Codey says he's the target of opposition researcher

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) took the preemptive step today of announcing that he is the target of an opposition researcher. 

Christopher Lyon, who typically works for Republican candidates, filed an OPRA request for Codey's financial disclosure forms going back to 1974 - his first year in the legislature.  In a press release, Codey - while not naming anyone - insinuated that Lyon is connected to rival Democrats who are challenging him for the senate presidency. 

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), who is backed by South Jersey power broker George Norcross, is taking on Codey in an intra-party battle that has played out in the media for the last month.   

"This is typical of what you go through when you oppose certain people in New Jersey.  It's despicable," said Codey.  "I'm not a candidate for public office, so who would have a motive to do this?  It also begs the question of whether anyone who would choose to associate themselves with such a morally reprehensible figure is cut from the same cloth."

Codey has in the past explicitly charged Norcross with being behind opposition research against him.  After attorney Mark Sheridan - who is general counsel to the Republican State Committee - filed dozens of OPRA requests regarding Codey's former insurance company's contract with various municipalities, Codey told the Star-Ledger that he suspected Sheridan was working at the behest of Norcross.  Sheridan denied it, telling the paper they were made on behalf of an unrelated client.

Lyon's last known foray into New Jersey politics was on behalf of state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr.'s (R-Westfield) 2006 U.S. Senate campaign against Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken), when he tracked down a taped recording of Menendez ally Donald Scarinci asking a Hudson County contractor to hire someone as a "favor" to Menendez. 

Reached by phone, Lyon responded generally to Codey's release and would not say who hired him.  

"I'm not going to dignify it with a comment other than it's just plain silly," he said.

Sweeney, for his part, said he had never heard of Lyon.

"This is nothing personal between me and Dick, and I would never do anything to hurt him like that," he said.

Codey said he believed Sweeney, chalking up the research to his allies. 

"Whoever's hired this person should have the guts to man up and say it," said Codey. "I know it didn't come from the [Republican State Committee].  It didn't come from Tom Kean."

Norcross said he had nothing to do with the request and called Codey's press release "bizarre and delusional."  

The one Republican who falls into Codey's category of suspicion is state Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove), who flatly denied any involvement.

"Unequivocally no relation, no conversation, no one-offs, nothing," said O'Toole.  "I haven't hired anyone since my 2007 race to do opposition research... If people are saying I hired someone else for other purposes, they're living in other universes, and they should take medication for their paranoia."