "evolved" beyond many of them. Pennacchio described these attacks as "anti-Italian". Despite these attacks Pennacchio bested Sabrin by a wide margin.