Robert Codey, the brother of acting Gov. Richard Codey, will be retiring Sept. 1 from his deputy attorney general's post in Union County. He will collect a $98,000-a-year pension that was boosted by an unusual arrangement approved by the all-Democrat Union County freeholder board which is led by an appointed county manager who is powerbroker state Senator Raymond Lesniak's (D-Union) nephew.
Although Codey, who's only 55, will collect an additional $33,000 a year for life from the state pension under the arrangement, as well as automatic annual cost of living adjustments and state-paid health insurance throughout his retirement, Democrat appointed Attorney General Peter Harvey's office defended the move as merely a technical maneuver that cost the state nothing since the raise was paid for by Union County.
The taxpayers know of this arrangement only because the Star-Ledger obtained documents relating to the transaction and inquired about the officials' actions and then reported them (March 13). Acting Gov. Codey, through a spokeswoman, said he hoped his brother's scheduled retirement would end the spate of news articles that have appeared about the arrangement. I find this comment to be in direct contrast to his January State of the State address, where Gov. Codey, a Democrat who stepped in to replace disgraced ex-Governor James McGreevey, stated regarding the $25 billion underfunded pension system, "This is a problem we can no longer ignore..."
As a society, political corruption, in the many ugly ways it rears its head, is a problem we can no longer ignore...therefore remember to vote all Democrats out in November.
