{"id":735,"date":"2022-01-06T21:12:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T21:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/?page_id=735"},"modified":"2026-03-30T19:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:28:08","slug":"commissioner-james-e-baker-jr","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/commissioner-james-e-baker-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Commissioner James E. Baker, Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- Added by Post\/Page Specific Custom Code plugin, thank you for using! -->\n<style>.entry-title {\r\n   display: none;\r\n}\r\n.entry-header.has-text-align-center.header-footer-group {\r\n    display: none;\r\n}<\/style>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Commissioner<br>James E. Baker, Jr.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-full is-style-tw-shadow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/01\/DSC07812-1024x576-1.jpg\" alt=\"Commissioner James Baker swearing in\" class=\"wp-image-2262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/01\/DSC07812-1024x576-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/01\/DSC07812-1024x576-1-300x123.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/01\/DSC07812-1024x576-1-768x315.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-resized is-style-tw-shadow\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"James Baker headshot\" class=\"wp-image-738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-1200x1500.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-1980x2475.jpg 1980w, https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/James-E-Baker-Jr-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Commissioner James E. Baker, Jr. was elected in 2024 to serve his second three-year term as a Union County Commissioner. A lifelong resident of Rahway and a dedicated public servant, Commissioner Baker has devoted his career to providing vital human services to families and residents of Union County while supporting strong and sustainable community development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner Baker is currently assigned to the County of Union\u2019s Fiscal and County Operations Standing Committees. He also serves as a member of the Senior Citizen &amp; Disabled Resident Transportation Board, the Advisory Council on Aging, the Disabilities Advisory Board, the Homeless Trust Fund Advisory Board, and the Middlesex County Utilities Authority, where he is serving his fourth year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2025, Commissioner Baker served as Chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and as a member of the Open Space, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Trust Board. He also served on the Local Advisory Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (LACADA), the Industrial Pollution Control Authority, and the Shade Tree Advisory Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From 2006 to 2021, Commissioner Baker served as an At-Large Councilman in the City of Rahway, where he played a key role in numerous initiatives. His work included collaborating with veterans\u2019 organizations to establish a city park named in honor of Myron Ross, a Rahway native and African American service member killed in combat during the Vietnam War; coordinating an employee volunteer program with Merck that engaged more than 100 employees across multiple community sites in Rahway; and serving twice as President of the Rahway City Council. He also helped coordinate a partnership with the County of Union\u2019s Sheriff\u2019s Labor Assistance Program (SLAP), sponsored the effort to name the Children\u2019s Section of the Rahway Public Library in honor of the late Congressman Donald Payne, Sr., and assisted in negotiations to relocate two County-managed services\u2014the Community Coordinated Child Care agency and the Intoxicated Drivers Resource Center (IDRC)\u2014to the City of Rahway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner Baker\u2019s previous experience also includes service on the State Legislative Committee of the New Jersey School Boards Association, the Urban School Board Association, the Rahway Board of Education, the Rahway Planning Board, and the Rahway Housing Authority. In addition, he served on the Boards of Directors for the Rahway Day Care Center and Jefferson Park Ministries in Elizabeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner Baker worked for the County of Union for 30 years, beginning as a Senior Program Development Specialist in the Division of Planning within the Department of Human Services. He later served in the Office of Community Development in the Department of Economic Development, where he helped local municipalities implement ADA-compliant sidewalks, improve road conditions, and complete other critical community infrastructure improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A graduate of Wilberforce University, Commissioner Baker holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in Sociology and earned a Master\u2019s degree in Psychology from Kean University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-transparent-background-color has-background tw-shadow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-subtle-background-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Contact the Commissioner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e829fa2d86090468559cb63dd1f1bc55 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Office Phone Number<\/strong>: <a href=\"tel:9085274109\">908-527-4109<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f0afff90ae7913ed8005af16731dcdfb wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>E-mail Address<\/strong>: <a href=\"mailto:jbaker@ucnj.org\">jbaker@ucnj.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CommissionerJames E. Baker, Jr. Commissioner James E. Baker, Jr. was elected in 2024 to serve his second three-year term as a Union County Commissioner. A lifelong resident of Rahway and a dedicated public servant, Commissioner Baker has devoted his career to providing vital human services to families and residents of Union County while supporting strong&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-735","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"1970-01-01 00:00:00","action":"","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","browser_timezone_offset":0},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucnj.org\/commissioners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}