Happy Birthday, Roger Bodman – New Jersey Globe

Roger Bodman, who managed the closest gubernatorial race in trendy New Jersey historical past after which turned Commissioner of Labor at age 29, is celebrating his seventieth birthday right now.

A fixture in New Jersey politics because the Seventies, Bodman began out working for Rep. Millicent Fenwick (R-Bernardsville).  He was Fenwick’s driver for her first congressional race in 1974 in opposition to Democrat Fred Bohen, a former Johnson administration official.  He later served as Fenwick’s district director.

In 1978, he was the marketing campaign supervisor for Jim Courter, a former first assistant Warren County Prosecutor who was working for Congress within the outdated thirteenth district, which included components of Mercer and Morris counties and all of Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren.

Courter received the Republican major by simply 134 votes in opposition to former State Sen. Invoice Schluter (R-Pennington) after which ousted two-term Rep. Helen Meyner (D-Phillipsburg), a former First Girl of New Jersey, by a 52%-48% margin in Jimmy Carter’s mid-term election yr.

Bodman served as Courter’s chief of workers till 1981, when former Meeting Speaker Thomas H. Kean employed him to handle his marketing campaign for governor.   Kean received the GOP major with 31% of the vote in an eight-candidate filed.  Within the normal election, Kean defeated Rep. Jim Florio (D-Runnemede) by 1,797 votes, 49.46% to 49.38%.

Kean nominated Bodman to function his Commissioner of Labor in 1982.  At age 29, he turned one of many youngest cupboard members in state historical past and constructed relationships with prime labor leaders which have held for 4 a long time.

In 1985, Kean named Bodman as his Commissioner of Transportation.  He performed a job within the creation of New Jersey’s Transportation Belief Fund.

Bodman left state authorities in 1987 to launch his personal public affairs agency.  Public Methods Affect has grown to one of many largest and most influential lobbying companies in New Jersey historical past.

Whereas efforts by some Republicans to get Bodman to run for workplace through the years had been unsuccessful, he has been a serious fundraiser for GOP candidates through the years.