Scott Rumana Politician

Scott Rumana (born July 18, 1964) is an Assyrian-American Republican Party politician, who serves in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he has represented the 40th legislative district since January 8, 2008. Rumana has been selected to serve in the Assembly on the Education Committee and the Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee.In 1996, Rumana was appointed to the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders to replace Richard DuHaime, who resigned to devote time to an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. At the time of his appointment, the Republican Party had a majority of the seats on the Passaic County Freeholder Board. When Rumana ran for election to a full-term the following year, the majority was 5-2 in favor of the Republicans following the elections of Georgia Scott and Peter Eagler to the board. Rumana finished in the top three in the 1997 election, joining newcomers Jim Gallagher and Lois Cuccinello in gaining seats, but was now part of a 4-3 Republican minority. Due to the recent conviction of disgraced former Passaic County Chairman Peter Murphy and the resulting "corruption costs you money" campaign of the Democratic Party, Rumana finished fourth behind incumbents Jim Gallagher and Lois Cuccinello and newcomer Sonia Rosado in the 2000 election, losing his seat as the Republicans were left with two seats on the board.The next year, Rumana defeated Chris McIntyre in the general election to become mayor of his hometown of Wayne, New Jersey. In 2006, Rumana was elected Passaic County Republican Chairman. He defeated Little Falls attorney and former U.S. Marshal Eugene Liss. In 2009, Rumana was overwhelmingly elected to a second term as Passaic County Republican Chairman. He defeated Carl Mazzie, who was allied with disgraced former Passaic Republican chairman Peter Murphy who pled guilty of mail fraud in 2003 and served 111⁄2 months in a federal penitentiary.Under Rumana's leadership as Passaic County Republican Chairman, the Democratic 7-0 stranglehold on the freeholder board of the past decade was broken. Michael Marotta, Deborah Ciambrone and Ed O'Connell were elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders. Kristen Corrado was also elected County Clerk as part of the Republican Revolution. Rumana was quoted as saying, "This victory is not just a victory for the Republican Party, but a victory for every taxpayer of Passaic County." As a legislator, Rumana has advanced opposition to Council on Affordable Housing unfunded mandates which have hurt municipalities, reforms to government ethics and the advancement of clean energy initiatives. Rumana was awarded a B.A. from Hartwick College with a major in Management, and earned a J.D. from New York Law School. He is an attorney with the firm of Hunziker, Jones and Sweeney.