Tenerowicz served as mayor of Hamtramck from 1928 to 1932. In 1931, Tenerowicz and twelve others, including two named Jacob Kaplan and Isaac Levey, were indicted for bribery. He was tried and convicted on vice conspiracy charges and freed from prison when pardoned by
Democratic Governor William A. Comstock. Despite the conviction, Tenerowicz returned to serve as mayor from 1936 to 1938. He was member of the
Wayne County Board of Supervisors for seven years. While serving as Mayor, and in an effort to eliminate youth crime in the City of Hamtramck, Tenerowicz worked with Mrs. Jean Hoxie to implement a tennis programs to keep kids off the streets. Kids who participated in the tennis program were offered a meal at the end of the day for their efforts. The program was an overwhelming success and resulted in Michigan tennis champions at local, state and national levels, while reducing juvenile crime. According to
Richard Rothstein's 2017 book,
The Color of Law, Tenerowicz, "persuaded his colleagues that funding for the agency (Federal Works Agency) should be cut off unless (Clark) Foreman was fired and the Sojourner Truth units were assigned only to whites." (pg. 26) Rothstein adds, "The director of the Federal Housing Authority supported Tenerowicz, stating that the presence of African Americans in the area would threaten property values of nearby residents. Foreman was forced to resign. The Federal Works Agency then prepared a different project for African Americans on a plot that the Detroit Housing Commission recommended, in an industrial area deemed unsuitable for whites." In 1938, Tenerowicz was elected, without challenge, as a Democrat from
Michigan's 1st congressional district to the
Seventy-sixth Congress and reelected in 1938 to the
Seventy-seventh, serving from January 3, 1939, to January 3, 1943. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1942 and for election as a
Republican in 1946, 1948, 1950, 1952, and 1954. ==Family==