Paul Contillo

Paul J. Contillo (born July 8, 1929) is an American Democratic Party politician who represented the Bergen County-based 38th Legislative District in the New Jersey State Legislature during three separate tenures.

Contillo served as a Councilman in Paramus, New Jersey from 1971 to 1973. He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1973, entering the race after the Democratic nominee, Paramus Councilman Alphonso DeFilippo dropped out of the race after the primary. Riding the Watergate Democratic landslide, Contillo and his running mate, incumbent Assemblyman Edward Hynes defeated Republican Assemblyman Charles Reid and attorney Ralph W. Chandless, Jr.. Contillo was the top votegetter and won by more than 8,000 votes.

He sought re-election to a second term in 1975, running with Hasbrouck Heights Councilman Robert Burns after Hynes chose not to run. He defeated former Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce President Richard Fritzky in the Democratic primary by just 797 votes. In the general election, Contillo beat Chandless and former Hackensack Mayor and Bergen County Freeholder Frank A. Buono, Jr. by less than 2,000 votes.

Contillo was viewed as especially vulnerable in 1977 after voting for Governor Brendan Byrne's unpopular state income tax. Fritzky challenged him again in the Democratic primary but lost by more than 1,600 votes. But as Byrne rebounded in his re-election campaign, so did Contillo and Burns. They defeated Paramus Councilman Louis Kosco and Lodi Mayor James Cuccio by more than 3,000 votes. He sought re-election to a fourth term in 1979, but lost by 374 votes to Kosco and his running mate, attorney John Paolella.

In 1983, Contillo ran for State Senator against Paolella, who had ousted two-term Democrat John Skevin two years earlier. In a competitive Democratic primary, Contillo beat Skevin by 849 votes, and unseated Paolella in the general election by 595 votes. He was re-elected to a second term in the Senate in 1987, defeating Assemblyman Kosco by 2,368 votes.

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