IN 1982, as a second term New Jersey Assemblyman, I voted to reinstate the death penalty after the United States Supreme Court reversed its 1972 holding that the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eight Amendment of the US Constitution.

My vote was based solely on the politics of the issue. The death penalty was popular. Being against the death penalty was the same as being soft on crime.

I gave no thought to the morality of the issue or to the possibility of executing an innocent person.

When Celeste Fitzgerald from New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Lorry Post from Murder Victims’ for Reconciliation visited me in 2004 to solicit my support to repeal the death penalty, they met a different person than that 2nd term assemblyman.

The 20 plus intervening years taught me that public service should not be about seeking approval, glory or fame. Trinkets. They’re nothing more than trinkets.

What should society, as fashioned by its elected officials, look like? That is now my guiding principal, as shaped by my spiritual beliefs. My spiritual beliefs lead me to envision a society that could do justice without need for revenge, without a need to take a life.

But I also knew, as a consummate politician, a power broker as called by some, if I tried to convince my fellow legislators to repeal the death penalty based on my spiritual beliefs, I would get nothing but blank stares and puzzled looks in return from most.

The resulting speeches, letters and articles reflect both my spiritual beliefs, as well as practical arguments, for repealing the death penalty.

The combination worked as New Jersey became the first state in over 40 years to legislatively repeal its death penalty.

Much more than any trinket. Much, much more.