Former NJ Governor Goes Undercover as Homeless Man

Richard Codey spends night at shelter
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 7, 2012 6:53 PM CST

A former New Jersey governor transformed himself into a homeless man and went undercover in Newark to spend the night in a shelter, reports MSNBC. "To find a place to take you if you were homeless was impossible, essentially," says Richard Codey, now a state senator. Codey heaped on make-up for an hour Monday to undergo his metamorphosis into Jimmy Peters, a mentally ill homeless person just released from the psychiatric ward. (See the video in the gallery.)

He spent the night at the Goodwill Rescue Mission along with nearly 20 other homeless people, sleeping on the floor on bedrolls. "For me it was tough," he joked. "I sleep on my side so by 3am my hip was hurting." The plight of the homeless has long been one of Codey's concerns, and he says he plans to use his undercover experience to push for changes. (More Richard Codey stories.)

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