November 28, 2009
LBI Resident To Be Sworn In To Assembly
Only Ocean County Woman To Hold County Or State Elective Office
By ERIK LARSEN
STAFF WRITER
Former Long Beach Township Commissioner DiAnne C. Gove is scheduled to be sworn in as a Republican assemblywoman in the state Legislature on Dec. 7.
"A day that will in infamy," Gove quipped deadpan, paraphrasing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous words about the historical significance of the date — the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941.
Gove, 58, a retired U.S. history teacher at Southern Regional High School in Stafford, was appointed on Aug. 12 to succeed Daniel M. Van Pelt in the 9th Legislative District, which includes parts of Ocean, Burlington and Atlantic counties. The former state assemblyman from Waretown resigned on July 31, one week after the FBI arrested him for allegedly accepting a $10,000 bribe in a federal corruption sting.
Although Gove was appointed nearly four months ago without opposition by the Republican county committees representing the 9th District, she has had to wait to be administered the oath of office until the full Assembly convenes in session. The Legislature's lower house has been in recess since the summer.
Since her appointment to fill Van Pelt's unexpired two-year term and replace him on the Nov. 3 ballot, Gove has been elected to the seat in her own right, which gives her the dual titles of assemblywoman-select and assemblywoman-elect.
After she is sworn in next week, Gove will become the only Ocean County woman to currently hold either county or state elective office.
Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore said he wants to recruit more women to serve in high elected offices.
This past week, Gilmore floated the name of former Assemblywoman Virginia E. Haines, the last woman from Ocean County to serve in the Assembly in 1994, as a possible candidate to run for Congress against U.S. Rep. John Adler, D-N.J. in the 2010 midterm elections.
"I'm excited. I'm so excited, I wish it were today," Gove said. "But the Assembly is just meeting in committees right now and I can't do anything, officially, until I'm sworn in."
Gove said she did participate in a Republican caucus meeting after her election and got a tour of the Statehouse from her running mate and soon-to-be fellow 9th District legislator, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf.
"I'm learning," Gove said. "I went with Brian and he took me around, and I was so excited and then he said, "I just want to show you one more room;' and he showed me the floor of the Assembly. . . . Oh my gosh — I've taught about it, I've been there before, but now — it's me. It's just one of these "pinch me, pinch me!' deals."