Perskie served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 2nd Legislative District from 1971 to 1977.
[3][4] Party leadership at the Democratic convention in 1977 roundly supported Perskie over sitting Senator Joseph McGahn by a margin of 266 to 77.
[7] Perskie and McGahn had won election to the Legislature together in 1971, despite the Republicans 4-1 edge in voter registration.
Perskie was appointed as Chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 and served in that capacity until 1994.
In September 2009, the New Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed a complaint alleging that Perskie misled a State Senate panel regarding a potential conflict of interest.
[1] On August 1, 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that he did not intentionally mislead the State Senate panel.