Former Moorestown mayor, Burlington freeholder, served in the N.J. State Assembly from 1994 to 2008
By David Wildstein, NJ Globe
February 12 2023 11:30 pm
Francis L. Bodine, who spent thirteen years in the New Jersey State Assembly, most of it as a Republican, died on January 11. He was 87.
“Fran was a class act and a good friend,” said State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), who served with Bodine in the Assembly for more than five years. “He was a man who treated people with respect and kindness.”
From the Lewis Funeral Home obituary:
Fran was a graduate of Moorestown High School Class of “53” and received a degree in Marketing from La Salle University He served in the US Army from 954-1956.
He served in politics for most of his career serving on Moorestown Town Council and serving as Mayor of Moorestown. He served as a Burlington County Freeholder, as a commissioner on the Delaware River Port Authority, and Member of the New Jersey State Assembly
Fran was a member of Pine Valley Golf Club as well as numerous civic and charitable organizations. Fran was a loving husband, devoted father and grandfather, and the epitome of a dedicated public servant. He enriched the lives of all who knew him with his love, generosity, and guidance. He was a dedicated member of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown, where he served as an altar boy as a young man. Fran was a lifelong golfer who was proud to be a member of Pine Valley Golf Club. In his later years, Fran cherished time with his children and grandchildren. He also loved time spent in and around Long Beach Island with Karen and his “LBI Family”.
Burlington County Republicans decided not to support Bodine for re-election to his 8th district seat in 2007. Instead, he switched parties, lost a race for State Senate, and spent his final nine months in the legislature as a Democrat.
A proponent of transportation funding for South Jersey and sustainable tax credits for businesses, Bodine served as mayor of Moorestown and as a Burlington County freeholder before winning a special election convention in 1994 after Assemblyman Robert Shinn, Jr. (R-Hainesport) resigned to join Gov. Christine Todd Whitman’s cabinet as Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
He entered politics in 1976 as a candidate for the Moorestown Township Council after incumbents William Angus and Joseph Carson declined to seek re-election; Angus instead sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1977, finishing last in a field of four candidates with 3.3%.
Running with James Palmer and newcomer Walter Maahs, Bodine defeated Democrats Barbara Green, Cully Miller, and David Beam. Bodine ran about 500 votes ahead of the top Democratic vote-getter.
Bodine became deputy mayor in 1979 and mayor in 1980. He served as mayor again in 1985. Bodine was re-elected by decisive margins in 1980 and 1984.
After Shinn declined to seek re-election as a Burlington County freeholder in 1985 – he was also serving as an assemblyman at the time – Republicans picked Bodine to run on a slate with three-term incumbent Michael Conda. Shinn resigned after the primary, and Bodine was appointed to fill his seat.
Bodine and Conda easily defeated Democrats Paul Guidry, a councilman in Edgewater Par, and Evesham businessman Larry Steinberg.
The two Republicans won lopsided re-election victories in 1988 and 1991. He was freeholder director in 1988 and 1993.
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Bodine had no opposition in a February 1994 special election convention to replace Shinn in the Assembly. In a 1994 special election to fill Shinn’s unexpired term, Bodine faced a primary challenge from Jack Ward, who had supported Ross Perot’s 1992 independent presidential campaign; Bodine won with 75%. He won the general election by more than 19 percentage points, 57.5% to 38.1%, against Democrat Mary McKeon Stosuy, an insurance lawyer and political newcomer from Southampton.
After six-term Assemblyman Harold “Doc” Colburn retired in 1995, Bodine teamed up with Martha Bark, a Burlington County freeholder. They defeated Democrats Russell Bates and Michael Kwasnik by over 3,000 votes.
Following the death of 68-year-old State Sen. C. William Haines (R-Mount Laurel) in December 1996 — Haines had announced a few weeks before his death of esophageal cancer that he would step down on January 1 – Bodine had expressed interest in the Senate seat. But Whitman pushed for more Republican women in the Senate, and Republicans gave the seat to Bark.
Bark’s Assembly seat went to Larry Chatzidakis, a freeholder and mayor of Mount Laurel.
Against former Mount Holly Mayor James Smith, who had run races for Congress and State Senate in the 1980s, Bodine won by over 9,000 votes in 1997.
In 2001, Bodine faced a fight for re-election from Carol Murphy, a young Democratic operative, but won by ten points. Murphy won an Assembly seat in 2017 and is now the Assembly Majority Whip.
