John O. Bennett

John O. Bennett III
John O. Bennett III
Acting Governor of New Jersey
	In office; January 8, 2002 – January 12, 2002
Preceded by	John Farmer Jr. ; as Acting Governor
Succeeded by	Richard Codey ; as Acting Governor
President of the New Jersey Senate
	In office; January 8, 2002 – January 14, 2004 Serving with Richard Codey (co-presidents)
Preceded by	Donald DiFrancesco
Succeeded by	Richard Codey
Member of the New Jersey Senate; from the 12th district
	In office; May 22, 1989 – January 14, 2004
Preceded by	S. Thomas Gagliano
Succeeded by	Ellen Karcher
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly
	In office; January 8, 1980 – May 22, 1989
Preceded by	Walter J. Kozloski
Succeeded by	Michael Arnone
Constituency	11th District (1980–1982); 12th District (1982–1989)
Personal details
Born	August 6, 1948
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Peg Bennett
Residence	Little Silver, New Jersey

John O. Bennett III (born August 6, 1948) is a former New Jersey Republican politician who served as State Senator and between 2002 and 2004 as President of the State Senate. Bennett served as Acting Governor of New Jersey for four days in January 2002.

Education

Bennett attended Dickinson College from 1966 to 1968, graduated from West Virginia University with a B.A. in 1970, and earned a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1974.

Acting Governor

Bennett served as Acting Governor for three and a half days in January 2002. Following Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman's resignation on January 31, 2001 to become head of the EPA, Bennett was one of three different senate presidents (along with Donald DiFrancesco and Richard Codey, and furthermore Attorney General John Farmer Jr.) to serve as acting governor for the one-year period between Whitman's resignation and the inauguration of the Democratic governor-elect Jim McGreevey on January 15, 2002. Fellow Republican DiFrancesco served as acting governor for almost a year, but his term as senate president ended a few days before the rest of the gubernatorial term was finished when a new senate came into office. While Attorney General Farmer acted as governor for 90 minutes until a new senate president was elected, Republican Bennett and Democrat Codey agreed that they would both be elected Co-Presidents of the Senate for the next two years because the majority in the senate was split between the two major parties. They also decided to divide the last week of the gubernatorial term among them, with Bennett first serving for three full days, from January 8, 2002, to January 12, 2002, before Codey would serve another three days, 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).[1]

During his service as acting governor, Bennett signed legislation into law, appointed judges, granted a pardon to Hugh G. Gallagher, created a nursing advisory council, and hosted several parties at Drumthwacket.[2] The nursing advisory council was a tribute to his wife, Peg, a nurse. Peg Bennett was active during her tenure as First Lady of New Jersey.

Controversies

In June 2002, Bennett was involved in a shoving match with South Jersey Democratic Party boss and Commerce National Insurance CEO George Norcross after Norcross threatened to publicize a pardon Bennett gave during his three-day executive tenure if Bennett could not convince his fellow Republican senators to vote for a tax increase and stadium construction bill in committee.

Bennett fell out of favor as a result of allegations that he overbilled the municipality of Marlboro Township for legal services. In a statement to the press, Bennett blamed party bosses and a biased press for attempting to destroy him. Bennett was a leading opponent of using state funds to construct a convention center/stadium in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey that would have been used by a minor league ice hockey team that Norcross had bought an interest in.

2003 Election

John Bennett failed in his 2003 bid for re-election to the State Senate, falling to Ellen Karcher, 52%-43%, with the Green Party of New Jersey candidate winning 5% of the vote.[3]

Current activities

In the 2005 primary election he was elected Republican State Committeeman for Monmouth County. John O. Bennett is also a professor at Montclair State University. In June 2012 he was elected the chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Party Committee during its annual reorganization meeting.[4]

References

Staff. "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."
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/14/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-jersey-trenton-an-acting-governor-pardons-a-friend.html
Mansnerus, Laura. "Jersey State House Loses Race and Party's Hopes", The New York Times, November 5, 2003. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Mr. Bennett, a moderate Republican who became the highest-ranking Republican officeholder in the state amid Democratic gains in the Senate and General Assembly two years ago, conceded defeat at around 9:30 p.m. following a rough race against Ellen Karcher, Marlboro township's council president, who took 52 percent of the vote. Mr. Bennett got 43 percent, and the Green Party candidate, Earl Gray, received 5 percent."
http://www.politickernj.com/57708/winners-and-losers-week-reorgs

Sources

D'Ambrosio, Roberts, & Symons (March 15, 2003). Grand jury subpoenas secretary - Bennett to keep top Senate job, run again. Asbury Park Press.
Murphy, Brian P. (July 1, 2002). Senatorial suspense on the CBT and arena. PoliticsNJ.com

External links

New Jersey General Assembly
Preceded by Walter J. Kozloski	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 11th district January 8, 1980–January 12, 1982	Succeeded by Anthony M. Villane
Preceded by Richard Van Wagner	Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 12th district January 12, 1982–May 22, 1989	Succeeded by Michael Arnone
New Jersey Senate
Preceded by S. Thomas Gagliano	Member of the New Jersey Senate from the 12th district May 22, 1989–January 14, 2004	Succeeded by Ellen Karcher
Political offices
Preceded by John Farmer Jr. Acting Governor	Acting Governor of New Jersey January 8, 2002–January 12, 2002	Succeeded by Richard Codey Acting Governor
Preceded by Donald DiFrancesco	President of the New Jersey Senate (co-president) January 8, 2002–January 14, 2004	Succeeded by Richard Codey

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Staff. "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."

[2] ttps://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/14/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-jersey-trenton-an-acting-governor-pardons-a-friend.html

[3] Mansnerus, Laura. "Jersey State House Loses Race and Party's Hopes", The New York Times, November 5, 2003. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Mr. Bennett, a moderate Republican who became the highest-ranking Republican officeholder in the state amid Democratic gains in the Senate and General Assembly two years ago, conceded defeat at around 9:30 p.m. following a rough race against Ellen Karcher, Marlboro township's council president, who took 52 percent of the vote. Mr. Bennett got 43 percent, and the Green Party candidate, Earl Gray, received 5 percent."

[4] ttp://www.politickernj.com/57708/winners-and-losers-week-reorgs