Joseph Edward Crabiel (June 20, 1916 – June 19, 1992) was an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey Legislature and as New Jersey Secretary of State until a scandal ended his political career. Known as "Steady Eddie," and later as "Concrete Eddie," he was briefly a candidate for the 1973 Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey.
Early life, education and military service
Born June 20, 1916, in Milltown, New Jersey, he was the son of Milltown Councilman Joseph M. Crabiel and Helen Glock Crabiel. A brother, David Crabiel, was a longtime member of the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders and twice a candidate for Congress. Crabiel attended Milltown public schools, graduated from New Brunswick High School, and in 1936 received a BS in civil engineering from Rutgers University. In 1936 he joined the Franklin Construction Company as a civil engineer; he later served as president of Great Notch Granule Company and as president of F.E. Schroeder, Inc. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where, as a member of the 70th Naval Construction Battalion attached to the Amphibious Corps, he was part of the Battle of Okinawa. He continued to serve in the U.S. Naval Reserves until his retirement in 1953. He was married for 52 years to Doris Young Crabiel; they had a daughter and three grandchildren.
Political career
Crabiel was elected Mayor of Milltown in 1947, at the age of 31. He was re-elected in 1949. He was an alternate delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Harry S. Truman.
He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly representing Middlesex County in 1953, and was re-elected in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1963. During his twelve year as an Assemblyman, he served as Assistant Majority Leader (1962), Majority Leader (1963), and Minority Leader (1964 and 1965).
In 1965 after the U.S. Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. Sims (more commonly known as One Man, One Vote), required redistricting by state legislatures for congressional districts to keep represented populations equal, as well as requiring both houses of state legislatures to have districts drawn that contained roughly equal populations, and to perform redistricting when needed. Because of its population, Middlesex County gained a second Senate seat.
Crabiel was elected to the state senate in 1965, running on an at-large ticket with incumbent John A. Lynch Sr. in the new 7th Legislative District. They defeated Republicans Albert Ichel and Edward Hellriegel by a margin of nearly 3-1. Redistricting for the 1967 election gave Middlesex a third Senate seat. Running with Lynch and Assemblyman Norman Tanzman, he was re-elected in an election cycle that was less favorable toward Democrats (it was the mid-term election of the second term of Governor Richard J. Hughes), Crabiel won by a margin of sightly less than 8,000 votes over the top Republican vote=getter, Milltown GOP Chairman John A. Bradley. In his 1971 re-election campaign for a third term, Crabiel won by an impressive 31,000 vote margin. Crabiel served as the Senate Minority Leader from 1968 to 1973.
Campaign for Governor of New Jersey
On December 13, 1972, Crabiel announced that he would be a candidate for the 1973 Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey, seeking to challenge the Republican incumbent, William T. Cahill. Five weeks after Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern's landslide defeat, Crabiel cast himself as an organization centrist, saying in his announcement: "I'm an organization man from way back. I represent the center of my party, and in the recent presidential election the majority of the people overwhelmingly indicated that they want to move back to the center." He became the second Democrat to enter the race, following former Assemblyman Vito Albanese (D-Bergen), who supported the legalization of marijuana and advocated an end to New Jersey's prohibition of abortion. Joining the race later were State Senator Ralph DeRose (D-Essex), former State Senator Richard J. Coffee (D-Mercer), former Senate Majority Leader John A. Waddington (D-Salem), and Assemblywoman Ann Klein (D-Morris). Another Democrat, Assemblyman Charles Yates (D-Burlington) also considered a gubernatorial bid.
