Education
Hackett received a Bachelor of Surgery in 1963 from Paul Quinn College in Biology / Physical Science and received an Master of Surgery in 1976 from Seton Hall University in Administration and Supervision.
Hackett received a Bachelor of Surgery in 1963 from Paul Quinn College in Biology / Physical Science and received an Master of Surgery in 1976 from Seton Hall University in Administration and Supervision.
Hackett served in the Assembly on the State Government Committee (as Chair), the Appropriations Committee and the Military and Veterans" Affairs Committee. Hackett has served as the Mayor of the City of Orange since 1996-2008 and served on its City Council from 1988-1996. He spent thirty-two years as a science teacher in the Union City Board of Education.
He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and currently resides in Orange.
Hackett was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on September 6, 2007 in a Federal corruption probe that also included the arrests of Assemblymen Alfred East. Steele and Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera. The indictment alleges that Hackett accepted $5,000 in bribes for his efforts to steer insurance business from the City of Orange, with an additional $25,000 to be accepted if the firm received the insurance business it sought.
On September 7, 2007, Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine called on both Hackett and Steele to resign from their seats in the New Jersey Legislature. Hackett submitted his letter of resignation from his Assembly seat on September 10, 2007.
Steele followed with a resignation submitted that same day.
In resigning before September 17, 2007, the Democratic Party will be able to put an alternate on the November ballot in lieu of Hackett. 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 27th Legislative District are:
Assemblyman John F. McKeon, and
Senator Richard Codey.
