Graceful Exit

13 August 2004



Jim McGreevey Quits as New Jersey Governor in Gay Sex Scandal

Jim McGreevey resigned the office of Governor of the State of New Jersey effective November 15. He admitted to an extra-marital gay relationship, and in his resignation speech, he tried to wrap himself in the gay rights banner. The speech itself was rather forgettable, but the fact that he made it at all makes Mr. McGreevey, in the end, an honorable man. America needs a few more politicians like him.

Had the scandal merely been about the governor cheating on his wife with a man, there are some who say it would have survived the mess politically. However, there is also some circumstantial evidence of abuse of power and political blackmail. Try as he might to position this as a matter of a gay man hounded from office by the intolerant, Mr. McGreevey is resigning because he could not do his job any longer.

From the preliminary reports, it appears the governor's affair with a man named Golan Cipel led to the latter being hired as Mr. McGreevey's homeland security advisor. An Israeli citizen, Mr. Cipel could not be briefed by the FBI, and therefore, his value to the governor and the state was severely diminished. He then found a job in the governor's office for around $110,000 a year as a public affairs liaison to New Jersey's Jewish community -- his qualification being his Israeli passport.

Things came to a head when, according the New Jersey reporter Bill Thompson, Mr. McGreevey was offered a choice: pay $5 million to keep things quiet, or face a sexual harassment lawsuit. In a no-win situation, Mr. McGreevey did the right thing. He took away the alleged blackmailer's leverage. Whether the lawsuit will proceed is not yet known. It is important to note that had the man in Jim McGreevey’s life been a woman, this still would have been a case of extortion.

Of the affair, the governor said, "It was wrong. It was foolish. It was inexcusable." And he was right. However, he also managed to realize that it put the governor's office under the thumb of someone who seems not to have had the best interests of the state at heart. Compare Mr. McGreevey's quick resignation to the lingering , drawn-out mess Governor John Rowland made of his departure from Connecticut's executive office and one immediately sees the difference. In the end, they both had to go, but Mr. McGreevey's departure ended the damage quickly, cleanly, and effectively. Good for him.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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