Dick Codey

Speaking on a conference call a few hours prior to joining congressional candidate Dennis Shulman to appeal to commuters at Hoboken Terminal, Senate President Dick Codey asked what New Jerseyans have to gain by sending U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) back for another term.

“If you look at it now, what do we gain by sending Garrett back? People in the Republican Party say he’s a marginal figure, and he’s a marginal figure in the minority,” he said.

Speaking on a conference call a few hours prior to joining congressional candidate Dennis Shulman to appeal to commuters at Hoboken Terminal, Senate President Dick Codey asked what New Jerseyans have to gain by sending U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) back for another term.

“If you look at it now, what do we gain by sending Garrett back? People in the Republican Party say he’s a marginal figure, and he’s a marginal figure in the minority,” he said.

The Star-Ledger won’t be administering a polygraph test any time soon.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce had said that he would take a lie detector test to verify his account of an argument in which he alleged that Senate President Dick Codey tried to warn him off of pursuing details about a legislative slush fund through a mix of threats and temptations with state funds.

But since Codey has refused to take the test, DeCroce told the paper that he would not agree to take it either. 

Attention commuters: make sure there’s room in your pockets for plenty of campaign literature, because the Hoboken train station is going to be a hotbed of political activity on this election eve.

As previously reported, Senate President Dick Codey will be at the station during the evening rush to campaign for 5th District Democratic congressional candidate Dennis Shulman.  Now U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has decided to join up as well.

And while the three Democrats press their case, Shulman’s rival, U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) is also scheduled to be at Hoboken Terminal tonight to campaign for reelection. 

New Jersey voters’ feelings about Gov. Jon Corzine remain tepid, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released Thursday. Survey respondents are split on whether they approve of Corzine’s performance, with 41 percent approving and 43 percent disapproving. Sixteen precent had mixed feelings or didn’t know. Thirty-one percent of New Jersey voters think Corzine is doing an “excellent” or “good job,” while 41 percent rate his performance as “only fair.”

The race for the 2009 Democratic gubernatorial nomination has begun, with Congressman Bill Pascrell and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo saying that they would consider running if the incumbent, Jon Corzine, decides not to seek re-election to a second term.   

If Corzine were to leave office early, Senate President Richard Codey would succeed to the governorship.  Codey served as Governor when James E. McGreevey resigned, and then backed down from a bid for a full-term when Corzine, willing to self-fund his campaign, secured the endorsement of key county Democratic organizations.  Codey, his friends say, is unlikely to back down again.

New Jersey’s most popular politician is Senate President Richard Codey, according to a new Zogby International poll released today.  Codey, who served as Governor from November 2004 to January 2006, has a 66%-17% favorable rating among New Jersey likely voters. 

Rick Malwitz’s column today in the Home News Tribune on George Zoffinger, the President of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, is a must read.  A sampling:  "(Dick) Codey's an idiot, and you can print that," says Zoffinger.  "In my 34 years in politics, I never met a more dishonest person than George Zoffinger," said Codey.