McGreevey inaugurated New Jersey Governor

TRENTON — James E. McGreevey was sworn in as New Jersey's 51st governor yesterday in a ceremony at Trenton's War Memorial.

Declaring in his inaugural speech that New Jersey and the nation are facing a time like none other, McGreevey called upon New Jersey residents to build upon the spirit of community that was forged after Sept. 11.

"In the years ahead we must work together and find the strength in our vision and our union, just as we did after the terrible attack on our native soil," the new governor said. "We must persuade our citizens to participate in our state and our democracy, to accept responsibility to answer our challenges."

He was joined by his wife, newborn daughter and father.

McGreevey outlined the three most serious challenges facing New Jersey: preventing new terrorist attacks, maintaining fiscal responsibility and educating children.

Promising that his "administration will change the way Trenton does business," McGreevey said New Jersey will no longer spend more than it can afford.

Education will be the top priority for the new administration, he said.

"It is intolerable that certain schools fail to establish basic standards, basic discipline and clear levels of accountability," McGreevey said. "Our schools must also provide a compass to help our youngsters, to help them navigate between right and wrong, between fact and fiction, between faithful and false."

McGreevey did not propose any specific policies but emphasized the partnership between the governor and citizens.

"In the days ahead, each citizen of New Jersey should demand more of me. That is your right," the governor said. "But you also must ask more of yourselves. That is your responsibility."

Earlier yesterday morning, the inaugural celebration featured a prayer service at the University Chapel. Dean of Religious Life Thomas Breidenthal and other faith leaders offered blessings to McGreevey.

McGreevey himself also spoke at the service. Referring to the University in his opening line, he joked, "Mom, this is as close as I'll come to Princeton."

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McGreevey called on the powers above to help New Jersey and his administration stay committed to fairness and justice.

"The rights of man are not from the generosity of the state," he said, "but from the hands of God."

McGreevey, a 44-year-old Democrat, has served as mayor of Woodbridge and as a state senator. He defeated former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler by 15 percent in the gubernatorial race last November. But he is New Jersey's fifth governor in 2002 and its first elected one in more than a year.

An unusual combination of electoral and constitutional issues led New Jersey to have five governors in the past two weeks. After Gov. Christie Whitman resigned early last year to head the Environment Protection Agency, former Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, a Republican, became acting governor, as the New Jersey law stipulates.

Amid a media investigation of his past business dealings, DiFrancesco decided not to run for governor or renew his Senate term, which expired Jan. 8. This decision left open a time before McGreevey's inauguration when there would have been no acting governor. Ordinarily, the new Senate president would have taken over.

But in November, New Jersey voters elected 20 Republican senators and 20 Democrat senators, thereby throwing into question who would become Senate president.

Republican Senate leader John Bennet and Democratic Senate leader Richard Codey agreed to be governor for three days each, and state Attorney General John Farmer was governor for the hour on Jan. 8 when a new senate president was sworn in.