Free Republic

With or without Codey, Corzine set to enter race for Governor By STEVE KORNACKI PoliticsNJ.com December 1 - When Jon S. Corzine steps before the cameras in Newark on Thursday afternoon, he’s expected to announce the formation of an exploratory committee for next year’s governor’s race -- a pro forma move tantamount to a declaration of candidacy and an effort to re-establish the sense of inevitability that surrounded his gubernatorial aspirations this past summer. Corzine began calling key Democratic officials and party leaders before Thanksgiving, telling them that he planned to make his announcement sometime this week. Word of the...

Schundler launches bid for Governor By STEVE KORNACKI PoliticsNJ.com JERSEY CITY, November 29 - At first, it was a familiar pitch, a handful of well-known warm-up speakers invoking the various forms of The Bret Schundler Story that the former Jersey City mayor had hoped would resonate with the statewide electorate in 2001. Curtis Sliwa, Steve Forbes and Peggy Noonan, national Republicans with ties to New Jersey , took turns signing the praises of the Wall Street whiz kid who beat the old Hudson County machine in the early ‘90s; the maverick Republican who’s more at ease spreading his message in...

Christie not running for governor in 2005 US Attorney Christopher Christie has decided not to seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2005. (11/19/04)

Will New Jersey get a Lieutenant Governor? By STEVE KORNACKI PoliticsNJ.com November 16 - If the state Assembly gets its way, Garden State voters will have the option next fall of approving a constitutional amendment that would create an office of lieutenant governor and make its occupant next in line to the governorship. Opinion polls show the public overwhelmingly favoring the concept, so now that the amendment has won the necessary supermajority approval in the lower house the only obstacle blocking New Jersey from becoming the 43rd state with a lieutenant governor seems to be the state Senate, which has...

When Richard Codey, the president of the New Jersey Senate, succeeded Gov. James McGreevey at the stroke of midnight on Monday, he won the dubious prize of 14 months in one of the most powerful - and most burdened - of the nation's gubernatorial offices. Before the clock strikes too many more times, he should act to fix the biggest of the state's numerous messes. Mr. Codey would do well to start with New Jersey's porous code of ethics. Mr. McGreevey, who was no stranger to the state's "pay to play" politics, in which candidates take contributions from state contractors,...

Codey hints at full-term bid for governor Saturday, November 13, 2004 By WAYNE PARRY ASSOCIATED PRESS EAST BRUNSWICK - New Jersey's next governor is already looking beyond the 14-month term he'll begin next week. Although he has yet to take office, state Senate President Richard J. Codey is contemplating whether to seek a full four-year term in next November's gubernatorial election. He'll take over Tuesday as acting governor following the resignation of Governor McGreevey over a gay sex scandal. Addressing a state economic development conference Friday morning, Codey ended his final public speech before assuming the governorship by pointing out...

Dear fellow conservative: Last week you received an email (see below) from Paul Weyrich supporting Bret Schundler's candidacy for New Jersey Governor. Unfortunately, since Paul, like most Schundler for Governor supporters, does not live in New Jersey, he may not be aware of why nearly every New Jersey conservative leader who backed Bret in 2001 is not supporting his candidacy in 2005 and why most are with Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan for Governor (www.loneganforgovernor.com). As someone who helped Bret Schundler in both the 2001 primary and general election, I'm writing you to explain why I too am not supporting Schundler...

December 16, 2002 Dear Pro-Life Friends: The NJ Senate passed S1909 today. The measure will now move to the Assembly where it will most likely be scheduled for a hearing before the Assembly Health Committee in the very near future. From hereon in, please use both the Senate and Assembly bill number in any correspondence on the bill. It is S1909/A2840. Please contact your two Assembly members immediately and urge them to oppose S1909/A2840. You can call the Office of Legis Svcs at 1-800-792-8630 or go to the legislature's webpage to find out who your two assembly members are. The...

NJ Assembly Approves Needle Exchanges, Bans ''Water Yo-Yos'' by KYW's Ed Kasuba The New Jersey Assembly has approved a measure banning the sale of yo-yo water balls in the state. Yo-yo water balls are squishy toys on a bungee-cord string with a finger loop at the end. And, according to some experts, they pose a potential health hazard to children. Assembyman David Mayer, a Camden County Democrat, says that because the Consumer Product Safety Commission has ignored the problem, it was time for New Jersey to act: "This is actually a dangerous toy. This toy looks innocent and children play...

...New Jersey Governor James McGreevey isn't wavering from his decision to stay on the job until November 15, despite bipartisan calls for him to step down immediately so that an election for his replacement can be held this year. On the current course, Senate President and fellow Democrat Richard Codey will succeed him as acting Governor, and New Jersey will avoid a special election in which voters might demonstrate their displeasure with the way they have been treated. Now comes a story in The Hudson Reporter that Mr. Codey is likely to name Mr. McGreevey as head of the state's...

TRENTON, Gov. James E. McGreevey is scheduled to return to the State House on Monday, intending to carry out his duties until his announced resignation date of Nov. 15. But many of his fellow Democrats spent the weekend trying to devise a way to ease him out of office this month and draft Senator Jon S. Corzine to run in a special election in November, party officials said. Mr. McGreevey, who announced his resignation on Thursday as he publicly acknowledged that he had had a sexual relationship with a man, has said that he wants to leave time for an...

... Obviously, being gay today isn't something that a politician need apologize for or be ashamed of. What's shameful is the way Mr. McGreevey is manipulating the political calendar. If there's a need to leave office at all, there's a need to leave immediately. Delaying the Governor's resignation until November 15 is nothing short of a Democratic trifecta: The party avoids a special election to replace Mr. McGreevey in the fall; it guarantees that another Democrat -- Senate President Richard Codey -- serves out Mr. McGreevey's term; and it uses its incumbent status to grease the wheels for U.S. Senator...

For months New Jersey Republicans had smelled blood in the water and were lining up to take on Gov. James E. McGreevey. A state assemblyman, a state senator, a businessman, a small town mayor and perhaps a federal prosecutor were all considering the prospect of challenging the Democratic incumbent. Mr. McGreevey had been viewed as vulnerable because of a series of investigations involving top aides, a major fund-raiser and his leading campaign contributor. And it seemed that a state that had turned to the Democratic column - with two Democratic United States senators, and both houses of the State Legislature...

<p>A bill that would make New Jersey the second state in the nation to expressly declare that embryonic stem cell research is permitted was proposed yesterday by the state Senate's leading Democrat.</p> <p>Senate Co-President Richard Codey (D-Essex) said he believes the bill is necessary to make a statement against a pending proposal to impose a nationwide ban on the research, which is allowed in New Jersey. The measure also would set up procedures that would allow the donation of surplus embryos for medical research.</p>