Dick Codey torpedoes the Frank Lautenberg Re-Retirement Act

Our senior U.S. Senator, Frank "Weekend At Bernies" Lautenberg, wants to retire, again. He was hoping for Jon Corzine to win re-election as governor because in New Jersey the governor gets to appoint his successor, or call a special election. Ever since the Democrats pulled him out of mothballs to replace scandal-plagued Bob Torricelli he's been itching to re-retire.

When Corzine lost, Democrats in the state legislature introduced a bill which would have required the governor to appoint a member of the same political party in the event of a congressional vacancy. So Chris Christie couldn't mess with Harry Reid's 60 seat majority when Frank checks back into the rest home.

This blatantly partisan maneuver was thwarted, not by Republicans, but by outgoing State Senate President Dick Codey:

Codey is doing the right thing, but not necessarily for purely altruistic reasons. He lost the State Senate presidency in a power struggle with South Jersey political boss George Norcross. Allies of Norcross proposed the new legislation. Ergo, Codey saw this as an opportunity to send one last F-U parting shot at Norcross.

Unfortunately, this means that in between his morning and afternoon naps, Frank Lautenberg will likely continue to remain in the U.S. Senate. He'll keep pretending to represent the citizens of New Jersey, while remaining a tool of the anti-gun zealots who never fail to wake him up whenever his vote is needed to curtail another facet of our Second Amendment rights.

Senator Lautenberg is by most accounts healthy, but at 85 with five more years to go on his term, who knows how long he'll still be with us.

Tick tock, Frank. Tick tock.

Posted at 12:53 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
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