N.J. ex-acting gov fills in for Spitzer

NEW YORK, March 16 (UPI) -- New Jersey Senate President Dick Codey is to fill in for disgraced New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer at a St. Patrick's Day breakfast.

The Ireland Chamber in the United States seems satisfied with the replacement for its 12th annual Governor's Breakfast, The New York Times said. The event is Monday morning at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

"He's well liked, well respected, and he has experience stepping in for governors twice before," Larry Handeli, the executive director, told the Times.

Codey served as acting governor of New Jersey for more than a year when Gov. Jim McGreevey was felled by sexual scandal in 2004 and for weeks last year Gov. Jon Corzine was seriously hurt in a car crash.

He has some words of wisdom for New York Lt. Gov. David Patterson, who moves up Monday to the top job.

"My thing was that I was not going to take myself seriously, but I was going to take the job very seriously," Codey said. "I knew I had only been guaranteed 14 months here, but I was going to make an impact. My line was, 'I may be an undertaker, but I'm not a caretaker.' "