Brendan Byrne

Byrne then worked as a private attorney, first for the Newark-based law firm of John W. McGeehan, Jr., and later for the East Orange firm of Teltser and Greenberg.[11]

In October 1955, Byrne was appointed an assistant counsel to Governor Robert B. Meyner.[12] The following year, he became the governor's acting executive secretary.[4] In 1958, Byrne was appointed the deputy attorney general responsible for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.[12] The following year, Governor Meyner appointed him as the Essex County prosecutor.[12] Governor Hughes reappointed Byrne to this same office in 1964 following the end of his first five-year term.[9] From 1968 to 1970, Byrne served as the president of the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners.[13]

In 1970, Byrne was appointed by Governor William T. Cahill to the Superior Court.[8] He served as the assignment judge for Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties starting in 1972.[8]

In April 1973, Byrne resigned from the Superior court to run for governor.[9]

Byrne defeated Ann Klein and Ralph DeRose in the 1973 Democratic primary to win the party's nomination for governor.[8] In the November general election, Byrne won by beating the Republican nominee Congressman Charles Sandman in a landslide.[9] Sandman had defeated the incumbent Governor Cahill in the primary.[9] Byrne's landslide margin of victory was so vast that it allowed Democrats to capture control both chambers of the state legislature with supermajorities.[14][15][16]

On January 15, 1974, Byrne was sworn in as the 47th governor of New Jersey.[9]

Some of the policies enacted by the first Byrne administration include: the implementation of New Jersey's first state income tax, the establishment of spending limits on local governments, county governments, school districts, and the state, the establishment of both the Department of the Public Advocate and the Department of Energy, and the implementation of public financing for future gubernatorial general elections.[17] Although Byrne claimed during the 1973 campaign that a personal income tax would not be necessary for "the foreseeable future", he eventually "muscled through" the unpopular income tax, New Jersey's first, in 1976; it earned him the nickname "One-Term Byrne".[18]

Byrne faced ten opponents in the 1977 Democratic primary, including future governor James Florio.[9] However, Byrne obtained the party's nomination, and went on to defeat his Republican opponent, State Senator Raymond Bateman, in the general election on November 8, 1977.[4] This despite the fact that in early 1977, three-quarters of voters disapproved of his job performance and in polls taken in the summer, he trailed Bateman by 17 points.[19]

Byrne and Bateman debated nine times and Byrne used the governorship to his advantage, signing bills and appearing with cabinet members all over the state, benefiting from a visit by President Carter and turning what was his biggest weakness, the income tax, into a strength.[12] Shortly before the 1977 gubernatorial election, New Jersey homeowners began receiving rebate checks (funded by state income tax revenues) to offset their property taxes, while Bateman's plan—replacing the state income tax with an increased sales tax—was widely criticized.[20]

Until 2021, Byrne was the last Democrat to win re-election as Governor in New Jersey.

During his second term, Byrne focused on policies such as: the passage of the Pinelands Protection Act, expansion of major highways, including the Atlantic City Expressway and Interstate 287, upgrades to sewage systems, further development of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, and casino-hotel development in Atlantic City.[4] He is one of only two Democrats, also including incumbent Phil Murphy, to be elected governor twice in the past fifty years.[12] The other Governors elected to two terms (Thomas Kean, Christie Whitman, and Chris Christie) have all been Republicans.[18]

On February 16, 2010, while vacationing in London with his wife, Byrne was punched in the face by a mentally ill man near Waterloo tube station.[26] The attacker was subsequently restrained by a London Underground station supervisor who came to Byrne's aid until the police arrived.[26] Byrne, who had taken part in a staged charity boxing match with Muhammad Ali in 1979, joked, "At least I didn't fall down at Waterloo, as when I fought Ali."[26][27]

• Brendan Byrne papers (The Monsignor Field Archives & Special Collection Center at Seton Hall University) - Contains materials related to Brendan Byrne's campaigns for governor of New Jersey and some personal materials documenting his time as governor and his activities with the Democratic party, primarily from 1973-1977