Bowing to Blacks, Rodino Will Not Seek Reelection

Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.), a leading civil rights advocate who also chaired the impeachment hearings of former President Richard M. Nixon, bowed to the demands of minority constituents in his heavily black district Monday and announced that he would not seek a 21st term in the November election.

Rodino, 78, who is one of the oldest members of the House and chairman of its Judiciary Committee, said he would leave his post in January, but he made no mention of the pressure that had been building from constituents that he retire.

‘Sense of Sadness’

In a two-page statement, Rodino said: “It is not without a sense of sadness that I am announcing my decision to retire from the Congress at the end of this term. One cannot have served in this great body for 40 years without some mixed emotions at the thought of leaving it.”

Despite Rodino’s record as a champion of civil rights, demands that he step down had been increasing in recent years as blacks came to make up the majority of voters in his Newark district. The voting age population of Rodino’s district was 54% black in 1980, according to that year’s census.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and other national civil rights leaders had also urged Rodino to step down. Three Newark blacks, including two city councilmen, had announced plans to run against him in the Democratic Party’s June 7 primary.

Victory in the primary is tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic district. Any of Rodino’s three challengers would become the first black congressman from New Jersey.

Rodino, who was a member of the joint House-Senate hearings into the Iran-Contra scandal last year, survived a similar challenge from black candidates two years ago. At that time, Rodino said he wanted to remain in Congress as long as Ronald Reagan was President.

Began Raising Funds

With Reagan retiring this year, many blacks interpreted that as meaning Rodino planned to step down as well. But the veteran lawmaker began last year to raise funds to run for another term.

Rodino and eight other congressmen tied in 1986 as the most liberal members of the House, according to rankings by the National Journal, a weekly magazine on the federal government. He received perfect liberal scores on economic, social and foreign policy issues.