Richard Codey

Richard Codey (2008)

Richard James Codey (born November 27, 1946 in Orange , New Jersey ) is an American politician ( Democratic Party ) and former governor of the state of New Jersey.

Codey graduated as Bachelor at Fairleigh Dickinson University . In 1973 he was elected to the General Assembly , the lower house of the New Jersey State Legislature , of which he was a member until 1981. Then he moved to the state Senate . The former teacher, who now works as an insurer, was among other things Assistant Minority Leader there , and between 1998 and 2001 even a minority leader (opposition leader).

On January 12, 2002 Codey took over the function of the Senate President and thus at the same time the office of acting governor. This was due to the resignation of Governor Christine Todd Whitman the year before . She was followed by Donald DiFrancesco, the then incumbent President of the Senate. When his term of office expired and there was still a week to bridge until the elected successor, James McGreevey, took over the post, the two equally strong factions agreed to divide the remaining days among themselves. The Republican John Bennett officiated from 8 to 12 January, Codey then until 15 January.

Richard Codey then returned to the Senate, but had to take over as President of this body on November 15, 2004 again the office of acting governor after James McGreevey had resigned. This time he held this post until January 17, 2006. An initially considered candidacy in the following election, he rejected in favor of US Senator Jon Corzine , who ran for the Democrats and was then victorious.

As a result, it was decided to create the previously non-existent office of Vice-Governor in the event that the Governor resigns, dies or cannot fulfill his duties for other reasons. Even before this position was established, Richard Codey had to assume the office of acting governor for the third time as Senate President when Jon Corzine suffered a serious car accident on April 12, 2007 and was in critical condition for some time. After Corzine's recovery, Codey was able to hand the office back to him on May 7, 2007.

Web links

Commons : Richard Codey  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• New Jersey Legislature (English)
• Short biography of Richard Codey (English)
• Richard Codey in the National Governors Association (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Cooper: Crash Adds Uncertainty to New Jersey Politics. In: The New York Times, April 15, 2007 (accessed November 28, 2014).