Corzine To Codey - Get Out Of My Way

Acting Gov. Richard Codey said yesterday he won't be goaded into a "public argument" with U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine over whether Codey will be a candidate for governor. "Obviously the time is coming closer and closer each day for me to make a decision," Codey said. "I'm not going to be rushed into making a decision because one person or another wants me to."

The acting governor made the remarks in response to an assertion by Corzine, a fellow Democrat, that Codey's coyness is hurting their party. Corzine said Monday that Codey "led a lot of us to believe he would not run."

As soon as he took office, Codey said he would put off any decision about a run for the Democratic nomination until after the State of the State address, which he delivered last week.

"How I felt or did not feel that day was not going to make one iota of difference to (Corzine's) plans," Codey said. "From the day that Governor McGreevey resigned, (Corzine) had decided to run. It would be different if he had said, 'Dick, if you're not going to run, then I will.' But that's not what happened."

"The last thing I'm going to do is get into any sort of public argument with Jon," Codey said. "We've got to get through this in as gentlemanly a way as possible. Nobody in the party wants to see a divisive primary."