Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno has chosen Woodcliff Lake’s Mayor Carlos Rendo as her gubernatorial campaign’s running-mate. This announcement was made official on July 27, though speculation indicated this was likely to happen prior to the meeting held between the two which set his nomination in stone.
At a press conference, Guadagno reported that, if elected, Rendo would undertake an initiative called “Audit Trenton,” an investigative auditing effort to maximize government efficiency and save tax dollars presumably through cutbacks, with the goal of providing New Jersey residents with a property tax relief fund.
Rendo, a lawyer specializing in immigration with the Mulkay Rendo firm, came to the United States at two years old with his family who fled the Communist regime in Cuba. He received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Rutgers University, and a law degree from Temple University prior to starting his career.
In Rendo’s career, he’s become well-acquainted with GOP insiders on both the state and national level. Last year, Rendo was one of four co-chairs on Marco Rubio’s campaign team in New Jersey during Rubio’s presidential campaign, and was outspoken in his support for the candidate through fundraising and advocacy. Rendo described Rubio as a generational, uplifting leader with a conservative message he stood behind. Rendo co-hosted the Senator in Colts Neck in order to garner support for his election.
According to Guadagno’s press release, Rendo is now set to accompany her on the campaign trail in the coming months leading up to November. As Mayor of Woodcliff Lake, Rendo is taking part in a regional committee of Mayors, Planning Board members, and others, from Park Ridge, Montvale, River Vale, and Hillsdale, to address affordable housing litigation on a regional level, where in the past these towns conducted their negotiations in isolation. He oversaw dropping a plan that developers were vying for which would have allowed for wider streets, more parking, and taller buildings in the Woodcliff Lake section of Broadway. Public outcry helped sway the governing body to ditch the initiative, which would have alleviated some of the obliged 386 affordable units Woodcliff Lake has, with concerns that the area would be too over-developed.
In 1995, Rendo was appointed by Governor Christine Todd Whitman as a member of the state’s Ethnic Advisory Council, which is a body dedicated to advising state leaders on understanding the contributions and needs of new ethnic communities in influx. He has also been active in speaking out against the increased air traffic which residents feel burdened by, through attending conferences held by Teterboro Airport officials and organizing petitions.
Rendo was also appointed as an advisor in the development of the West New York waterfront, which revitalized and urbanized the area. He is also known for his relationships to resident corporations such as the town’s BMW headquarters, having created private-public relationships with the corporations who contribute a large portion of his town’s tax revenue.
Guadagno will be facing Democrat Phil Murphy in the gubernatorial race. Murphy has chosen Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver as his Lt. Gov. running mate, which was made official on Wednesday, July 26. Oliver is the first African-American woman to hold the position of New Jersey Assembly Speaker, though she no longer holds the speaker position. Oliver has held elected positions within the assembly for over one dozen years, and has been outspoken in support of healthcare policies similar to those of the Obama administration.