Chicanery in New Jersey Governor's Office

New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey startled the political world yesterday when he resigned from his office over a gay affair that he had after being married.

So what? I am not interested in his sordid affairs.

However, there is something rotten in the state of New Jersey. Under the New Jersey constitution, if a vacancy occurs in the Governor’s office sixty days or more before a general election, then an election is to be held on said general election.

Governor McGreevey announced he didn’t want to weaken the governorship with the scandal and felt that his ability to govern had diminished. If this was true, then his resignation should have gone into effect at noon today. It didn’t happen. He announced that his resignation will be effective November 15th. So New Jersey is left with a lame-duck governor whose ability to govern will be diminished even further.

Here’s my problem: he announced his resignation eighty-two days before the general election on November 2nd. This means that the New Jersey constitutional requirement is fulfilled and an election can happen on November 2nd. But instead of giving the people the choice on November 2nd of selecting a new Governor, McGreevey is clinging to power to guarantee that the people have to wait until the following November to elect a new Governor, who could very possibly be a Republican. The New Jersey constitution states that if the vacancy occurs WITHIN sixty days of a general election, then the next one in line of succession will become acting Governor until the following general election, which is in November 2005.

In this case, it’s a liberal Democrat who is next in line. There may be more politics at play, however. There is a very popular Republican in the state legislature who has signaled his intention to run for the position. He may well be the next elected Governor of New Jersey, but the Democrats don’t want a heavy Republican turnout as it may shift the balance of the Presidential election in George Bush’s favor. New Jersey has been very independent on whom they vote for and Kerry holds a slim lead right now over Bush.

McGreevey really ought to step down now so that the people can decide who their next Governor will be, not be stuck with an unelected acting Governor. Three weeks from now it will be too late for the vote to happen, so the Republicans are probably thinking about suing to allow the election on November 2nd.

Strange story.