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Ex-Long Beach lawmaker supports Joe Biden

BY REID J. EPSTEIN | reid.epstein@newsday.com

August 25, 2008

Like millions of others, Arthur "Jerry" Kremer woke up early Saturday morning to find out who Barack Obama chose as his running mate.

But Kremer, a Democratic assemblyman from Long Beach from 1966 to 1990, was particularly excited to learn Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware was the pick; the two men have been friends going back three decades.

"I haven't felt so good since my last and final election years ago," Kremer said yesterday. "I think I got a bigger thrill out of that than almost anything that ever happened to me in politics."

Kremer first met Biden in 1973, when "a guy who was promoting him as somebody New Yorkers should know" introduced the two. Biden was a first-year senator who, like scores of Washington politicians, came to Manhattan to raise money.

The two stayed in touch for the next 35 years, with Kremer, who now splits his time between Manhattan and Bridgehampton, estimating he's attended 20 Biden fundraisers along the way. Federal Election Commission records show Kremer gave Biden's 2008 presidential campaign $2,000 and has given his Senate campaigns $2,000 since 2002.

The two were close in a way that politicians are with their friends who help raise money. Biden called Kremer with condolences when his wife, Barbara, died in 1986 - Biden lost his first wife and daughter in a car accident shortly after his 1972 election to the Senate. Kremer called Biden at his Delaware home to discuss politics and touted him in columns on his law firm's Web site.

Two weeks ago, Kremer said, Biden spoke with him about Obama's vice-presidential selection process. Then, Kremer said, Biden downplayed the chances of being selected and said he wasn't pining for the position. "He said, 'I'm not going to ask anybody for it,' but the door was open to him being asked," Kremer said.