Dick Codey

Reacting to news that certain state legislators were given sole discretion on where millions of dollars in state funds were spent, State Sen. Leonard Lance – who was Senate Minority Leader at the time – said it was outrageous, and made other scandals about “Christmas tree” items inserted into the budget look tame.

Lance said he was not a beneficiary of the program.

“We voted against the budget and we were railing against the Christmas tree items. But I think this goes beyond that. I haven’t examined it fully, but…. that’s an extremely bad procedure,” said Lance. “We haven’t been involved in the Christmas Tree process, but if someone outright says I want something for my district and it’s there in black and white, we can have a debate back and forth. But this is even worse because it’s done behind closed doors.”

Senate President Dick Codey has joined a growing chorus that’s clamoring to install New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the nation’s new “economic czar” – a post that doesn’t yet exist.

“Having worked with Mayor Bloomberg when I was Governor, I witnessed his economic prowess first hand,” said Codey.  “No one understands the business sector better than he does.  Just as importantly, he relates to working class families and understands their struggles… I honestly believe that there’s no one more qualified in this country to take on such a critical role that requires an understanding of the fundamentals of both Wall Street and government.  Whoever is trusted with making this appointment would be foolish not to go directly to Mike Bloomberg.”

Senate President Dick Codey is New Jersey's most popular politician, according to an FDU poll released today
New Jersey voters’ feelings about Gov. Jon Corzine remain tepid, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released today. 

Survey respondents are split on whether they approve of Governor Corzine’s performance, with 41% approving and 43% disapproving.  16% had mixed feelings or didn’t know. 

31% of New Jersey voters think Gov. Corzine is doing an “excellent” or “good job,” while 41% rate his performance as “only fair.”  25% think that he’s done a “poor” job in office.  Those numbers are basically the same as they were in an FDU poll conducted in June.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Mark Meyerowitz had a brief glimmer of hope last year.

He was the only Republican legislative candidate in District 27, running for Assembly against a ticket headed up by Senate President Dick Codey – the most popular elected official in the state. But then Codey’s running mate, Mims Hackett, was arrested on corruption charges. And for the brief period that Hackett remained on the ticket, it looked possible that Meyerowitz could actually win.

That didn’t last, of course. Hackett resigned, and the party settled on Mila Jasey to replace him. She beat Meyerowitz by more than a 2-1 margin.

The Senate and Assembly both passed laws disbanding and reforming the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards earlier this year.  But so far, only two of the new committee’s eight seats have been filled.

That’s because it’s hard to find people interested or eligible to serve, according to Rick Wright, executive director of the Assembly Republicans.

“We are going to make appointments, but like everyone else we’re having a hard time finding people,” he said.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards has been widely considered a joke for most of its existence.  It averaged one sanction against a legislator every 10 years during its nearly four decade lifespan.  Meanwhile, filing toothless complaints with the committee became standard fare during the legislative campaign season, when candidates or their allies would file a complaint against an opponent and then issue press releases trumpeting it.

Amid the shockwaves that hit the political community last night over the revelation that Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union) is under investigation for possession of child pornography, four legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle have requested that the Office of Legislative Services begin installing the “most aggressive” possible internet filtering software on all of the legislature’s computers.

A joint statement by Senate President Dick Codey, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce said that this morning they directed the Office of Legislative Services to “immediately pursue installing the most aggressive Internet filtering software available on all computers in the Legislature.”

Senate President Dick Codey and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez were not present for Frank Lautenberg’s official campaign kickoff today, but made sure to voice their continued support for him.

Codey said that Lautenberg “has the experience to rise above partisan politics and focus on what's best for New Jersey – strengthening our security, improving our health care system and protecting our environment.No one fought harder than Frank to defeat the Bush administration's senseless attempts to deprive New Jersey of well-deserved homeland security dollars and sell our ports to foreign interests.”

Menendez ticked off a number of Lautenberg’s recent legislative achiveements, like repaying military families for buying their own body armor and increasing the federal investment in Amtrak.

Chris Christie may have rained on the Democrats’ parade with his corruption bust yesterday on the day of the party’s convention, but the most popular politician in the state isn’t blaming him.

Although his running mate, Assemblyman Mims Hackett, was arrested yesterday along with Assemblyman Al Steele and eight other Democratic officials for taking bribes, Senate President Dick Codey told an audience at the convention this morning not to complain about the timing of the arrests. Codey also said that he talked privately to Hackett last night and expects an announcement from the indicted Assemblyman soon.

“I want to make myself clear on this. I know there’s been criticism and talk about whether the US Attorney is political in nature in his investigations -- the timing of his investigations,” said Codey. “Let me say to those who would say that, that is not the question. He is doing his job, and he should be doing his job. He didn’t put a gun to anybody’s head and put their hands in the cookie jar.”

While state Senator Ron Rice, Sr. is not supporting the Democratic candidate for the 29th district state Senate seat, Dick Codey is not fuming about it.

“I understand the dynamics involved. I understand the feelings,” said the state Senate President.

In a final farewell to a political mentor, Senate President Dick Codey recalled in his eulogy for Sen. Byron Baer one particularly telling story: as soon as Jim McGreevey resigned and Codey learned he was going to become Acting Governor, he received a call from Baer asking him about his agenda.

“I’m still reeling from the shock, and I’m scared,” said Codey. “So I said ‘Byron, right now I have no agenda… So you can rest assured that Byron followed that phone call with many others in which he talked my ear off trying to help me set an agenda.”

It was not the first political advice Baer bestowed on Codey – he and his running mate, Al Burstein, worked closely with Codey as soon as the young Assemblyman entered office. Over time, the two grew close enough that Baer specifically requested Codey give his eulogy.