BIDEN NO STRANGER TO NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATS
By John Froonjian
Press of Atlantic City, NJ
Aug 27 2008
DENVER – In 2005, then-Gov. Richard J. Codey and U.S. Sen. Joe Biden
went to the same New Jersey political function. Biden’s cufflinks
impressed one of Codey’s aides.
"They were Senate cufflinks," Codey said. "My aide said, ‘Senator,
can I see those cufflinks?’"
Biden removed them and gave them to the staffer as a gift. Codey,
D-Essex, the state Senate president who will resume the governor’s
seat this afternoon until Jon S. Corzine returns from Denver on Monday,
later pulled his aide aside.
"Now he thinks I’m going to endorse him for president," Codey said.
When Biden addresses the Democratic National Convention tonight to
accept the vice presidential nomination, he will be more than just
another national figure to New Jersey convention delegates.
Many state officials, particularly those in the southern part of the
state, have established personal relationships with him since he became
a Delaware senator in 1973. They shared stories about Biden on Tuesday.
Delegate Damon Tyner, of Egg Harbor Township, first met Biden in
1981, when Tyner was 11. He attended a fundraiser in Teaneck for
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg with his father, Hank Tyner, at one time
an Atlantic City Councilman.
Biden spoke for more an hour. When he was done he looked directly
at the young Tyner and said, "I give you a lot of credit," Tyner
recounted. "You’re the only one here – adults and children included –
who did not fall asleep."
June Fischer, of Scotch Plains, has known Biden for decades, first
encountering him in Atlantic City when Biden met the New Jersey State
Committee in the mid-1970s.
In 1986, when Fischer ran a campaign against seven-term Republican
U.S. Rep. Matt Rinaldo, Biden campaigned for her. She returned the
favor two years later, flying to Iowa and New Hampshire in the winter
during his short-lived 1988 presidential campaign,.
When she saw him Monday, Fischer said proudly, Biden gave a hug and
kiss to the Democratic national committeewoman.
U.S. Rep Rob Andrews, D-1st, is one of many officials who have met
Biden commuting to Washington on an Amtrak train. Biden travels to
the capital every workday. Andrews said their conversations span
many topics.
"(Whether) you talk about what your kids are doing or legislation
you’re working on, he’s interested."
Andrews said Biden talks a lot about his son, Beau Biden, Delaware’s
Attorney General and a U.S. Army Reserve captain headed to Iraq on
Oct. 3. But Andrews said they just as easily could talk about the
Mets and Phillies or Russia’s presence in Georgia.
Andrew’s predecessor, former Gov. Jim Florio, also used to see Biden
board the same commuter train in Wilmington. Florio was chairman
of the House transportation committee, and an Amtrak facility was a
major employer in Wilmington.
"We would talk about substantial things, often about railroads,"
Florio said.
But he said Biden came to southern New Jersey frequently, often to
campaign for little-known candidates.
Cumberland County Democratic Chairman Lou Magazzu said he walked up
and introduced himself to Biden in 1998.
"I thought it would be a two-minute hello. But he invited me to sit
down and talk," Magazzu said.
As a county freeholder, Magazzu was lobbying to have Cumberland County
designated a federal urban empowerment zone. But Biden gave him bad
news: he was pushing for Wilmington to get the same designation.
"We were in competition with them," Magazzu said. "But he said if we
prevailed, he would help us."
Cumberland did win the designation. And Magazzu said Biden has been
there to help whenever funds were threatened.
As the two became friendly, Magazzu got Biden to speak at a county
fundraiser several years ago. Biden flew in on a helicopter that
landed at the old Kroelinger airfield in Vineland and mesmerized a
room by speaking on international affairs for 45 minutes without notes.
Biden asked for Magazzu’s support when he ran for president this
year. Despite their friendship, Magazzu told Biden he was under
pressure to support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., with the rest
of the state party. He said Biden’s response was unexpectedly generous.
"He said he wouldn’t ask a guy to go against his state’s political
structure and do something adverse to his interests," Magazzu said.
"That said a lot about the guy. He knew I had a political obligation
to him, and he discharged me of it without me even asking," he said.
Corzine said he has a close relationship with Biden, who has worked
on New Jersey issues such as Delaware River projects and Amtrak.
"There were three senators who came to my inauguration," Corzine
said. "And Joe Biden was one of them."
He said Biden, as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, helped
him pass the Armenian genocide recognition act he cosponsored.
Former Gov. Brendan Byrne recalled Biden giving him good news when
they attended a dinner in Cumberland County when Byrne ran for governor
in 1977.
The new state income tax made Byrne unpopular. But Biden told him
not to worry.
Byrne said Biden had access to an internal party poll of which Byrne
was unaware, and he told him he was going to win.
"He really is a great guy," Byrne said.