It's possible, but don't expect it to happen
By Wally Edge
If Governor Jon Corzine leaves office early to take a job in Barack Obama's new administration, his most likely successor is Richard Codey. As Senate President, Codey is next in the gubernatorial line of succession -- as he was for 84 hours in 2001 when Donald DiFrancesco left office, and for fourteen months in 2004 and 2005 following James E. McGreevey's resignation.
But if Codey's political foes were able to join together in a special election coup d'état, they could remove him from the Senate Presidency, installing a new person to succeed to the governorship. That means a coalition between the seventeen Republican Senators and any block of four Democrats (read: South Jersey) could deny Codey a third term as Governor.
The last time the Legislature cut a deal like this was after the 1971 general election, when Democrats won control of the State Assembly, but Republicans held the speakership. Four Democrats from Hudson and Union counties joined with Republicans to elect Thomas Kean, then the Assembly Majority Leader, as Speaker.
Contributors
Wally Edge
The race for governor helped give PolitickerNJ.com our best month since the site launched on February 1, 2000.
As compared to the four weeks ... >
Bob Torricelli
The contest for Governor of New Jersey might be the most visible but in the long term it might not be the most important. Long after our youngest ... >
Michael Patrick Carroll
Political discourse in America contains much in the way of intellect or intellectual honesty. One considers the Federalist Papers with wistful awe: ... >
Jeff Michaels
Governor-elect Christopher J. Christie. How sweet it is for the thousands of volunteers who worked since February to support this great man for NJ ... >
Richard LaRossa
With a convincing win in defeating an encumbent Governor, why were there no coattails? >
Alan Steinberg
Within 24 hours after the election of Chris Christie as Governor, the battle was joined between the Governor-elect and the New Jersey Education ... >
Dr. Joseph Marbach
I am often asked by my students, friends and even reporters why campaigns in New Jersey are so nasty and why candidates rely so heavily on negative ... >
Carla Katz
It was a dark and stormy November night. An icy wind whistled through leafless moonlit trees. A loud thud is followed by a piercing scream. A ... >
Joey Novick
OK, aside from the governor’s race, the House Health Care Bill (H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act). was the big news of ... >
Murray Sabrin
According to the latest SurveyUSA and Rutgers Eagleton polls, independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett has the support of 19% and 20% of ... >
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Quote of the Day
"Please. I wouldn't have enough paper. So let’s not even bother writing one. This is now about governing. I won. The one thing I could never understand about people in politics was winners who are sore winners." -- Gov.-elect Christopher Christie, on putting together an enemis list.
“He’s a nice man with good intentions, but in the end he’ll be remembered for timidity. Being a business titan and issuing orders from the corner office is a lot different than having to cajole and persuade people in politics and having the toughness and fortitude to see your vision become reality.”-- Ross K. Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University, on Gov. Jon Corzine.
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