Richard Codey

NJ Sen. Richard Codey has served in Trenton for 50 years, including a brief stint as governor.

In New Jersey, a two-month campaign is beginning for U.S. Senate.

Last Monday, as most elected officials returned home, one state senator spent the night out… at a homeless shelter. Former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey is now a state senator from Essex and Morris Counties. On Monday night, disguised with a pasted-on gray beard and some effective make-up, the man who once ran New Jersey slept at the Goodwill Mission in Newark. His night out marked the end of a four-month investigation into the state’s services for the mentally ill. New Jersey, like a number of states across the country, has been hit with severe budget cuts in the wake of the financial crisis. Codey was determined to find out just how these service cuts have affected citizens in his district. 

Bob Hennelly, WNYC senior reporter, discusses calls for an investigation into the NYPD surveillance operations in New Jersey. Plus, former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey explains executive orders he issued in 2005 that may or may not have allowed for certain kinds of NYPD operations in New Jersey. 

Richard Codey, former president of the New Jersey Senate and acting governor (following McGreevey's resignation), talks about his new memoir, Me, Governor?: My Life in the Rough-and-Tumble World of New Jersey Politics.

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Richard Codey, President of the New Jersey State Senate , talks about politics in New Jersey and his second term as acting governor.