Posted on 08/14/2004 5:10:14 PM PDT by Libloather
Republicans Say Governor Should Quit Immediately
By GEORGE JAMES
Published: August 14, 2004
A day after Gov. James E. McGreevey turned the political world in New Jersey upside down by announcing that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with another man and would resign on Nov. 15, a group of Republican officials gathered outside the State House in Trenton to repeat their call for him to step down immediately and allow for a special election on Nov. 2.
Later in the day, Senator Richard J. Codey - the majority leader and the man who will take over when Mr. McGreevey's resignation takes effect - defended the governor's decision. At a news conference yesterday in the gymnasium of the Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in West Orange, Mr. Codey said that Mr. McGreevey was "very simply following the Constitution."
Yet on Friday, there was some talk among political insiders that Mr. Codey, a 30-year legislator, could face his own difficulties keeping the party unified during this turbulent period. In 2001, after Mr. McGreevey was elected, some of the party's most powerful leaders, John Lynch of Middlesex County and George Norcross III of Camden County, tried to push aside Mr. Codey.
But yesterday, the raised voices belonged to the Republicans. And in what could become a battle cry, State Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., the chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee, accused Mr. McGreevey of "railroading the state election process" by staying in office beyond Sept. 3, the deadline for setting up a special election.
Under the terms of the state Constitution, an election must be held to fill a governor's unexpired term during the general election unless the vacancy occurs within 60 days of that election. In this case, Governor McGreevey said he would step down on Nov. 15 - in 90 days - to provide for a smooth transition.
As the dust settled and both sides tried to fortify their positions, the question of who would run for governor and take office in 2006 took on unusual immediacy. One of the potential hopefuls, Steven M. Lonegan, the Republican mayor of Bogota in Bergen County, announced his candidacy.
In the meantime, in a memorandum addressed to Republican leaders in New Jersey, Mr. Kyrillos wrote that the party was looking into its legal options in forcing a special election. "It's real that we're looking into it," he said last night.
For Republicans, a special election would be advantageous because there would be no primary, and party leaders could pick the candidate.
In that way, they could bypass former Mayor Bret Schundler of Jersey City, whose appeal to conservatives catapulted him into the 2001 gubernatorial race against Mr. McGreevey, though he was decisively defeated. Mr. Schundler recently announced that he would again seek the party's nomination.
Any one of several moderate candidates, including Senator Diane Allen of Burlington County, Thomas H. Kean Jr. of Union County and Senator Leonard Lance of Hunterdon County would be more acceptable to party leaders.
Yet for now, any kind of discussion like this would seem to be academic, since the chances of holding a special election are slim. The only weapon Republicans have appears to be an appeal to the voters' sense of fairness by hammering at the notion that the Democrats are depriving them of a chance to vote for an effective leader.
Mr. Kyrillos struck that note yesterday when he said of Mr. McGreevey: "He will be an ineffective governor for the next three months, and there is no reason why Governor McGreevey's staff cannot facilitate a smooth transition upon an immediate resignation."
But Mr. Codey - who has filled in as governor on several occasions over the past few years - told New Jersey residents, "The state will be in very good hands."
Mr. Codey said he was not considering running for governor. "It's something, really truthfully, I'm not thinking about," he said.
Should Mr. Codey choose that route, he could collide with the ambitions of Senator Jon S. Corzine, who has become an increasingly popular figure in the state and who party leaders looked to in recent months as a possible replacement for Mr. McGreevey.
Mr. Corzine - who as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was in Colorado yesterday raising funds for the party - has insisted for weeks that for now he is focused on getting John Kerry elected president. But an aide said he would be in New Jersey on Tuesday.
But this is politics, and as Mr. Codey said yesterday, "One day can be a lifetime in politics, and yesterday was that day."
Would that allow enough time to tie up a few loose ends on the corruption? Can he influence the outcome of any investigation because of the position he'll hold until then?
The perps gotta go...
The problem is, if the GOP head honchos don't pick Bret Schundler as their man, the NJ GOP will have their own scandal on their hands...
Immediately, if not sooner!
Nah, let him hang around 'til Election time.
N.J. GOP: Governor should quit now
Asbury Park Press 8/14/04
TRENTON -- Republicans, angry that Gov. McGreevey once hired his gay lover for a $110,000 state homeland security post, demanded yesterday that the governor quit now, not in November, as he said he would in admitting Thursday he is a long-troubled homosexual.
McGreevey plans to resign Nov. 15 -- a delay sought Thursday by the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, according to a Democratic source. The campaign contacted the Governor's Office and asked McGreevey to hold off on resigning, according to the source, fearing such a disruption would shift campaign funds and focus away from Kerry's race and into a contest for governor on Nov. 2.
"The Kerry campaign asked him to stay on until after the election because they need to have consistency until after the (presidential) election," the Democratic source said.
someone check with the Kerry campaign about making sure there are no terrorists planning stikes until after McGreevey leaves office
??? That sounds stupid. I guess they think their chances are better if NJ is NOT electing a governor on Nov 2. But what does that say about their confidence in being able to elect a Democratic replacement? Don't they think that the people who do NOT get to elect next year's governor despite the fact that it's already known that the state will need a new one will take it out on the party that kept them from choosing?For the good of the Republic, I ask you Jerseyites to sue the state to run an election for the replacement governor. If the right of the people to vote is so important that Democratic voters have a constitutional right to a candidate for Senate with good poll numbers despite the fact that they nominated the crook who was losing, wouldn't you think that a little deadline slippage on the evacuation of the governor's mansion is irrelevant to the question of having an election choose the new governor?
I certainly know that the Supreme
CourtDemocrats of New Jersey will think of an even higher principle in law, but I just want to listen to what the Republican National Convention across the river will have to say about it. Just for the entertainment value.
McGreevey should be sentenced to intern for Barney Frank before going to jail.
I live in NJ. Earlier today, I saw a commercial promoting New Jersey as a tourist destination. It's one that I've seen before, but is now totally inappropriate. The commercial features Mc Greevy, his wife, and his young daughter (riding on McGreevey's shoulders) on a beach at the Jersey shore. McGreevy speaks about what a great place New Jersey is for a family vacation. I couldn't believe they are continuing to run this ad showcasing McGreevy as a "family man" strolling along the beach with his wife and kid. These people have no shame.
The truth is that after the real dirt comes out on McGreevy, the Dems would not have a chance of winning this year.
By putting things off for a whole year, they are hoping the useless NJ voters will forget McGreevy's transgressions and evaluate another Democrat candidate without the taint.
Of course, backlash against the Democrats is what Kerry wants to avoid.
Corzine, bored in his Senate seat, hopes to be the next governor of NJ. He is also part of this orchestrated campaign to delay, delay, delay in order to protect their power.
McGreevey's hands are tied. If he left his party vulnarable to loosing the Gov. mansion this Nov. he can forget about ever having any income i.e. legal, lobbying. This whole episode is being orchestrated by the Dem. head honchos
And I guess I think that having McGreevey in office stinking like a 3-day old fish on Nov 2 could be worse for Kerry than having a gubernatorial election that day. And as I say, the national Republican Party will be having its shindig just across the Hudson - and they are just liable to try to put a fan behind that puppy and blow the aroma across the entire country.
One thing to have McGreevey try to stonewall completely until Nov 3 - but to resign now and still try to stonewall to stay in office past the election just doesn't strike me as damage control for Kerry. Of course McGreevey is stonewalling by referencing the pseudo controversy of the fact that his girlfriend shaves rather than the fact that he not merely installed her in a no-show job but made that particular job a no-show job.
Unless Kerry is saying that the presidential election which is polling in the margin of error is no longer in doubt, I just am not sure this is Kerry's best play. Keeping a governor in office who treated terrorism security that way just might not be what you want Karl Rove to find your fingerprints on.
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