Career
He was elected Essex County Surrogate as a Democrat in 1971, defeating Republican incumbent Thomas R. Farley, and was re-elected in 1976 and 1981. In 1986, Amato was dumped from the Essex County Democratic organization line by the incumbent County Executive, Peter Shapiro. Amato switched parties and became the Republican candidate for Surrogate.
After the primary, Amato switched to the County Executive race and ran against Shapiro.
