Education
Rutgers University; Fordham University School of Law.
Rutgers University; Fordham University School of Law.
He earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University with a major in Political Science and was awarded his law degree from the Fordham University School of Law. An attorney by profession, Robertson served on the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, where he was the Chairman of the Freeholder Finance and Administration Committee. He was also Chairman of the Passaic County Utilities Authority and served on the Urban Economic Development Task Force.
He ran again for Congress again in 1992 when Roe retired, but lost the Republican primary to Joseph Bubba by a 63%-25% margin.
In the 1997 Republican primary, Robertson, a Clifton native, defeated five-term incumbent Joseph Bubba, a native of Wayne who was the only incumbent to lose a primary election (several would lose their seats in the coming general election). While in the Senate, Robertson served as Vice Chair of the Senior Citizens, Veterans" Affairs and Human Services Committee, on the Judiciary Committee and on the State Government, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee.
Robertson, a white Republican, sharply criticized the Apportionment Commission"s 2001 redistricting map, stating that his "belief is that the map is racist" because it reduced the voting strength of African-American voters in Essex County calling it "the result of a manipulation of the African-American community to serve the white political establishment". Robertson lost his bid for re-election in 2001 to then-District 27 Assemblywoman Nia Gill, after heavily Democratic communities (including Gill"s) had been added to the 34th District as part of the 2001 redistricting.
District 34 had long been a Republican stronghold.
The redistricting also cost nine-term incumbent Assemblyman Gerald H. Zecker to lose his seat. In a three-way race, Gill took the seat with 64.9% of the votes cast, Robertson receiving 34.4% and Marie Yvrose Celestin receiving under one percent of the vote.