McGreevey ResignsTRENTON -- Announcing that he is gay and admitting what he called a "shameful" illicit homosexual affair, Gov. McGreevey resigned yesterday, saying his sexual behavior makes the office he holds vulnerable to rumors and threats.
"At a point in every person's life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul and decide one's unique truth in the world -- not as we may want to see it, or hope to see it, but as it is," McGreevey said. "And so my truth is that I am a gay American." McGreevey's resignation is effective Nov. 15. The delay beyond Sept. 3 avoids a special election in November and will give the role of acting governor to Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, until January 2006.
Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, vice chairman of the state Democratic Party, said the announcement was "clearly" prompted by word circulating at the Statehouse that McGreevey, as a result of his affair, faces a lawsuit from a former aide, Israeli Golan Cipel.
A high-ranking member of the McGreevey administration said Cipel threatened McGreevey with a sexual harassment lawsuit unless he was paid millions of dollars, The Associated Press reported. The AP added that Cipel agreed to go away until after the 2005 elections if he received the money.
Asked if legal action was expected from Cipel, Cryan said, "Yes, that is my understanding."
Family members present
Flanked by his parents, Jack and Ronnie, and his wife, Dina, McGreevey's announcement drew national and international attention. He showed little distress during the nearly eight-minute speech and smiled, at times, as did Dina.
The governor had harsh words for his own behavior.
"I am also here today because, shamefully, I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony," he said. "It was wrong. It was foolish. It was inexcusable."
McGreevey, 47, mentioned no names in his statement about the affair and would not answer questions afterward. Cipel, who lives in a midtown Manhattan high-rise near Columbus Circle, did not respond to a call placed to his apartment through the doorman.
Democrats and Republicans expressed sympathy for McGreevey's family, and Democrats in particular praised the courage of his announcement. But some Republicans questioned why he plans to delay resigning to ensure a smooth transition.
Former Gov. Christie Whitman, traveling in California, noted that in 2001, Senate President Donald T. DiFrancesco made the transition to acting governor in three weeks when she resigned to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a post she no longer holds.
"His decision to wait until Nov. 15 to resign smacks of politics," Whitman said in a statement. "Certainly Senate President Codey is well-prepared to serve as acting governor, and it would be in the best interests of the state for him to assume that office immediately."
McGreevey said the announcement also was aimed at removing the possibility of someone using his sexual behavior against his office.
"I realize the fact that this affair and my own sexuality, if kept secret, leaves me and, most importantly, the Governor's Office vulnerable to rumors, false allegations and threats of disclosure," he said. "So I am removing these threats by telling you directly about my sexuality."
A lifelong struggle
McGreevey said that throughout his life -- and despite two marriages and two daughters -- he grappled with his sexual identity. McGreevey and Dina have a daughter, Jacqueline, 2. He and his first wife, Kari, have a daughter, Morag, who was born in 1992.
He said the real issue was the circumstances surrounding the affair.
"It makes little difference that as governor I am gay," he said. "In fact, having the ability to truthfully set forth my identity might have enabled me to be more forthright in fulfilling and discharging my constitutional obligations. Given the circumstances surrounding the affair and its likely impact upon my family and my ability to govern, I have decided the right course of action is to resign."
Cipel, who was hired just after McGreevey was inaugurated in January 2002, turned in his resignation Aug. 13, 2002, less than two weeks after the Gannett State Bureau reported that McGreevey relied on exaggerated anti-terrorism credentials to justify hiring him as a security adviser.
U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said through a spokesman that his office didn't know about any threats made against McGreevey or the Governor's Office.
"The United States attorney has not received any information from the administration regarding the governor being the victim of a crime," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie.
Bill Palatucci, finance chairman for the Republican State Committee, said it was clear that McGreevey was trying to get his message out first before any allegations were made.
"You are taught in Politics 101 to get ahead of the story," Palatucci said.
Alice Leeds, spokeswoman for the organization Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said McGreevey's announcement was not about his being gay.
"I would assume it would be about information following his coming out," Leeds said. "We are told there is going to be some suit brought against him."
Linda Wong, a Princeton lawyer who has filed a number of sexual harassment cases, said Cipel would have two years to file such a lawsuit. Cipel resigned from state government two years ago today.
Lacked credentials
McGreevey brought Cipel into the administration as special counsel to the governor for homeland security. When the Israeli national could not get a federal security clearance, McGreevey made him a general high-level aide and he retained his $110,000 salary.
Cipel, who worked from a second-floor office in the Statehouse, was rarely seen and would not grant interviews.
Formerly a low-level officer in the Israeli reserves who later worked in public relations at the Israeli consulate in New York, Cipel did not have the qualifications to be considered a terrorism expert and security adviser to New Jersey, particularly in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a review of his credentials by Israeli military expert and journalist Yossi Melman.
McGreevey said he met Cipel in Israel in 2000 and decided to bring him to the United States.
Cipel was first hired by McGreevey's largest fund-raiser, Charles Kushner, for a $30,000 public relations job with one of the Kushner companies. During McGreevey's 2001 campaign, he also worked for the Democratic State Committee.
Kushner is one of two McGreevey fund-raisers charged with wrongdoing by the U.S. attorney. Kushner was charged with obstruction of justice. Fund-raiser David D'Amiano was indicted on extortion charges.
McGreevey saw his public opinion poll numbers drop in the wake of the indictments and after the resignation of Commerce Commissioner William Watley, one of several McGreevey appointees who resigned amid questions about their conduct.