Editing Richard Codey (section)

=== 2002 ===
Following Governor [[Christine Todd Whitman]]'s resignation in 2001 to become head of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]], Codey was one of three different senate presidents (along with [[Donald DiFrancesco]] and [[John O. Bennett]], as well as Attorney General [[John Farmer Jr.|John Farmer]]) to serve as acting governor within the one-year period between Whitman's resignation and [[Jim McGreevey]]'s inauguration in January 2002. DiFrancesco served as acting governor for all but the last week of this period, until his term as senate president ended. As attorney general, Farmer then served as acting governor for ninety minutes, until the election of Bennett and Codey as co-presidents of the senate. The latter two then divided the last week of the term between them, with Codey serving for three days, from January 12, 2002, to January 15, 2002, leading to a situation in which the state had five different people serving as governor during a period of eight days (DiFrancesco, Farmer, Bennett, Codey, and McGreevey).<ref>Staff. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AC&p_theme=ac&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F74D0C3B5B93351&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "N.J.'S LINE OF SUCCESSION / A SIMPLE FIX"], ''[[The Press of Atlantic City]]'', November 11, 2002. accessed June 22, 2012. "Thanks to an unusual set of circumstances and a flaw in the state constitution, New Jersey had five different governors over eight days at the beginning of the year. Even for New Jersey, this was pretty bizarre."</ref>