New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne

Donald Linky served as counsel to the governor and director of the Governor's office of policy and planning in the administration of Governor Brendan Byrne. He has practiced law with major law firms, is a former visiting professor at Rutgers University, and is coeditor of The Governors of New Jersey: Biographical Essays.

Known by mobsters as "the man who couldn't be bought," Brendan Byrne led New Jersey into a new era when he won the state's gubernatorial election by a landslide in the wake of political corruption scandals. A former prosecutor and judge, Byrne was soon condemned as "one-term Byrne," the inept politician who few thought would risk the humiliation of standing for a second term. Yet Byrne surprised both friend and foe alike by pulling off the state's most remarkable political comeback, winning re-election and leaving a legacy of preserving the vast resources of the Pinelands, enacting the state's first income tax and comprehensive school financing reform, developing the Meadowlands, approving casino gambling in Atlantic City, and initiating strong environmental controls to combat pollution.

IntroductionChapter 1: The Byrnes and the Brennans of Essex County: BeginningsChapter 2: The War: "I was lucky."Chapter 3: Returning Home: "I've always wanted to be a lawyer."Chapter 4: The Public Career BeginsChapter 5: The 1973 Election: "The Man Who Couldn't Be Bought."Chapter 6: 1973 Transition: "It will all be uphill from here."Chapter 7: The First Term: "If you win one, you're great. If you don't, you're not."Chapter 8: The Income Tax: "I'm going to burn in hell-but not for the income tax."Chapter 9: Atlantic City: "Keep your filthy hands out of Atlantic City."Chapter 10: The Re-election: "One-term Byrne."Chapter 11: The Second TermChapter 12: The Pinelands: "It was on no political party's agenda."Chapter 13: Public Transportation and the Creation of New Jersey TransitChapter 14: The 1981 Election and Leaving Office: "A sense of what's important."Chapter 15: Return to Private Life: "The Elder Statesman of New Jersey."EndnotesBibliographyIndex