Bill Palatucci
| Bill Palatucci | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Republican Party of New Jersey |
| Role: | National committeeman |
| Location: | Newark, N.J. |
| Education: | •Rutgers University-New Brunswick •Seton Hall University School of Law |
| Website: | Official website |
William J. "Bill" Palatucci is the national committeeman for the Republican Party of New Jersey. He previously served as the general counsel during Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie's 2016 presidential campaign.[1]
Palatucci is a corporate special counsel at the Gibbons P.C. law firm in Newark, New Jersey.[1]
Career
Palatucci earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 1980. He earned a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and went on to join the law firm of Dughi & Hewit P.C. in 1993. Palatucci established the firm's government affairs division and became a partner in the renamed Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci P.C. in 2001.[1][2]
In 2005, Palatucci transitioned to the role of senior vice president and general counsel for public affairs at Community Education Centers Inc. (CEC), a for-profit prison company based in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Following his tenure at CEC, Palatucci joined the Gibbons P.C. law firm in Newark, New Jersey, as a corporate special counsel in 2012.[1][3]
Political activity
Palatucci has worked on a number of state and federal political campaigns in New Jersey. He held leadership positions during the New Jersey re-election efforts of former President Ronald Reagan (R), former President George H.W. Bush (R), and former Governor of New Jersey Tom Kean (R). Palatucci served as the primary consultant during former Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman's (R) 1990 U.S. Senate campaign and later served as a senior advisor during former President George W. Bush's (R) 2000 presidential bid.[1][4]
Palatucci has served as the Republican Party of New Jersey's (NJ GOP) national committeeman to the Republican National Committee (RNC) since 2010 and was re-elected to a four-year term in May 2016. He previously served as the NJ GOP finance chair.[1][4][5]
Work with Chris Christie
Palatucci is a former law partner of Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie (R). According to the National Review, Palatucci "is widely considered to be Christie's closest counselor and most trusted confidant."[6]
In 2013, Palatucci served as the chairman of Christie's gubernatorial re-election campaign. Under his leadership, the campaign raised more that $12 million. Palatucci later served as a co-chair for Christie's 2014 inaugural committee.[4][6]
2016 presidential election
Palatucci served as the general counsel during Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie's (R) 2016 presidential campaign. Christie suspended his campaign on February 10, 2016.[1][7]
Donald Trump presidential transition team, 2016-2017
Palatucci was a member of Donald Trump's presidential transition team in his first presidential term. The transition team was a group of around 100 aides, policy experts, government affairs officials, and former government officials who were tasked with vetting, interviewing, and recommending individuals for top cabinet and staff roles in Trump's administration. According to Politico, Palatucci was one of the first members of the transition team and early on "played a central role in hiring transition staff, developing an infrastructure, setting up policy- and agency-focused teams and culling shortlists for top administration jobs." Palatucci's role was diminished in November 2016 when Vice President Mike Pence took over the chairmanship of the transition efforts.[8]
2016 Republican National Convention
Palatucci was an RNC delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from New Jersey. Palatucci was bound by state party rules to support Donald Trump at the convention.
Delegate rules
Delegates from New Jersey to the 2016 Republican National Convention were elected directly by voters in the state primary election on June 7, 2016. Their names appeared on the ballot beneath the candidate they supported. New Jersey delegates were bound on the first ballot at the convention. New Jersey GOP rules in 2016 included a censure rule, stating, "any delegate or alternate allocated and/or committed to a particular candidate by virtue of the results of the June primary election who fails or refuses to act in accordance with their allocation and/or commitment to that candidate as set forth herein shall be subject to censure by the New Jersey Republican State Committee and/or the Country Republican Committees. Censure may include, among other things, being permanently barred from acting as a delegate or alternate to any future National Convention of the Republican Party."
RNC Rules Committee
- See also: RNC Rules Committee, 2016
On June 10, 2016, Palatucci was elected at the New Jersey Republican Party State Convention to serve on the Rules Committee of the 2016 Republican National Convention in July 2016.[9][10] As a member of the committee, Palatucci stated that he looked "forward to providing input to the Republican Party’s platform and working together with Republicans across the country to build a blueprint for victory in November."[9]
According to The Washington Post, Palatucci was a member of a pro-Trump "study committee" focused on "quashing any effort to unbind delegates" at the national convention. Other members of the study committee from the Rules Committee included Alexander Willette of Maine, Demetra DeMonte of Illinois, and Vincent DeVito of Massachusetts.[11]
Appointment process
The convention Rules Committee in 2016 consisted of one male and one female delegate from each state and territorial delegation. The Rules of the Republican Party required each delegation to elect from its own membership representatives to serve on the Rules Committee.
New Jersey Primary results
| New Jersey Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
 Donald Trump |
80.4% | 356,697 | 51 | |
| John Kasich | 13.4% | 59,506 | 0 | |
| Ted Cruz | 6.2% | 27,521 | 0 | |
| Totals | 443,724 | 51 | ||
| Source: The New York Times | ||||
Delegate allocation
New Jersey had 51 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 36 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's 12 congressional districts), and 12 served as at-large delegates. The plurality winner of the statewide primary vote received all of the state's district and at-large delegates.[12][13]
In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention. The RNC delegates were required to pledge their support to the winner of the state's primary.[12][13]
Community engagement
Palatucci serves as the chair of the board of trustees for the University of Phoenix campus in Jersey City, New Jersey. He is a member of the board of visitors at Seton Hall University School of Law and the national advisory board at Rutgers University's Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.[1]
Recognition
Palatucci has received the following awards and recognition:[1][2]
- 100 Most Powerful People in New Jersey Business, NJBIZ
- Distinguished Graduate Award, Seton Hall University School of Law, 2014
- Good Guy Award, Women's Political Caucus, 2015
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Gibbons P.C., "William J. Palatucci," accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 LinkedIn, "Bill Palatucci," accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ Community Education Centers Inc., "Contact us," accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Republican National Committee, "Bill Palatucci," accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ Politicker NJ, "Winners and losers: the passion of Paterson," May 13, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 National Review, "Christie's Right Hand," December 16, 2013
- ↑ CNN, "Chris Christie suspends campaign, source says," February 10, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Trump advisers steamroll Christie’s transition," November 15, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 N.J. GOP, "New Jersey’s GOP Convention Delegates Unanimously Select Governor Chris Christie To Serve As Delegation Chairman," June 10, 2016
- ↑ NJ.com, "It's official: Christie to lead N.J. delegation at Republican convention," June 12, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Who will show up? Who will pay? The many unknowns of the GOP convention," June 29, 2016
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "rollcallvote" defined multiple times with different content
| ||||||||||||||||
