Wall Street would have made him rich, but public service prevailed, says Andrews

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights): Politicker file photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - In a conference call with reporters, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) said he turned down wealth for public service, abandoned a lucrative Wall Street offer for a chance to stay in South Jersey.

"I had negotiations with Goldman Sachs," Andrews said. "I was tremendously impressed with Goldman Sachs. But I realized it’s not what my heart told me I want to do."

The congressman described his decision to return - after repeatedly going on the record with a firm declaration of his retirement - as "personal and perplexing," admitting that he has "fences to mend" with the New Jersey delegation.

"I had no intention of ever going back," insisted the 18-year congressional veteran, who gave up his seat earlier this year to challenge U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park). "I heard from scores of people who asked me to go back. They said very kind and humbling things."

Asked about the specifics of the Goldman Sachs offer, Andrews, 51, said, "the opportunity to become really wealthy was in front of us. ...But public service becomes a way of life, not simply a job. ...At the end of the discussion, that’s the life that I want. Out of respect for their (Goldman Sachs’s) privacy I’m not going to disclose the specifics of the offer. It was extremely humbling."

Andrews fielded a question about how voters could trust him to keep his word after stating numerous times on the record over the course of the last few months that he did not intend to run again - a question of particular interest during his U.S. Senate run. Critics said Andrews was using his wife, Camille, as a placeholder, and that all along he intended to return to his 1st District seat - a charge Andrews repeatedly denied.

"People have to evaluate a person’s record, the totality of what they’ve done and their record," Andrews said today. "I don’t think people want to elect people who can’t change their minds...This is a decision voters will make. I certainly had no intention of going back..

"I made my decision over the weekend," Andrews added. "I feel really lucky about this... At the end of the day, my heart is in public service."

Unsuccessful in campaigns for statewide office, Andrews lost to Jim McGreevey in a 1997 bid for governor. South Jersey sources say Andrews later felt slighted when Gov. Jon Corzine passed him over and picked Robert Menendez to run for Corzine’s vacated senate seat.

Then he felt doubly burned when Lautenberg - hauled out of retirement in 2003 to plug a gap created by the abrupt, campaign trail retirement of Bob Torricelli - later reneged on a promise he made to party leaders that he would not pursue re-election.

Lautenberg officially announced his run for re-election this past spring.

In the lead-up to the senator’s official campaign kickoff, Tom Byrne, son of former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, took a pulse on a possible primary challenge to the 84-year old veteran and was heartened by some of Lautenberg’s negatives. He looked ready for a run.

But Byrne withdrew on the day Lautenberg announced, while Andrews held off for a few days.

Then Andrews announced his intention to challenge the senator amid criticism that by installing his wife as the temporary congressional candidate, he was skirting a rule requiring him to give up his seat in order to run, and depriving the people in his district of a primary choice.