a fixture of New Jersey politics is leaving Trenton after spending more than a half a century in office on Monday state senator and Governor Dick Codey announced he'll retire at the end of his term in January to make room for the next generation of political leaders senior correspondent Joanna gagis reports sometimes things that you worked on have caught on so much and become so ingrained in what we do and how we do things that people actually forget what things were like before you were involved and perhaps that's how you can best sum up the political career of former New Jersey governor and Senate President Dakota who announced yesterday that he'll retire after 50 years of Public Service he is very much a kind of a jersey every man and I think that was the appeal that he had during his 14 months as Governor Codey's had one of the most unique careers in New Jersey Politics the longest-serving legislator in State history who was Senate President for eight years filling in as acting Governor three times first when Governor Whitman resigned then for 14 months when Governor McGreevy resigned and once again when Governor Corzine was injured in a car crash You could argue that dick Cody for a 14-month stretch was the the most powerful Governor we ever had because he could go down the hallway in the Senate traffic the legislation and appointments and then go down to the executive wing of the state house and make those appointments and sign that legislation and that led to the Constitutional amendment to create the lieutenant Governor's post he's the last person in New Jersey to hold both offices he championed many issues that were revolutionary for the time creating the Codey fund for mental health after his wife's struggle with postpartum depression we started the Codey fund for mental health to get people to stand up speak out and get help he went undercover in the state psychiatric hospitals and really tried to see what kind of treatment people were getting when nobody was looking he was a champion of gun control he did tell me yesterday was kind of interesting though that uh despite his advocacy that he called up some of the NRA Affiliates in New Jersey and asked to speak to their audiences and they had civil polite discussions and that's something you probably never see again in this state he signed New Jersey's smoke-free Air Act that banned smoking in indoor spaces and created the state's Charity Care Program reimbursing hospitals that were bleeding money from serving the uninsured and underinsured and he fought for pay-to-play laws that were undone by Governor Murphy this year but Codey's exit from Office proof that politics in New Jersey can be a dirty game it was 10 short weeks ago that he beat Senator Nia Gill in their bid for you know who was going to occupy that senate seat for the next four years it's New Jersey Paul politics uh at its most predictable I do believe him when he says that he was weary uh that he didn't really want to do another four or five years of coming down to Trenton in the back bench but I also believe that he did this in a way to increase the probability that the successor to his post would be John McKeon it certainly seems like it is a favor that he did for um John McCann his longtime colleague long-time running mate um who now has to be considered the front runner to be nominated to that seat Codey's retirement comes as many other long-time legislators are exiting the state house leaving room but little hope for a more diverse New Jersey legislature for NJ Spotlight news I'm Joanna gagis [Music] [Music]