Spokesman says bleeding ulcer is behind 86-year-old NJ Sen. Lautenberg’s hospitalization

Spokesman: Ulcer sent NJ’s Lautenberg to hospital

TRENTON, N.J. — A bleeding ulcer is behind the hospitalization of longtime New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, an aide said Tuesday.

Chief of staff Dan Katz said that no discharge date is set, but that he expects the 86-year-old Democrat to be released soon.

The senator was taken to a hospital Monday after becoming lightheaded and falling at his Cliffside Park home. He later underwent a successful endoscopy procedure, spokesman Caley Gray said.

Lautenberg was expected “to make a full recovery and will be back to work soon,” Gray said.

His office announced Monday night that he was in great spirits, was joking with doctors and would stay at a hospital overnight for routine observation. The name of the hospital was not released.

Lautenberg returned Friday from a trip to Haiti with a congressional delegation. He was scheduled to discuss the trip and the U.S. aid effort for the Caribbean nation, which is recovering from a devastating earthquake, at a news conference Tuesday. The news conference was canceled and was not immediately rescheduled.

Any health decline for the Senate’s second-oldest member would be a serious concern for the party, because Republicans won control of the governor’s office in November. If Lautenberg were unable to finish his term, Gov. Chris Christie would appoint an interim successor. That could give a Republican candidate the added advantage of incumbency at a time the GOP already enjoys a favorable political environment.

New Jersey Democrats tried, but failed, to advance legislation to take the interim appointment power away from Christie. The legislation was introduced during the lame duck session with Lautenberg in mind.

Lautenberg won re-election in 2008; he doesn’t run again until 2014.

Born in Paterson, Lautenberg first came to prominence as chairman of Automatic Data Processing, a payroll services company he founded with two friends in 1952.

The liberal Lautenberg has been a staunch gun-control advocate and critic of the tobacco industry. He wrote laws to ban smoking on domestic airline flights and to institute a national minimum drinking age of 21.

He has been back in the spotlight recently as a critic of the Transportation Security Administration after a January security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport. He also was active in the effort to end a custody dispute with Brazil involving the son of Tinton Falls, N.J., resident David Goldman.