He won considerable fame in the 1950s as a racket-busting Deputy state Attorney General who waged a war on illegal gambling operations.

Driscoll, was accused of taking a $228,000 bribe to provide "state protection" for several gamblers, including Willie Moretti, who was murdered in Cliffside Park.

Driscoll fired him in 1949, and Adonis fled to The Netherlands forcing New Jersey law enforcement officials to initiate extradition proceedings.

Parsons also charged that Stamler provided information to a news broadcaster concerning matters pending before a Grand Jury in Bergen County, and that he was interfering with the extradition of Harold Adonis.

[6] There were accusations that the brother of a defendant in one of Stamler's gambling cases approached New Jersey Republican State Chairman John J. Dickerson and asked him to get Trenton to back off.

[7] Stamler later testified that Dickerson had received gifts from Max Stark (identified as a check casher for a gambling syndicate), according to records he obtained from a liquor distributor.

Robert B. Meyner, the Democratic candidate for Governor, criticized the legislative action, saying that Stamler was "the victim of what might be called a drumhead court-martial, and questioned why the panel failed to disclose why they had not exposed links between underworld figures and New Jersey political leaders.

[10] A few days before the election, Stamler endorsed Meyner, saying the defeat of GOP candidate Paul Troast "and his circle of selfish bosses" was in the best interests of the state Republican Party.

While considered the front runner for the nomination, he wound up losing the primary to Irene Griffin, a former Assemblywoman and a perennial candidate, by a margin of less than 100 votes.

[15] In the General Election, Stamler faced former Linden Mayor H. Roy Wheeler, who had come within 567 votes of beating Crane three years earlier.

[17] In October, Hughes accused Stamler of raising money from the New Jersey Homebuilders Association, which opposed the expansion of anti-discrimination housing laws.

The New York Times noted the highly negative tone of the Senate race: "The campaign has veered sharply in the last two weeks into a vitriolic struggle with attempts at character assassination overshadowing all other issues.

[21][22] Stamler was re-elected to a second term in the State Senate in 1963, defeating his Democratic opponent, three-term Assemblyman James M. McGowan,[23] by 16,006 votes (55%-45%).

[24] He had to run again 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.

Stamler ran with Assemblyman Peter J. McDonough (R-Plainfield); they were opposed by Assemblywoman Mildred Barry Hughes (D-Union Township) and William P. Hourihan of Elizabeth, a top executive of Standard Oil Company/Esso.

Stamler charged that the group had discouraged Blacks and Jews from joining, and asked New Jersey Attorney General Arthur J. Sills to launch an investigation.

Richard Plechner, a New Jersey resident, was forced to resign his post as National Young Republican Vice Chairman as a result of the controversy.