Craig John Coughlin (born January 31, 1958) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has represented the 19th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2010. He has served as the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018. He is the longest serving Speaker of the General Assembly in History.
In 2016, shortly after attaining the position of Assembly Speaker, Coughlin formed the law firm Rainone Coughlin Minchello. Coughlin's firm includes four other attorneys who had worked for Decotiis FitzPatrick & Cole LLP, providing legal services to municipal and county governments totaling $14 million in FY2016. As of 2017, Coughlin's firm secured contracts with dozens of local municipalities totaling over $1 million.[5]
Coughlin's law firm currently provides for-profit legal counsel to the Middlesex County Improvement Authority,[6] and has recently acquired a $150,000 public contract with North Brunswick to fulfill the position of Municipal Attorney.[7]
The Middlesex County Improvement Authority was awarded a $70 million contract by NJ Transit to manage the North Brunswick Train station project. In a statement made to Bloomberg News, Coughlin denies any conflicts of interest or "involvement with respect to Middlesex County’s or the improvement authority’s discussions with the state concerning North Brunswick transit village and never had any intention of performing any work in connection with this project."[8]
New Jersey Assembly
He resigned from the court in 2009 to run for the General Assembly seat vacated by Joseph Vas, after the Democratic candidate, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, dropped out of the race. On September 8, 2009, a special convention of Middlesex County Democratic Committee members selected Coughlin to appear on the general election ballot along with running mate John Wisniewski.[9]
Coughlin won the general election and was sworn into office on January 12, 2010.[10] On November 13, 2017, was selected by the Assembly Democratic Conference to be Speaker of the Assembly starting in January 2018 when the new legislative term begins.[11]
^Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 2010, p. 273. Accessed January 24, 2022. "Craig J. Coughlin, Dem., Woodbridge: Assemblyman Coughlin was born Jan. 31. 1958, in Perth Amboy. He attended public schools in South Amboy and graduated summa cum laude from St. John's University in 1980. He received a law degree from St. John's University School of Law in 1983."
