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RLC Candidate Endorsements
About Bret
Schundler
 Bret
Schundler, the first Republican Mayor of Jersey City since
World War I, was taught by his parents that he had an
obligation to use his talents in service to others. As both
a private and public person, he has shown he has the courage
to lead and win, taking on and defeating the special
interests when necessary to do what's right.
Bret - the grandson and son of immigrants - was born the
youngest of nine children in Morristown, New Jersey. He grew
up in Middlesex and Union Counties, was an all-state
football player at Westfield High School, studied for a
semester in Israel, and graduated with honors from Harvard.
In college, Bret made plans to become an inner-city pastor;
but while visiting Washington, D.C. to research a church in
its poorest neighborhood, he also undertook a congressional
internship to learn about government. The internship led to
a job with a Democratic Congressman, and that job led to a
position in Gary Hart's 1984 campaign for the Democratic
Party's presidential nomination.
But that experience disillusioned him about the Democratic
Party. He came to conclude that the party didn't match its
policies to its rhetoric, talking about compassion while
acting to keep the poor in a state of dependence.
Disillusioned with the Democrats, Bret left politics. He
moved to Jersey City, worked for Salomon Brothers and then
C.J. Lawrence, and answered his faith calling to minister to
the poor as a layman. He taught a Bible Study, volunteered
with his wife to man food pantry and homeless shelter
programs, became a grass roots community leader, and helped
pass Jersey City's historic preservation ordinance.
After taking a year to tour Eastern Europe and witness
first-hand with his wife Lynn the historic overthrow of
Soviet communism, Bret recommitted himself to politics - as
a Republican. He made national headlines in 1993 when he
took on and upset the infamous Hudson County Democratic
Machine to become the first Republican Mayor of Jersey City
since 1917.
After 75 years of one-party machine rule, Jersey City was
hurting - crime, corruption, and poor public services
combined with out-of-control spending and soaring taxes to
drive jobs and residents out of the community. Those who
couldn't afford to leave had to watch helplessly as the
equity in their homes was destroyed. Bret attacked those
problems head-on, building coalitions across party lines to
do what's right one issue at a time and improve the lives of
his fellow citizens. His innovative solutions to public
policy problems have turned the city around, and have won
him national acclaim as a leader for the future.
The result? Bret has been reelected twice - with 69 and 59
percent of the vote - achieving the greatest winning margin
for a mayoral candidate in the history of the city, and
becoming the city's longest-serving Mayor in more than half
a century. Even more remarkable: in his last reelection
victory, Bret won 45 percent of the city's African American
vote, and a stunning 70 percent of the city's Hispanic vote.
A dynamic executive with the courage to lead and win, Bret
has attracted profiles and praise from all over - Time
magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and
The Reader's Digest have all written glowingly of his
successes, Jack Kemp has called Bret "the gold standard
of political leadership," and Bill Buckley has called
him a future presidential contender.
Bret believes Ronald Reagan said it best: The American dream
is not that every man must be level with every other man.
The American dream is that every man must be free to become
whatever God intends he should become. Bret believes we have
it within our power to make that dream possible for each of
our fellow citizens. He and Lynn want to help make that
dream real, and want to pass that dream on to their
children, Shaylin and Hans, because they believe it is the
good fight which is the good life, and love for others that
leads to happiness.
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