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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
The Governor: New Jersey is the only State with a three-year term for
Governor, matching that for State senators. The Governor's salary of
$20,000 is the highest paid by any State except New York. As in a dozen
other States, the Governor may not succeed himself, but this restriction
operates more severely in New Jersey than in these other States, in each
of which the Governor enjoys a four-year term. Since 1844 only three
men have been elected twice to the Governorship: Joel Parker and Leon
Abbett each served two terms, and A. Harry Moore is now in his third
term. Another peculiarity is that in New Jersey, as in only three other
States, the Governor is the only official chosen by State-wide election.
There is no Lieutenant Governor, the next in line being the president of
the senate.
In the number and variety of offices filled by gubernatorial appointment
the Governor of New Jersey has a decided advantage over those of most
other States. For example, he appoints all State judges and county prosecutors -- positions filled in many other States by election. Nevertheless his
position is not so powerful as one might suppose. Some administrative officials are chosen by the legislature, and most of the others either have
terms longer than that of the Governor or administer departments headed
by boards whose members have overlapping terms.
As in only six other States, a bare majority of the legislature can override the Governor's veto; the veto power is therefore of little value. Another serious handicap to the Governor is his incapacity to succeed himself. Woodrow Wilson bitterly denounced this constitutional limitation in
1913, pointing out that the politicians "smile at the coming and going of
Governors as some men in Washington have smiled at the coming and going of Presidents, as upon things ephemeral, which passed and were soon
enough rid of if you but sat tight and waited."
It naturally follows that no Governor except one with the most unusual
qualities or remarkable good luck can make and keep himself the dominant factor in State government. Woodrow Wilson did it because he rode
into office on a wave of reform sentiment that transcended party lines, and
he developed an effective technique of appealing to the people through
newspaper interviews and public addresses. Perhaps the greatest of his as-
sets was his inflexible obstinacy in holding to a position, no matter how
terrifying the opposition.
New Jersey follows an acknowledged pattern in American politics, ac-
cording to which the legislature and the Governor act largely in consultation with party leaders. Legislative policy is frequently determined through
informal councils of legislative and party leaders.
The State is one of 18 in which the Governor does not have full power
of pardon. A strange feature is that the Board of Pardons includes, in addition to the Governor, the chancellor and the six lay judges of the Court
of Errors and Appeals, thus injecting the highest court of the State into
what always has been considered an executive prerogative designed to correct miscarriages of justice for which there was no judicial remedy.
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