Former Gov. Tom Kean Skipping GOP Convention, 1st In 52 Years: Report

Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean has decided not to attend next week's Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the first time he will miss a convention in 52 years, according to a report.

NorthJersey.com reported that Kean said he has too many differences with the immigration and economic policies of Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, to participate in the convention.

He also called Trump a loose cannon who should “listen to people and stop tweeting at 11 o’clock at night.”

Kean, 81, joins a list of top Republicans, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, who are not attending the convention, the report said.

Kean, a well-respected moderate Republican who headed the 9/11 Commission and is New Jersey's most popular governor, has been seen as someone who could have brought the factions of the party together, the NorthJersey.com report said.

Kean also said he is so disillusioned with Trump and the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, that he might not vote for president. He said that while he had met them and likes them on a personal level, as politicians they are not up to muster.

Kean, who served as governor of New Jersey from 1982-1990, attended his first convention in 1948 at the age of 13, with his father, Robert, a New Jersey congressman. He began attending them regularly in 1964, the NorthJersey.com report said.

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Tom Kean photo via WhiteHouse.gov press release on 9/11 Commission