Joseph Cryan

Joseph P. Cryan (born September 1, 1961, East Orange, New Jersey) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2002 to 2015, where he represented the 20th Legislative District. He was the Majority Leader of the New Jersey General Assembly, serving from January 12, 2010 until January 10, 2012.
Cryan served as the Assembly's Deputy Majority Leader 2006-2010, and was Assistant Majority Leader from 2004 to 2005. He served on the Human Services Committee and the Law and Public Safety Committee.
Cryan has served on the New Jersey State Democratic Committee since 2002, as Vice Chair. On February 17, 2006, Mr. Cryan was selected to be the head of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, succeeding Bonnie Watson Coleman. He stepped down after the selection of his successor John S. Wisniewski on January 27, 2010.
In 1996, Cryan was elected as the Township of Union's Democratic Municipal Chairman. He is an Undersheriff with the Union County Sheriff's Office.

Personal

Cryan was born on September 1, 1961, in East Orange, the son of John Cryan, an immigrant to the United States from County Roscommon, Ireland, who would later be elected to the General Assembly and served as Sheriff of Essex County.

Other relatives involved in public life are his cousin, Morristown Councilman John Cryan, his sister, Union Township Municipal Clerk Eileen Birch, and his brother-in-law Superior Court judge Joseph Donohue.

Cryan graduated with a B.A. from Belmont Abbey College in Business Administration in 1983. Cryan was born in East Orange, and currently resides in Union Township.

The New York Post reported that Cryan "graphically spelled out his kinky proclivities in more than 150 e-mails that he sent to" a former lobbyist for Prudential Financial who pleaded guilty to stalking his girlfriend in exchange for being allowed to participate in a pre-trial intervention program. "The e-mails were written when the pol presumably would have been at one of his government jobs — either his $49,000-a-year Assembly gig or his $111,000-a-year post as Union County undersheriff," the Post said.

Democratic state chairman

As Democratic state chairman, in November 2009, Assemblyman Cryan presided over a Democratic gubernatorial party loss by incumbent Jon Corzine to Republican Chris Christie. He was replaced as state chairman in January 2010 by Assemblyman John Wisniewski.

District 20

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 20th District for the 2010-2011 Legislative Session are:

• Senator Raymond Lesniak
• Assemblywoman Annette Quijano