Fitzgeralds Legislative Manual gets a new owner

The bible of New Jersey government has a new owner.

Fitzgeralds New Jersey Legislative Manual has been sold to Kimmage Publishing, a Summit-based family holding company founded by Peter G. Kane.

There is no more revered and historically more significant encyclopedia of New Jersey state government than the legislative manual, known as the “Red Book” for its distinctive red cover and short, wide design that has remained largely unchanged for the last 148 years.

“We are honored to be the new stewards of this august publication. Few things endure and prosper in these dynamic times, but Fitzgeralds is still serving the public good and ensuring greater transparency into government,” Kane said.  “Our plans are to invest in leveraging the Fitzgeralds content to develop new 21st century tools and portals for policy makers and citizens in New Jersey.”

The New Jersey Legislature passed a law in 1884 that designated the red book as the official manual of the state of New Jersey.

The manual has been published since 1872 when it was founded by F.L. Lundy.  Lundy sold it to E.F. McCarthy in 1878 and in turn to Thomas F. Fitzgerald in 1886.  Fitzgerald ran it until 1920.

Kane will become the 10th publisher of the bible, following John P. Dullard (1921 to 1952), J. Joseph Gribbons (1953 to 1974), and Edward “Moon” Mullin, a venerable statehouse reporter who took over the red book in 1975 and ran it until he sold it to Skinder Strauss Associates in 1993.

Fitzgerald’s was sold to Lawyers Diary and Manual in 2014.

Kane, a Summit resident, spent years in the financial services industry, working for JP Morgan and Citigroup, and served as a top official of the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency.  He is a former candidate for Union County Freeholder.