DAVID R. MEISWINKLE

David R. Meiswinkle (born February 7, 1950) is a former New Brunswick City police officer who is an Independent candidate for Governor in New Jersey running on a theme of “Middle Class Empowerment.”

CONTENTS

. Early Life
. Rutgers College
. United States Army
. Trip Around The World
. New Brunswick Police Department
. New Brunswick Politics and Fighting Corruption
. Life After New Brunswick

Early Life

David was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania, the oldest of seven children born to Robert and Felice Meiswinkle. He grew up in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, which is the Schuykill county seat, and center of anthracite coal mining. In 1964 David’s father relocated the family to Millville, in southern New Jersey. David was elected the President of his Junior and Senior High school classes. David was a member of the Millville, South Jersey Group IV champion basketball team. He was voted by his classmates as “Best All Around.”

Rutgers College (Rutgers University)

David graduated in 1972 from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey (now known as the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers University). At Rutgers, he was a Preceptor working for the Dean of Students. David was a student activist, leading and participating in demonstrations common on U.S. college campuses during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He organized the Davidson Reconstruction Committee, a student group for dormitory reform. It soon became a very influential organization that catapulted David to victory in the election for Student Body President where he campaigned on a theme of student power and co-education. Until this time, Rutgers College had been an all-male institution for over two centuries. Upon his election as Student Body President, David organized a co-education drive to admit women to Rutgers. This culminated in the approval of co-education by the Rutgers University Board of Governors, only a year after the same Board had voted against the issue.

A few years after graduating Rutgers College, David returned to Rutgers to briefly work as Coordinator of Handicapped Affairs, where he secured a grant to purchase the university’s first specially equipped handicap accessible van. He also helped set up a handicap transportation schedule and assisted disabled students to establish the first group receiving student funding that advocated for the interests of disabled students. This organization, called the Friends of 504, still exists at Rutgers College over 30 years later.

United States Army

David spent two years in the United States Army, where he was stationed in Germany. He trained in the erection and launching of the Pershing missile, the most powerful nuclear missile the Army had in Europe. He became the pacesetter for a championship marching team that would speed march 25 miles in a day while carrying 25 pound packs. His team won the 32^nd Air Defense Command competition which qualified the team to compete in the “4 Days” marches in Holland, the second most popular Dutch event after the Tulip Festival. This competition involved 12,000 troops from around the world that did speed marching for four consecutive days.

Trip Around The World

After receiving an honorable discharge in 1976 from the U.S. Army, David traveled across the Unites States in celebration of the bicentennial and visited many historical areas. After a few months of traveling, he settled in New Brunswick, New Jersey and began graduate studies in philosophy at Rutgers.

After graduate school, David became a police officer in New Brunswick. He was sent to the Union County police academy for training where he distinguished himself as the class athlete and broke the academy’s record for push-ups and sit-ups. In his third year as a police officer, David took a leave of absence from his job and set off alone on a 6-month journey around the world. He visited the Hawaiian Islands, hiked to the top of Mt. Fujiama in Japan and stayed in Tokyo, Osaka, Niko. He hitchhiked 9,000 miles around Australia, and visited Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, Christchurch (New Zealand). In India saw the Taj Mahal in Agra, and went to New Delhi, Calcutta, and Varanassi. He journied to Katmandu and trecked the Himalaya mountains in Nepal in the shadows of Mt. Everest, and traveled to Karachi (Pakistan), and on to Amman (Jordan). He explored the Pyramids in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens (Greece) and ended the trip visiting his grandmother in Frankfurt, Germany.

New Brunswick Police Department

David spent 23 years as a New Brunswick police officer where his experiences fighting corruption would ignite his political aspirations.

Upon returning from his long trip around the world, David resumed his police duties with the New Brunswick Police Department. Within two weeks of his return, David responded to a police call where a family was terrorized by men with shotguns and ski mask disguises. The thugs threatened to kill the family’s father and proceeded to torch their apartment. As the pregnant mother returned to see a home on fire, she was shot at. But instead of handling the victims with respect, the New Brunswick police detectives roughly interrogated the family as suspects using racial epithets. David openly questioned the handling of the case as his own investigation lead to a suspect who happened to be a cousin of New Brunswick Police Director James Gassaro. As a result of publicly criticizing the handling of the case, Gassaro fired David from the police department.

This incident would launch David’s political career in New Brunswick. New Brunswick Mayor John Lynch, Jr. publicly supported the police director and disparaged David. However, David successfully fought to win his job back. The more David investigated corruption in New Brunswick, the more the web of extensive criminal activity became apparent. As a result, David felt morally obligated to oust John Lynch from political office. Lynch controlled a powerful political machine that assured his election to the New Jersey State Senate as well as Mayor of New Brunswick. [In 2006, Lynch pleaded guilty to corruption and tax evasion charges and was sentenced to serve 39 months in a federal penitentiary.]

New Brunswick Politics and Fighting Corruption

David unsuccessfully ran for Mayor against John Lynch in 1982 and 1986, although he had strong showings for a relatively unknown against the powerful Lynch political machine. During this time, David founded the New Brunswick Taxpayers and Tenants Association and became its President. He also co-founded the New Brunswick Reporter, a free community newspaper distributed to every household in New Brunswick. The newspaper investigated political corruption and published exposes that lead to federal investigations.

In 1984 David ran for a position on the New Brunswick City Council. The campaign was marred by a systematic effort to intimidate Meiswinkle voters. On Election Day, five of David’s campaign workers were illegally arrested, including three who by a police officer who served as Lynch’s personal body guard. This police officer was off duty during the arrests and transported the Meiswinkle campaign workers to police headquarters in his private car. These actions resulted in a federal lawsuit by the campaign workers.

David’s exposure of the Lynch political machine’s criminal activities lead to simultaneous investigations of New Brunswick political officials by the FBI, and the United States Attorney General, as well as investigators from the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. These federal investigations lead to the arrest and convictions of the Gilbert Nelson (New Brunswick City Attorney and Director of Law), James Gassaro (New Brunswick Police Director), and George Shamy (New Brunswick Democratic Chairman). Coincidentally, many top officials, including the City Business Director, the Chairman of New Brunswick’s Development Company (DEVCO), the Chairman of the New Brunswik Parking Authority, and the City’s Architect resigned and left New Brunswick. Lynch was identified as a target of an FBI probe. As a result of unsavory publicity, Lynch did not run again for mayor. In 1990 David once again ran for Mayor of New Brunswick, but now against Lynch’s cousin, James Cahill. The election was extremely close with the city’s districts evenly split. David had the voting machines impounded for inspection. A recount established that David lost the election, but many contend that widespread voting irregularities tipped the balance in favor of the Lynch machine candidate.

Life After New Brunswick

In 1992 David moved his former wife, Eleanor and their three children to Hillsborough, New Jersey. There he coached little league with his two sons. He also became involved with Ross Perot and the Reform Party, and eventually became the Secretary of the New Jersey Reform Party. He served as a delegate to the Reform Party National Convention in Long Beach, California that endorsed Patrick Buchanan as its Presidential candidate in 2000. He served as Buchanan’s bodyguard when the candidate made campaign appearances in New Jersey.

David received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers College, a Master of Arts degree from New York University and a Juris Doctor degree from Seton Hall University Law School.

Today David has a private law office in downtown New Brunswick, and spends most of his time handling criminal cases for the Office of the Public Defender. He is a familiar presence on the fifth floor of the Middlesex County Court House.

David presently lives in East Windsor with two of his children.