Ex-gov: His vendettas hit me hard
POLITICS HAS been petty — and very personal — in New Jersey during the Christie administration. t
That’s the view of Richard Codey, a longtime Democratic state senator who served as governor of the Garden State for 14 months after James McGreevey resigned in 2004.
After Chris Christie took office in 2010, he seemingly wanted to show off his new powers against his political rival — seen at the time as a potential challenger in the next governor’s election.
According to Codey, a Republican friend heard Christie say, “I have to send Codey a message about who’s in charge.”
The series of petty actions against Codey began when about $800,000 — earmarked for a program to raise awareness about mental health problems for women — was removed from the state’s $30 billion annual budget.
Codey’s wife, Mary Jo, helped launch the initiative — because she had suffered from postpartum depression.
“He cut the money out of the budget shortly after taking office,” Codey said. “When we were able to get it restored by a state Senate committee, he took it out with a line-item veto.”
Repeated efforts to restore the funding have been blocked, he said.
Later, Codey was stripped of the state trooper who had been assigned to him part-time for security during public events. His former chief of staff was fired from a state job in Trenton. Codey’s cousin lost a Port Authority post. All three events happened on the same day.
It’s all been in retaliation for his opposition to various Christie policies, Codey believes.
“I would hope and pray this episode gets him to change the way he conducts himself as a governor and as a human being,” Codey said. “This vindictiveness part of his personality needs to change, not tomorrow but today.”