{{Infobox officeholder | name = Maryanne Connelly | image = | caption = | office = Mayor of Fanwood, New Jersey | term_start = 1995 | term_end = 1999 | predecessor = Linda Stender | successor = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|10|6}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | education = Saint Elizabeth University (B.S.) }}
'''Maryanne Connelly''' (born October 6, 1945) is an American politician who was Mayor of Fanwood, New Jersey from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, she has also twice unsuccessfully sought a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=CNN | work=cnn.com | title=Candidate Profile from Congressional Quarterly | url=http://images.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/NJ/H/07/maryanne.connelly.html | access-date=January 23, 2010}}</ref> Her candidacy became one of the most publicized competitive races in the United States House of Representatives elections in 2000.<ref name=NOWNJ/>
==Biography== She was born on October 6, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York City, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey. She attended high school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and after her graduation, she attended the Saint Elizabeth University where she received a B.S. in nutrition in 1967. She then did a one-year internship at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital to become a licensed dietitian. She then stayed on at the hospital for an additional year.<ref name=bio>{{cite web |url=http://www.wiredvisions.com/cfc/biography.html |title=Maryanne Connelly for Congress |access-date=2017-12-17 }}</ref> She married and was widowed.<ref name="LawrenceAdvantage">{{cite news|last1=Lawrence|first1=Arnold|title=2 Women Fight Odds For N.J. Seats In Congress Well-financed Incumbents With Aspirations Hold Advantage|agency=Associated Press|date=23 September 1998|id={{ProQuest|424994130}}}}</ref>
She served on the town environmental commission,<ref name="LawrenceAdvantage"/> and on the Fanwood Planning Board from 1984 to 1986. Maryanne won a position on the Fanwood Council in 1985, where she served for 9 consecutive years.<ref name=bio/> Connelly was first elected as police commissioner of Fanwood, New Jersey, in 1986. She then served a second term on the Fanwood Planning Board from 1996 to 1999.<ref name=bio/><ref name=NOWNJ>{{cite web | publisher=National Organization for Women of New Jersey (NOW-NJ) | work=www.nownj.org | title=New Jersey Women Making History 2004 Honorees | url=http://www.nownj.org/njEvents/2004/03%20Honoring%20Event/Honorees.htm | access-date=January 23, 2010 | url-status=bot: unknown | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050115060241/http://www.nownj.org/njEvents/2004/03%20Honoring%20Event/Honorees.htm | archive-date=January 15, 2005 }}</ref> Connelly served as a councilwoman in Fanwood before her 1995 election as mayor.
In the United States House of Representatives elections, 1998, she challenged Congressman Bob Franks in his bid for a fourth term, running as a pro-choice Democrat.<ref name="LawrenceAdvantage"/> She was endorsed by The New York Times, which wrote "Ms. Connelly, the Mayor of Fanwood and a retired AT&T executive, is firmer in her support for civil liberties and abortion rights."<ref>{{cite news |title=For Congress in New Jersey |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/26/opinion/for-congress-in-new-jersey.html|newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 26, 1998 }}</ref> She received 44% of the vote in her challenge to Franks.
In 1999 she did not seek a second term as mayor, saying that she was focusing on her 2000 bid for Congress.
Democratic Party leaders originally backed Connelly in her 2000 Congressional bid, until in September 1999, when Franks announced his candidacy for New Jersey's vacant U.S. Senate seat. Franks became a Senate candidate after Gov. Christine Todd Whitman announced she would not seek the Senate seat. Democratic Party leaders, no longer considering Franks' seat to be unwinnable, decided to support Union County Manager Michael Lapolla for Congress instead of Connelly. Following this decision, Connelly did not bow out of the Congressional race as party leaders suggested.<ref name=ForCongress/> The primary drew national attention when the Lapolla campaign ran a parody ad of game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" in which Connelly, played by an actress who spoke in a "ditzy", was portrayed as "an indecisive airhead" who, when asked a question, replied, "Ooh, that's hard." The ad drew national attention as an example of attacking female candidates by using derogatory anti-woman, stereotypes.<ref name="CopelandSlate">{{cite news|last1=Copeland|first1=Libby|title=How To Hit a Woman|publisher=Slate|date=22 November 2011}}</ref><ref name="EilperinHill">{{cite news|last1=Eilperin|first1=Juliet|title=For Women, a Crucial Role. Democratic Candidates May Help Regain Hill|newspaper=Washington Post|date=15 August 2000|id={{ProQuest|408664558}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Stephen J. Wayne |title=The Election of the Century: The 2000 Election and What it Tells Us |year=2016 |page=188 |publisher=Routledge | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3melDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA188 |isbn= 9781315499444}}</ref><ref name="PetersonAirhead">{{cite news|last1=Peterson|first1=Iver|title=Candidates in House Race Look for Way to Emerge From Field of 8|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/02/nyregion/candidates-in-house-race-look-for-way-to-emerge-from-field-of-8.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527130352/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/02/nyregion/candidates-in-house-race-look-for-way-to-emerge-from-field-of-8.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 May 2015|work=New York Times|date=2 June 2000}}</ref>
She continued her campaign and defeated Lapolla in the primary. ''The New York Times'' endorsed her candidacy writing "Ms. Connelly has a solid record of public service in Fanwood, and she would be a steady voice against Social Security privatization and the anti-abortion forces in Congress that her opponent would join."<ref name=ForCongress>{{cite news |title=For Congress From New Jersey |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/30/opinion/for-congress-from-new-jersey.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 30, 2000 }}</ref>
In the United States House of Representatives elections, 2000, Connelly faced Republican Mike Ferguson, who had defeated Tom Kean Jr., Assemblyman Joel Weingarten, and Patrick Morrissey in the Republican Party primary. It became one of the top three races in the election cycle.<ref name=NOWNJ/> Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Patrick J. Kennedy and Joseph Lieberman endorsed her and campaigned with her. she ran attack ads against Ferguson.<ref>{{cite book |author=William L. Benoit |title=Communication in Political Campaigns |year= 2007|page=157 |publisher=Peter Lang | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YzEr9oNywhsC&pg=PA157 |isbn= 9780820486048}}</ref> Her campaign was marred when The Star-Ledger – a newspaper that endorsed Connelly in its ''ex cathedra'' campaign editorial – ran an opinion piece that denounced her attacks on Ferguson. The commentary said she was a contender to being "New Jersey's sleaziest candidate."<ref>{{cite news |title=7th District Congressional Race Is a Tossup |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/nyregion/7th-district-congressional-race-is-a-tossup.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 24, 2000 }}</ref> The Ferguson campaign attacked Connolly by calling her the mayor of "Taxwood" in campaign ads.<ref name="EpsoAdvertising">{{cite news|last1=Epso|first1=David|title=Advertising Fight Under Way to Win Control of House|agency=Associated Press|publisher=The Columbian (Vancouver)|date=10 September 2000|id={{ProQuest|253025797}}}}</ref> The race was among the handful selected by the National Republican Committee to receive national Party support.<ref name="VitaTargeted">{{cite news|last1=Vita|first1=Matthew|title=Northeast; 4 Democratic Incumbents Targeted|newspaper=Washington Post|date=3 September 2008|id={{ProQuest|409002889}}}}</ref> Connelly attempted to make an issue out of an illegal loan Ferguson's campaign received from his parents in 2000, but the issue failed to gain "traction" with voters; after review by the Federal Election Commission and adjudication, Ferguson paid a large civil fine using money from his campaign fund.<ref name="CilizzaLoan">{{cite news|last1=Cilizza|first1=Chris|title=FEC Fines Ferguson $210K for Loan|publisher=Roll Call|date=16 June 2003|id={{ProQuest|326728352}}}}</ref> Democratic State Committee Chairman Thomas Giblin asserted it was the illegal loan that enabled Ferguson to win.<ref name="KingViolations">{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Ledyard|title=FEC fines Rep. Ferguson $210,000 for campaign violations|agency=Gannett|date=13 June 2013|id={{ProQuest|450221335}}}}</ref>
Ferguson defeated Connelly; she received 48% of the vote.
Connelly was recognized by the National Organization for Women with a NOW Woman of Courage Award for the race in 2001 for her "uphill struggle to have a woman taken seriously as a legitimate candidate in a highly contested race".<ref>{{cite web|publisher=National Organization for Women|work=www.now.org|title=NOW National Conference 2001 Speakers|url=http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2001/speakers.html|access-date=January 23, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229140214/http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2001/speakers.html|archive-date=December 29, 2009}}</ref><ref name=NOWNJ/>
==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{succession box|title=Mayor of Fanwood, New Jersey|before=Linda Stender|after=Louis Jung|years=1996 – 2000}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Maryanne}} Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:People from Fanwood, New Jersey Category:Mayors of places in New Jersey Category:Women mayors of places in New Jersey Category:Politicians from Brooklyn Category:Saint Elizabeth University alumni Category:20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey