James Beach

Education

Beach has earned a Bachelor of Surgery degree in psychology from and a Master of Arts degree in personnel services from Rowan University.

Career

James "Jim" Beach (born October 28, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in the New Jersey Senate since 2009, where he represents the 6th legislative district. He serves in the Senate on the Environment and Labor Committees. Beach has earned a Bachelor of Surgery degree in psychology from Midwestern College and a Master of Arts degree in personnel services from Rowan University.

Beach showed up at his interview with his tax bill complaining about his taxes, and was described by Freeholder Jeffrey L. Nash as just what the party was seeking in a candidate, "regular people complaining about their taxes".

He was elected to the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1991, and was named as Freeholder Director in 1993. Beach was elected as Camden County Clerk in 1995.

With the endorsement of George Norcross, Beach ran unopposed in the convention. Beach saw his salary drop from $153,437 annually as County Clerk to $49,000 as State Senator, and indicated after his selection to fill the Senate seat that he would seek additional employment to supplement his salary, ensuring that there was no conflict with his position as Senator.

Beach was soon hired by Camden County College for a part-time job as an advisor, allowing him to collect an annual salary of $10,400 and remain in New Jersey"s Public Employee Retirement System, for which county clerks but not state senators are eligible.

After critical editorials in The Star-Ledger and the Courier-Post accused Beach of abusing the public pension system, Beach left the Camden County College job. Beach had worked as an educator and football coach at schools including both Saint Joseph High School (Camden, New Jersey) and Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden and Highland Regional High School in Blackwood, and had been director of vocational education at the Black Horse Pike Regional School District. Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly.

The other representatives from the 6th District for the 2014-2015 (216th) Legislative Session are:

Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (Doctorate)

Assemblywoman Pamela Rosen Lampitt (Doctorate)

Municipalities Represented Berlin Township, Cherry Hill Township, Collingswood Borough, Gibbsboro Borough, Haddon Township, Haddonfield Borough, Hi-Nella Borough, Maple Shade Township, Merchantville Borough, Oaklyn Borough, Pennsauken Township, Somerdale Borough, Stratford Borough, Tavistock Borough, Voorhees Township.

Achievements

• He served as County Clerk until 2009 until he was appointed to the Senate seat formerly held by John Adler, who had won a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Beach won a November 2009 special election in order to remain in the Senate through the end of Adler"s four-year term.

Politics

A resident of Voorhees Township, Beach first entered Camden County politics after responding to a 1990 recruitment ad that county Democrats had posted seeking prospective candidates to burnish the party"s image and help retain the Democrat"s control on county government.