John learned his sense of civic duty and activism from his mother who served on local community boards and civic associations in Middle Village. In the early nineties John worked against a proposed curfew for minors in NYC. The curfew plan would have turned law-abiding youths into criminals just for being out late. John believed that the curfew would have been a usurpation of parental rights.

A product of public schools, John attended Thomas A. Edison High School and graduated in 1987. John graduated from St. John's University in 1991 with a Bachelors Degree in Communications. While at St. John's, John was a student leader becoming Editorial Page Editor and then General Manager of the school newspaper The Torch, Editor in Chief of Spectator Humor Magazine, and a DJ/On-Air Personality for WSJU Radio.

During and after university, John worked for Lufthansa German Airlines to help pay for his education. John spent time traveling extensively getting to know and learn about other people and cultures. In 1995 John joined CBS Television and worked as a Broadcast Satellite Distribution Manager. As a manager for CBS, John was responsible for the network signal reaching 217 stations around the country for the CBS Network and over 180 stations for the UPN Network. John worked with stations on troubleshooting and solving equipment and network signal problems. In 1998, John traveled to Japan with CBS for five weeks for coverage of the Nagano Olympics. In December 2008, John joined the Nassau County Board of Elections working in the 'Help America Vote Act' department which is responsible for the new electronic voting machines allowing voters with disabilities to vote on their own.

Since 2002, John is the creator and writer of local political websites that have been mentioned in the NY Times, Newsday, Long Island Press and state-wide and national political websites. John's stories have been picked up by other media and he is called to provide quotes. John is currently working on building www.politicsland.com, a local and national political website with progressive commentary.

In past elections, John has been endorsed by Newsday, Planned Parenthood, the Empire State Pride Agenda, N.O.W. Long Island and also appeared on the Working Families Party ballot line.

In 1997 John married Jean Lindlau, a school teacher from Garden City Park. John and Jean lived in Garden City Park until they bought their home in North Massapequa. The couple are proud parents of 5 year old twins Matthew and Allison and 3 year old Jonathan.