►  Vincent T. Panico

► Vincent Panico (R)

 

Readington Township resident

Readington Board of Education

 

In his words:

I’m running because LD-16 needs someone in touch with Central New Jersey.

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I was born and raised here. I earned my associate’s degree right here at Raritan Valley (College). I started my first business in Central New Jersey in 2008. I bought my first house when I was 25 years old and I have lived the struggle of being a young adult trying to keep roots in NJ.

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I see my friends in their late 20s and low 30s still living in their parents house because they can’t afford to live in Roy Freiman’s New Jersey.

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I’m running for the legislature because I’ve been able to make a difference on the school board. For the past nine years, I’ve served on my local board of education, most recently as board president. During that time, we’ve gone debt free while expanding services, settled teachers’ contracts before they expired, and protected our students through calculated measures to avoid any COVID outbreaks.

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I don’t do it for personal interest. I don’t have any kids in the district. I do it because I care. I care about New Jersey. I care about my neighbors. And, I care about our future.

 

Should we end college tuition, and provide funding so students could attend for free?

I love education. I’ve been on the school board for nine years now. But, to say that everybody has to go to college is the wrong thing.

I am here because I love education. I’ve been a professor at this very school. I have sat in this room and helped professors here develop new curricula.

Everybody deserves the opportunity to go to college. Private-public partnership can get us there. What we don’t need are legislators in Trenton who cut funding from our most valuable asset in New Jersey, and that’s our future. If you elect our opponents, you will see cuts across the board to what is most important to New Jersey.

 

Candidate Bio

Vincent Panico grew up in Neshanic Station. Being the youngest of four, his mother was a stay-at-home mom while his father owned a small business doing commercial furniture installation.

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Panico attended Readington Township schools and graduated from Hunterdon Central High School, before earning his associate degree in business administration from Raritan Valley Community College. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Rider University, and is currently an MBA candidate at Auburn University.

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He worked at Hunterdon Central and Purnell School (Somerset County) before transitioning to a career at a local, Somerset County-based IT consultant, AFScott.

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He is a member of InfraGard - a federal law enforcement and private sector partnership to bolster critical U.S. IT infrastructure - and ITDRC - a team of IT first responders who help restore critical infrastructure after a disaster.

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In 2012, he was elected to the Readington Township Board of Education and served the K-8 district for a full term before being elected to the Board at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in 2015.

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He and his high school sweetheart, Amanda, have been together for 12 years. He recently proposed in Somerset County at Natirar Park. She said yes.

 

Amanda is a STEM teacher at Roxbury High School and a an adjunct professor at The College of New Jersey. Panico is an avid commercial hot-air balloon pilot. ■

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