Lover of Community Service Wants to Serve Town

Editor's Note: Each day this week, we will feature the biography of one of the candidates running in the elections this year. First will be the mayoral candidates, followed by the candidates for council.

He has had a long career in law, with his own practice in Warren—and now Bridgewater resident Jim Ventantonio is preparing to retire, with the hopes of being able devote his full time to serving as mayor of Bridgewater Township.

“I have a deep commitment to public service, and I think that as I wind up my legal career, I would like to do one more thing, and pay my dues one more time,” he said.

Ventantonio is running for mayor on the Democratic ticket, against Republican, and current councilman, Dan Hayes and Independent George Jones.

Ventantonio moved to Bridgewater nearly 30 years ago, but has lived in the county itself for the past 40, having lived in Franklin before.

“But we wanted a little more space, so we came looking in Bridgewater,” Ventantonio said of moving his family, including his wife, Anita, daughter Lisa and son Peter. “Both my kids graduated from .”

And the convenience and offerings in Bridgewater are what has kept his family in town ever since.

“It is the proximity, convenience to where we work, to transportation,” he said. “And it is a good community. There is an opportunity to volunteer that not everyone takes advantage of.”

Ventantonio said he grew up in Passaic County, and the only time he has not been living in New Jersey was the four years he was in the military. He attended Seton Hall University, where he graduated with a degree in sociology, and Seton Hall University School of Law, which he graduated from in 1964.

In addition, Ventantonio attended the U.S. Army JAGC School at the University of Virginia, and served in the International Affairs Division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General in the Pentagon.

“They wanted me in international law, and I spent two years in Taiwan, negotiating the implementation of the status of forces agreement,” he said. “I learned some Chinese and travelled throughout southeast Asia.”

“Then they said to come to the Pentagon, and I spent a year there, which convinced me that I don’t want to be in Washington,” he added.

Ventantonio said he decided he wanted to give back by doing poverty law, and the most difficult problems were in Newark, so he headed there in 1969 for a year.

Around that time, Ventantonio said, he was asked to run Somerset Legal Services, focusing specifically on poverty law.

“I said to give me a support staff, and we will see if we can keep it open for a couple years,” he said. “One thing about poverty programs is that you work all day and meet with tenants at night.”

In addition, Ventantonio spent time working at Seton Hall University, directing the clinical program, which included expanding the juvenile justice program, managing a family law clinic program and working in a drug rehabilitation program.

“We kept expanding, and we felt there was a need at that time,” he said.

Eventually, Ventantonio said, he was asked to work at Bell Laboratories, running most of the litigation for the company. And after about four years of that, he said, he was asked to take over as general attorney at what was then New Jersey Bell.

“And 18 years ago, they offered an early retirement package,” he said. “I did that, and, with one of the guys who worked with me, opened a law practice in Warren. I built it into a two-state operation, and it helped me do volunteer work in the county too.”

Now, Ventantonio said he is planning to retire from that career and hopes to move on to devote his life to community service.

“I am retiring regardless, but this was a confluence of things,” he said. “I have been fortunate to work all my life, so I don’t plan to take a salary.”

Ventantonio began his time in public service as one of the first members of the Somerset Alliance for the Future, which was a planning operation whose members included former Gov. Christie Whitman and members of the Forbes family. Ventantonio said he became vice chair of that committee and then moved over to the newly developed Chamber of Commerce.

“I saw we were all competing with the same small pot of money, and we had all these groups that were piecemeal,” he said. “I wanted to integrate them together and I was the chairman of that, which brought everyone together into one group called the business partnership.”

“We spent a year putting that together for better service of the community,” he added. “It was a concern to keep business in the county.”

Ventantonio also served on the planning board for three years and on the committee for Bridgewater’s 2020 study, as well as municipal prosecutor for Bridgewater and special development council for Manville.

“I understand problems in economic development,” he said. “And I was city solicitor for Plainfield, a town of comparable size.”

Over the years, Ventantonio was also on the committee for the attempt to integrate the police with Somerville, as well as being active in shared services initiatives.

Finally, Ventantonio said, he was chair of the advisory committee to bring the ballpark to Bridgewater.

“The freeholders wanted to know if it would be feasible,” he said. “We convened a number of people, including mayors, and proved it was a viable entity. We looked at what’s good for the community, the returns for the community, and if it was a venue that would be reasonably convenient, accessible and inexpensive."

As he is running now for mayor, Ventantonio said he has had experience in campaigns, having run for freeholder in 1999 and even running for Bridgewater mayor about eight years ago.

“That was a difficult time, and I probably could have run a better campaign,” he said.

And this time, Ventantonio said, it took him a little time to say yes to running again.

“I turned it down a number of times, but I think the party thought I had something to offer,” he said. “I have a deep commitment to public service, and I think that as I wind up my legal career, I would like to do one more thing, pay my dues one more time.”

“So I said I would run,” he added.

Ventantonio said he has been running his campaign by going door to door, but he is also focused on social media, through Facebook, Twitter and his own website.

“I have the experience of knocking on doors in Bridgewater, but often people either don’t answer or they aren’t home,” he said. “It’s not an easy task. But I think online is also the way to go.”

Ventantonio said he just wants to meet as many people as possible through the campaign, and he has held neighborhood coffees with small groups of people and attended events and meetings.

“I think that citizens have a right to see the candidates,” he said.

While running as a Democrat in a notoriously Republican area, Ventantonio said he just wants to focus on the issues at hand.

“You can’t be Democrat and be successful without crossing lines,” he said. “I’m not interested in partisanship. We can get things done.”