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Michael Bollentin

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Michael Bollentin
Image of Michael Bollentin

For the People Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 2, 2021

Education

Bachelor's

DeVry University, 2017

Personal
Birthplace
Princeton, N.J.
Profession
IT/Security Technician, EMT, youth sports coach
Contact

Personal Facebook

Michael Bollentin (For the People Party) ran for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 14. He lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.

Bollentin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Bollentin (Integrity And Accountability Party) ran for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 14. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.

Bollentin was a 2016 We the People candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 12th Congressional District of New Jersey.[1]

Biography

Bollentin was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor's degree from DeVry University in 2017. His career experience includes working as an IT/security technician, EMT, and youth sports coach.[2]

Elections

2021

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2021

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 (2 seats)

Incumbent Wayne P. DeAngelo and incumbent Daniel Benson defeated Andrew Pachuta, Bina Shah, and Michael Bollentin in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 on November 2, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Wayne P. DeAngelo
Wayne P. DeAngelo (D)
 
28.3
 
40,836
✔
Image of Daniel Benson
Daniel Benson (D)
 
27.8
 
40,241
Image of Andrew Pachuta
Andrew Pachuta (R)
 
21.7
 
31,366
Image of Bina Shah
Bina Shah (R)
 
21.1
 
30,531
Image of Michael Bollentin
Michael Bollentin (For the People Party) Candidate Connection
 
1.1
 
1,535

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 144,509
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 (2 seats)

Incumbent Wayne P. DeAngelo and incumbent Daniel Benson advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 on June 8, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Wayne P. DeAngelo
Wayne P. DeAngelo
 
50.6
 
10,406
✔
Image of Daniel Benson
Daniel Benson
 
49.4
 
10,179

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 20,585
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 (2 seats)

Andrew Pachuta and Bina Shah advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 on June 8, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Andrew Pachuta
Andrew Pachuta
 
51.8
 
6,697
✔
Image of Bina Shah
Bina Shah
 
48.2
 
6,227

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 12,924
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2019

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2019

General election

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 (2 seats)

Incumbent Wayne P. DeAngelo and incumbent Daniel Benson defeated Thomas Calabrese, Bina Shah, and Michael Bollentin in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 on November 5, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Wayne P. DeAngelo
Wayne P. DeAngelo (D)
 
30.4
 
30,546
✔
Image of Daniel Benson
Daniel Benson (D)
 
29.6
 
29,810
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Thomas Calabrese (R)
 
20.1
 
20,252
Image of Bina Shah
Bina Shah (R)
 
18.3
 
18,452
Image of Michael Bollentin
Michael Bollentin (Integrity And Accountability Party) Candidate Connection
 
1.5
 
1,530

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 100,590
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 (2 seats)

Incumbent Wayne P. DeAngelo and incumbent Daniel Benson advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 on June 4, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Wayne P. DeAngelo
Wayne P. DeAngelo
 
50.7
 
7,168
✔
Image of Daniel Benson
Daniel Benson
 
49.3
 
6,960

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 14,128
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 (2 seats)

Thomas Calabrese and Bina Shah advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 14 on June 4, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Thomas Calabrese
 
53.8
 
5,409
✔
Image of Bina Shah
Bina Shah
 
46.2
 
4,636

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 10,045
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: New Jersey's 12th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman (D) defeated Steven Uccio (R) and several third party candidates in the general election on November 8, 2016. Watson Coleman defeated Alexander Kucsma in the Democratic primary on June 7, 2016. Watson Coleman won re-election in the November 8 election.[3][1][1][4]

U.S. House, New Jersey District 12 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngBonnie Watson Coleman Incumbent 62.9% 181,430
     Republican Steven Uccio 32% 92,407
     Legalize Marijuana Edward Forchion 2.1% 6,094
     Teddy Roosevelt Progressive Robert Shapiro 1% 2,775
     Libertarian Thomas Fitzpatrick 0.9% 2,482
     Green Steven Welzer 0.7% 2,135
     We the People Michael Bollentin 0.5% 1,311
Total Votes 288,634
Source: New Jersey Division of Elections


U.S. House, New Jersey District 12 Democratic Primary, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngBonnie Watson Coleman Incumbent 93.6% 66,479
Alexander Kucsma 6.4% 4,525
Total Votes 71,004
Source: New Jersey Division of Elections

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Michael Bollentin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bollentin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I am a father and husband who does not like what he sees and the world his children are growing up in. I have been in the service of others since I was 15 years old when I joined my locate rescue squad where I still volunteer. I loved my career as a police officer before I had to retire due to a medical condition. I want nothing more than to continue serving the people and visitors of this state. I want to make the state a beacon of what can be when elected officials truly work together FOR the people, and stop fighting, blaming shifting, and burying the state deeper in debt.
  • I want to bring integrity, accountability, compassion, and transparency to the State house.
  • I want to stop the waste and games being played at the expense of the citizenry of the state.
  • If we truly work together, for each other, we can move forward, together.
I can not pinpoint a specific policy because the state is in such a horrible position on a number of levels. I feel there is room for a lot of reforms to reduce wasteful and redundant spending, improve education, improve how justice functions (from arrest to post-sentence release). Education is crucial and close to me because I want my sons, and future generations, to receive an education that will teach them HOW to think, not WHAT to think. I would love to seek ways to improve our infrastructure in ways that benefit and offer pride in our state again.
There are several people who I look to and am inspired by. People like Washington, Hamilton, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, who have all contributed to the great country. While they have their flaws, as we all do, I believe they strove to make the best decisions at their time and space offered. People like Martin Luther King, Jr, and many others who fought so hard for what they believed in wanted something as simple as to be treated as equals. While I believe that we have made many great strides to improve from our past errors and atrocities, we clearly have far to go. I want to work to do what is necessary to improve the lives of all citizens of this great state.
While I am a huge fan of the West Wing tv show, it's hard to pinpoint a single place to help someone understand my political philosophy but I can sum it up with a few words: I want to do what is needed to leave the state, country, and world in a better condition, that it is now.
I believe our elected officials should be compassionate and willing to seek compromise. They should want to be transparent in motives and held accountable for their actions, good or bad. They should function with integrity, speak honestly, and strive to leave things in a better state than when they arrived.
I believe my abilities to communicate with others, be compassionate and understand, and be willing to listen to input from others when problems solving are key.
The core responsibilities I feel are required are relatively simply stated, seek to improve; the office, the state, the lives of the residents, the lives of our neighbors and visitors, do good while seeking to improve. Clearly, this is far easier to state, than to guarantee.
I would like to be known as someone who drove for positive, lasting change in our government and state.
January 28th, 1986. 9 years old when the Challenger exploded. I watched that happen with my third-grade class.
My first job was as a porter at a local grocery store when I was a freshman in high school. I think I stayed there for about a year or two before moving to work as a gas station attendant during my senior year of high school.
It is actually the "Fool" series by Christopher Moore. I think it is a hilarious twist on Shakespeare.
I think, at the moment, I have to say, James Bond. He was calm, cool, and collected in every situation.
So many are going through my head at any given moment, I would probably say something from TOOL is ever-present.
Like everyone, we all struggle with things; some great, some small. Some struggles are long and some are short. My struggles are no better or worse than others, it is the perspective that judges that. How we deal with our struggles determines who we become and who we are.
The relationship between the Governor and the State legislature should be one of common goal seeking. While there will be times where they may disagree as to HOW something should be achieved, having a shared common goal, i.e.: the best interest of the populous, the negotiating could be done much more smoothly and quickly.
I think New Jersey has a number of great obstacles to navigate over the next decade. In no particular order, a few are reigning in the running deficit which currently has been the status quo for almost 20 years (this includes taxes and redundant spending), improving and advancing our infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, roads, utilities, etc.) to be more ecofriendly and navigatable for the residents and visitors of the state, improving our education system to meet the needs of all or students while enrichening and preparing them for their lives, and improving our health care for all residents of the state. As previously stated, we have many obstacles to address, the aforementioned are just a few.
There is no perfect system for governing, as each sovereignty is unique in its make up, values, history, and vision for the future. I suppose one benefit of a unicameral legislature could be the speed at which policy is made. This also could serve as a detriment as well. Utilizing a bicameral, I believe, offers another level of checks and balances to legislation.
Yes, I do think it is beneficial. However, there are a number of qualities our elected officials should possess. Discrediting a candidate because they have no governmental or political experience is the same a refusing to hire someone with no experience in a given occupation. It raises the question of HOW are they supposed to gain that "required" experience when they can not even get in the seat creates an avoidable cycle of stagnation.
Yes. I believe New Jersey should be working closely with the legislatures on New York, Pennsylvania, and Deleware, if for no other reason than the share waterways. We should be working to maintain and improve those relationships so we can more cohesively care for those waters, shore, bridges, tunnels, and ferries that connect us.
I favor redistricting by an independent committee. Given the national cries of foul play with gerrymandering, I think it would benefit the state to have neither of the two big parties possessing absolute influence over if and how district lines should be redrawn.
I think two committees that I could contribute to in a variety of ways to are Law and Public Safety and Health and Senior Services. Given my life's work in these areas, I have some ideas that may improve them.
N/A
As I stated before, I admire many of our forefathers, former policy-makers, and advocates who I believe were working for the great good and prosperity of all.
I ran for Congress in 2016 on the same principles. I am not opposed to seeking a higher position if I can improve our state and be a part of a positive transformation in our government, I would possibly seek to carry some of those ideas to the federal level.
I have served as an EMT in a number of towns within the district, directly or indirectly, I am running to represent. I have many personal interaction stories. I cannot pick one to share over another because many were truly life or death situations and some are profoundly personal to me. I can say that there is a tone of frustration with the way things are and people are seeking different options. I want to be part of that.
I love all types of comedy. Here is the first one to come time mind.

Q: When does a joke become a “dad” joke?

A: When the punchline is a parent.
I feel that emergency powers should be wielded carefully. While I believe that the legislature should monitor the use, they should not be able to grant such power except where there has been a clear and gross misuse of said powers and immediate action should be taken to correct the misuse. One of the aspects I feel exists in current politics is the use and speaking in absolutes. I firmly believe that there a very few truly black and white issues in our world but infinite shades of gray. Many of the issues we deal with have incredible nuances that have no binary answer or solution.
Yes! It is imperative to be able to look at all positions to seek the best, most fair outcome. We currently have a system where only two extremely adversarial sides come to a table, and neither wants to budge, let alone acknowledge the validity of anything the other side brings. The two sides would rather shift blame, fight, and finger point rather than work together to find solutions that mitigate unintended consequences that may come up down the road and actually SOLVE the issue at hand.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2019

Candidate Connection

Michael Bollentin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bollentin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Fiscal responsibility and transparency

Improved state infrastructure (to include mass transit)

Improved Educational System
Two key areas for me are health and education. Health care in the country leaves a lot to be desired, being an EMT for over 25 years, I have seen a lot that I feel could be improved. Education is crucial and close to me because I want my sons, and future generations, to receive an education that will teach them how to think, not what to think.
I think a few key principals are accountability, integrity, and compassion.
I believe I posses the aforementioned three, plus critical, outside-the-box-type, thinking.
The core responsibilities of an elected official are to serve the all constituents of their area, not just those whom had voted for them, and leave office knowing the region/state/etc, is in a better place because of the work they helped complete.
I want to leave a legacy of prosperity, integrity and accountability because the second two are sorely lacking in my opinion. I want the state to be the destination it once was, not the launching point it appears to be now.
January 28th, 1986, I was 9 years old when the Challenger exploded. I watched that happen with my third-grade class.
I was a porter at a locate supermarket when I was 15. I worked there for about a year or so.
Fool by Christopher Moore
My dining room table. It is where my friends and family sit the most and talk, laugh and play.
I think the biggest difference is an obvious one: size. There are twice as many people in the lower chamber as there are in the upper chamber. This can be both good and bad. It can be good because it offers the possibility for more ideas to be brought to the table for solving issues. However, it can be bad for the same reasons. Therefore, the voters need to ensure they know who they are electing.
No. if that was the case, we would never refill seats when officials vacate them for what ever the reason. I think that the right people are all that is needed. People who can think clearly, critically, and openly when seeking solutions.
I think, currently, the three biggest challenges we face are: fiscal stability, infrastructure, and the State's natural environment.
The relationship between the Governor and the Legislature is complex. I feel should adversarial but not hostile or antagonistic, understanding that the Governor has an agenda, and the legislatures role is to help them realize their vision while working that vision in a way that benefits the people of the state best.
I absolutely believe it is crucial. It is far easier to work together with people when you can get along for longer than a photo opportunity.
I favor redistricting by independent committee. Given the national cries of foul play with gerrymandering, I think it would benefit the state to have neither of the two big parties have undo influence over if and how district lines should be redrawn.
I think a two committees that I could contribute to in a variety of ways to are: Law and Public Safety, and Health and Senior Services.
By default, should I be elected, I would be in the immediate true minority with any other potentially elected non-republican and non-democrat.
I ran for Congress in 2016 on the same principals. I would consider running for Congress again many years down the road.
I have served as an EMT in a number of towns within the district, directly or indirectly, I am running. I have many personal interaction stories. I cannot pick one to share over another because many were truly life or death situations and some are profoundly personal to me.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 New Jersey Division of Elections, "General election candidates," accessed August 11, 2016 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "genlist16" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 15, 2021.
  3. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, "Candidates for House of Representatives for Primary Election 6/7/2016," accessed April 5, 2016
  4. ↑ CNN, "New Jersey House 12 Results," November 8, 2016


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