McGreevey announced in a 4:30 p.m. press conference Thursday that "I am a gay American" and "I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony."
While many applauded the 47-year-old governor's candor, speculation soon turned to the uglier impetus behind the revelation.
Various newspapers reported that the man with whom McGreevey had had the affair was someone to whom the governor eventually gave a $110,000-per-year position as the head of New Jersey's homeland security. When there were protests that the man, Golan Cipel, an Israeli national, couldn't even get federal security clearance, he was made a special aide at the same salary.
Cipel resigned from that post exactly two years ago. Sources said he was planning to file a sexual harassment suit against McGreevey, which might have spurred the governor's announcement. The two-year statute of limitations from the time of Cipel's resignation would have been last week. It was speculated that McGreevey made the disclosure because he knew the suit was coming and had to avoid being influenced by fear or potential extortion.
Moving up
McGreevey will resign as of Nov. 15, after the next general election. That means that state Senate President Richard Codey will take over as acting governor, and will retain that seat until a November 2005 election determines the new governor.
Richard Codey will also retain his Senate president seat. So that means he will not be succeeded right now by another senator, like Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny of Hoboken.
Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-32nd Dist.) said Codey's retaining his Senate president seat is similar to when Senate President Donald DiFrancesco took over after Christine Whitman resigned as governor to take a cabinet post in the administration of President George. W. Bush.
"This will make Codey a more powerful governor for next year," Manzo said.
If Codey is in contention for the 2005 governor's race, he may have several competitors, including U.S. Senator Jon Corzine, who lives in the Tea Building in Hoboken. However, Corzine, prompted by rumors that he would challenge McGreevey next year in the primary, said at the National Convention in Boston last month that he was not interested in the job. While he could change his mind, Corzine appears to be seeking an appointment as Secretary of the U.S. Treasury should Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry be elected this November, a source said.
Rep. Bob Menendez (D-13th Dist.), a Union City native who now lives in Hoboken, may also seek the governor's seat next year, some reports claim.
99 problems...
Political observers across the county were surprised by the news last week, and concerned about the deeper ramifications.
County Executive Tom DeGise was reached a few minutes after the conclusion of the press conference. He described it as one more "crazy moment" in a sequence of unbelievable events with huge impacts on the political community.
"I kept thinking, how much crazier can things get?" he said. "Ever since the resignation of [former Hudson County Executive Robert] Janiszewski [in September of 2001 due to a corruption investigation], we have had things happening like this. Who could have predicted Glenn's [Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham's] death? Then we had the two freeholders put out of office [due to corruption charges], and now we have the governor resigning. It's like a cheap novel."
DeGise, however, thought McGreevey handled the situation well and showed courage.
"But I can't help waiting for another shoe to drop," DeGise said. "That the governor is a gay American does not disqualify him from being governor. Not in a liberal state like New Jersey. Even having an affair should not force him to resign. I've always considered the governor to be a good man - all politics aside - and I believe he is honest and hardworking."
Jersey City Mayor L. Harvey Smith expressed shock at the announcement. He said Democrats in the state who are looking to jockey for political position should look at the larger picture in November when there's the election for U.S. president, and that there should be harmony amongst the state's Democrats.
But former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, who has announced that he will run for governor in 2005, saw a possible plot in the announcement.
Schundler, in a statement, alluded to the possible suit to be brought by Cipel.
" Why did Golan Cipel decide to bring his charges now?" he asked. "Is it because the Democratic bosses who run New Jersey got to him somehow, and are using him to clear Jim McGreevey out of the way so they can run Jon Corzine for governor next year and keep themselves from losing control of the most powerful governor's office in America?"
He added, "Indeed, if Jim McGreevey's resignation is simply the opening act in a drama that was pre-scripted by the leaders of the Democratic party, then these leaders have saved their place in history as the worst scoundrels ever to run a state."
Helped Hudson
Despite the nefarious implications, local officials lauded the decisions McGreevey has made. He has fought for embryonic stem cell research to help find cures for genetic disorders. He passed the state's Domestic Partnership Act, and appointed an official at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission who helped Secaucus have more of a say in local zoning.
"Through Susan Bass Levin [the Chair of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission], the governor gave us back home rule," said Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell. "We have more say in our own destiny. Governor McGreevey has been very good to Secaucus, and I hope this will continue through future administrations."
Hoboken Councilman Tony Soares, who suffers from a form of dwarfism, and local political consultant Paul Byrne both lauded McGreevey's stance on stem cell research.
Catherine Hecht, the senior co-chair of Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach, said that she was sad that McGreevey was resigning, since she liked him as a governor - not just for the Domestic Partnership Act, but for his policies on the environment and other issues.
She also said that it was courageous of him to announce that he is gay, but she was sad to see him do this in the situation that unfolded. She said she has invited McGreevey to participate in the annual Jersey City Pride parade in the past three years, but he had not attended. He said that this year, he had sent word that he couldn't attend because he had other engagements on Saturday, Aug. 28.
Secaucus Mayor Elwell said critics of the fact that McGreevey waited to resign are wrong. "We should not force an election for governor in three months" while there is a presidential race going on, Elwell said.
Even Hudson County Republican Chairman Jose Arango was willing to call McGreevey's personal revelation "courageous."
"It took an extremely strong man stand up the way he did," Arango said. "It was a tough decision." Arango said he knew McGreevey prior to McGreevey becoming governor.
"When I was in the Assembly, he was lobbying," he said. "I have always seen him as an honorable man. I think this is a very sad moment."
Assemblyman Manzo said the resignation came as a surprise.
"The new blew me away," he said. "It was a bolt out of the blue."
Manzo said he has seen an improving relationship with McGreevey since January, and credited the governor with supporting some key environmental legislation that would outlast this news.
Albio Sires, the Assembly speaker who is also West New York mayor, said, "Governor McGreevey's resignation announcement is a stunning development, and it took extraordinary candor to take responsibility for his actions and resign his office. Hopefully, today's announcement will not take away from the significant, positive policy achievements of the past couple years."
Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna was circumspect. "Obviously, my heart goes out to him and his family," he said. "Right now, I'm in a little bit of a shock, but I'm sure that the party will move on. I don't believe that [his extramarital gay affair] was the only reason. I know there was a lot of strain on his family and this will cause strain on his political life. I give him credit for doing the best thing, because obviously, it wasn't the easiest thing for him to do."
Hoboken Mayor David Roberts said, "I feel very sorry for him and his family, and I hope that he will find some peace with himself. He has been very helpful to Hoboken."
Assemblywoman Joan Quigley said, "Not only was he a good friend and a great political leader, but I still think of him as a friend and as a political leader. What his sexuality is, is of no matter to me. I was concerned with one of the statements he made, when he said that the situation put such intolerable pressure on him. Seeing his family there with him, they showed how much they loved him. And the people in the room crying, they showed how much they loved him as well. I just hope the people of New Jersey show that they still love him, too."
Staff writer Ricardo Kaulessar contributed to this report.
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