Education and personal life

Torricelli was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Betty (Lotz), a school librarian, and Salvatore Torricelli, a lawyer. After graduation from Storm King School in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, Torricelli attended Rutgers University both for undergraduate and law school, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 and his law degree in 1977. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1978 and later attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, earning a master's in public administration in 1980.

Torricelli was married to Susan Holloway, from whom he is now divorced. He reportedly has since dated Mick Jagger's former wife Bianca Jagger and Ronald Perelman's ex-wife Patricia Duff, as well as conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham, and U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.

Torricelli is Italian American on his father's side. His religious affiliation is United Methodist.

Early political career

Torricelli was an assistant to the Governor of New Jersey Brendan Byrne from 1975 to 1977. In 1978 he served on the staff of Vice President Walter Mondale, and managed the Carter-Mondale campaign in the Illinois primary, at the age of 28. At the 1980 Democratic National Convention, he served the Carter-Mondale campaign on the Rules Committee. In 1982, Torricelli leveraged his political contacts into a run for U.S. Congress, defeating incumbent Republican Harold Hollenbeck 53% to 46%.

Torricelli served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1997 representing New Jersey's 9th congressional district, and then as a senator from 1997 to 2003.

Senate career

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, defeating Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer to obtain the seat vacated by the retirement of Democratic Senator Bill Bradley.

The Justice Department won guilty pleas from six donors who had made illegal contributions to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign.

In 2000, he headed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and helped the Democrats gain four Senate seats.

Late in an increasingly competitive race against Republican Doug Forrester in 2002, Torricelli suddenly withdrew after disclosure of illegal contributions to his campaign by David Chang, a businessman connected to North Korea. Torricelli had previously denied this and a number of other charges. In his withdrawal speech on September 30, 2002, he stated that despite leaving public office in a different way than he had planned, he was proud of his service. Shortly thereafter, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Democratic Party could legally replace Torricelli's name on the ballot with that of former U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, ironically a longtime Torricelli nemesis, with whom he had often publicly feuded. New Jersey Republicans had contested the Torricelli-Lautenberg swap on the grounds that the deadline for ballot changes had long passed. It seemed apparent to many that Torricelli had only made his decision after local polls showed, for the first time, that the scandal had damaged his re-election chances beyond repair.

Ethics violations

On July 30, 2002, Torricelli received a formal letter of admonishment from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, for his involvement with David Chang, and for the acceptance of gifts including a CD player, television, and earrings. He was represented by criminal attorney Ted Wells, an association which is itself unethical.

Post-Senate career

He is now a lobbyist and a partner in Panepinto Properties, a Jersey City real estate developer. He was again the subject of controversy in 2007 when it was revealed that he was spending some of the $2.9 million left over from his Senate campaign on donations to political candidates with ties to his business interests.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]