Richard Codey

This weekend brought two reminders that what happens in politics is often, more than anything, about the past.

On Friday, Robert Reich formally endorsed Barack Obama, a decision that was greeted as noteworthy since Reich was an old Oxford chum of Bill Clinton’s and served as the 42nd president’s first labor secretary. He also scored a date with a young Hillary Rodham back in 1966, when, as the freshman class president at Dartmouth, he asked Hillary, his counterpart at Wellesley, to meet him for “a presidential summit” in Hanover. (There was no second date.)  read more »

In late March 1992, Jerry Brown, the mercurial former California governor and sometime Linda Ronstadt companion who was then waging his third unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, stood at Castle Point in Hoboken with the Manhattan skyline behind him.

“This,” he declared, “is the Empire State!”

“It’s the Garden State!” the crowd shouted back.  read more »

It's a pity guys like Dick Codey can't get elected.  read more »

Last week, Christine Quinn gave her first State of the City speech, which was generally well received and sparked even more talk about her mayoral prospects. But who exactly wrote it?

According to Council spokesperson Maria Alvarado, it came from outside City Hall.

"The speech was written by Eric Shuffler, who's done speech writing for Corzine, Codey and Coscia. The Council paid for it."

Shuffler, who lives in New York, was counselor to former New Jersey Governors Jim McGreevey and Richard Codey, and worked for former Senator Bob Torricelli before that. He's now a lobbyist.

In the past the Council has had speechwriters on staff. This time, the Council put out a bid for the speech. Shuffler got the job.

-- Azi Paybarah

The Times reports Richard Codey helped put together the compromise between Jon Corzine and the Assembly speaker in New Jersey, ending the government shutdown.

Joe Lieberman debates his primary opponent, Ned Lamont.

The Sun reports that Republicans allied with John Faso are planning to oust New York Republican State Committee Chairman Stephen Minarik.

—Nicole Brydson

Last Sunday, Senator Jon S.  read more »