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Gibe makes politician's wife a star

TRENTON, N.J. - When a radio shock jock insulted acting Gov. Richard J. Codey's wife, making fun of her bout with postpartum depression, it catapulted the former kindergarten teacher and mother of two onto a national stage.

Mary Jo Codey, 49, is using the platform well, mental health advocates say.

"Because of her stature and candor, Mrs. Codey's voice alone is having a significant impact on reducing the stigma of mental illness, particularly postpartum depression," said Sylvia Axelrod, executive director of New Jersey's Alliance for Persons Affected by Mental Illness.

Codey said she was motivated to talk publicly about mental illness because she felt there was nowhere to turn when she was a depressed, young mother.

"There was nothing out there. There was not one book," Codey said Thursday. "I made up my mind in the psychiatrist's office, if I ever got out of it, I would educate the public about it."

She has spoken to local women's clubs about her joyless first year of motherhood 20 years ago, revealing that she had thoughts of drowning her son in a bathtub and putting the baby in a microwave. And she has talked about a battle with mental illness that has included shock treatments and time in a psychiatric hospital.

Her struggles received a surge of publicity last month, when WKXW-FM radio host Craig Carton suggested that women who suffer from postpartum depression should relax by smoking marijuana "instead of putting their babies in the microwave."

The acting governor confronted Carton at the radio station, and said he told Carton that, if he were not governor, he "would take him outside."

Since the confrontation, Mary Jo Codey has gotten hundreds of letters and e-mails of support - from mental health advocates, people battling depression and family members of the mentally ill.

"I can't keep up with it," her personal assistant, Beth J. Milton, said. "I'm teaching her to say no, because she's completely booked."

The acting governor said Thursday that people stop his wife to offer praise.

"When we go out in public, people will pull my wife aside and say, "We can't thank you enough for what you're doing for my wife, or my son, who has mental illness,' " Codey said.

[Last modified February 12, 2005, 00:25:13]