N.J. Governor Quits Over Gay Affair

With his wife by his side, New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey on Thursday declared, “I am a gay American.” McGreevey said he had had an affair with a man, and would step down Nov. 15.

The 47-year-old Democrat -- twice married and the father of two daughters -- confirmed rumors that have dogged him for years as he revealed that “shamefully, I engaged in an adult consensual relationship with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony.

“It was wrong. It was foolish. It was inexcusable,” McGreevey said during a poignant, 10-minute speech at the state Capitol.

McGreevey said his sexuality did not affect his performance as governor.

But, he said, “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.”

An aide to McGreevey identified the other man as Golan Cipel, 33, an Israeli national whom the governor hired as New Jersey’s domestic security advisor after taking office in 2002.

Cipel resigned weeks later after questions were raised about his qualifications for the $110,000-a-year job. Cipel stayed on as the governor’s special advisor, with the same salary, for five months.

Another McGreevey advisor said that Cipel was considering filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against the governor. Neither Cipel nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

At his news conference, McGreevey did not name Cipel or say that the man he had the affair with once worked for him. Nor did he make any reference to a fundraising scandal that had hovered over his administration.

At Pete Lorenzo’s Cafe, blocks from the nation’s second-oldest statehouse, tavern manager Kelly Zimmerman said she had met the governor several times, and liked the job he was doing. The cafe is a frequent meeting place for New Jersey politicians, including McGreevey, and a large crowd had gathered to watch McGreevey’s announcement on television.

“People were dumbfounded,” Zimmerman said. “I don’t think he should have resigned just because of his sex orientation. It has nothing to do with his job as governor.”

McGreevey, a Catholic, said that as a child he grappled with his sexual identity, and worked hard to fit into traditional family expectations.

From his earliest days in school, he said, “I forced what I thought was an acceptable reality onto myself -- a reality that is layered with all the ‘good things.’ ”

Yet, he said, “There were points in my life when I began to question what an acceptable reality really meant for me.”

As his parents and his wife looked on, McGreevey said: “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.

“My truth,” he said, “is that I am a gay American.”

Tim Cook, a professor of mass communications at Louisiana State University who studies the politics of sexual diversity, said that McGreevey “definitely needed to step down. I don’t see how he could have withstood this.”

State Senate President Richard J. Codey, a Democrat, will become acting governor and serve out the remainder of McGreevey’s term, which ends in early 2006.

McGreevey, born in Jersey City, N.J., graduated from Columbia University and earned his law degree at Georgetown University. He also earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard.

He served as mayor of suburban Woodbridge and in the Legislature, and narrowly lost the governor’s race in 1997 to Republican Christie Whitman. Four years later he defeated Republican Bret Schundler by 15 percentage points.

The popular Democrat, noted for his tenacity within his party, inherited a $5-billion budget deficit. Refusing to raise state taxes for the middle class, McGreevey instead placed new taxes on the state’s wealthy residents and raised taxes on casinos and cigarettes.

But McGreevey’s administration was clouded by fundraising and financial scandals.

Commerce Secretary William D. Watley resigned last month amid charges that he directed state funds into his personal businesses and awarded government contracts to friends.

Prosecutors in July charged that the governor’s biggest donor, Charles Kushner, tried to derail a federal investigation of his campaign contributions.

Another top McGreevey fund-raiser, David D’Amiano, was arraigned last month on charges of extorting money from a farmer in exchange for help with a land deal.

McGreevey is the nation’s second governor to resign this year. Republican John Rowland of Connecticut stepped down in June as a corruption investigation shook his administration and the likelihood of impeachment loomed.

Jim Margolis, a media consultant and McGreevey advisor, said that Cipel had threatened to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the governor a few weeks ago.

“The threats that were being made were part of what made it difficult for the governor to continue to do his job in the way it needed to be done. He knew that once the word had gotten out about the lawsuit, regardless if the charges were false, that all that would be left would be a circus out there,” Margolis said.

Another McGreevey aide said Cipel demanded “several million dollars” from the governor to avert a lawsuit. “The governor’s lawyers turned the matter over to appropriate law enforcement,” the aide said.

Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor in Newark, said the U.S. attorney there had “not received any information from the administration regarding the governor being a victim of a crime.”

McGreevey met Cipel during a 2000 trip to Israel, where Cipel served as spokesman for the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Le Zion. Cipel served for five years in the Israel Defense Forces with a navy patrol boat unit. He also was in the country’s military reserves.

Henry Sheinkopf, a veteran New York political consultant who spent several hours with McGreevey on Thursday, said the governor wrote the statement himself.

McGreevey sought counsel from a variety of sources. His staff consulted by telephone Thursday with Daniel Zingale, California Cabinet secretary under former Gov. Gray Davis, as McGreevey prepared his speech.

Zingale, who is gay, also served as political director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian advocacy group. Zingale said he advised McGreevey and his staff to be forthcoming about the governor’s sexuality.

“Given the nature of the revelations, Gov. McGreevey had a choice -- and he chose to be honest today, and he deserves some credit for that,” Zingale said. “One day, I hope people in high positions can be honest from the get-go.”

Rumors that McGreevey is gay have been fodder for New Jersey talk shows for several years. As governor, he supported domestic partnership benefits but did not support same-sex marriage.

In declaring his homosexuality Thursday, McGreevey became the country’s first openly gay governor -- and one of the highest-ranking gay or lesbian public officials in the country.

The House of Representatives has three openly gay members: Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.). Several current mayors, including David Cicilline of Providence, R.I., are openly gay. Scores of gays and lesbians are members of state legislatures or serve in city governments.

Lucy Bartlett, a vice president of the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute in Washington, said it was “very significant” that McGreevey publicly disclosed his homosexuality. “He has been functioning well, doing his job,” she said. “So the truth is, for a long time we have had a gay governor -- he just wasn’t open about it.”

Bartlett said McGreevey was held to a double standard in feeling that he had to resign after announcing his affair. “There are plenty of scandals where heterosexuals get caught and have a choice either to resign or not resign,” she said.

Cheryl Jacques, a former Massachusetts state senator who is president of the Human Rights Campaign, said McGreevey acted “with great dignity and courage.”

Jacques said, “There is always a lesson to be learned when we witness something as painful as the governor coming to grips with publicly telling people that he is gay -- and that is that this is still a very hard country for gay and lesbian Americans to be open and honest about their sexual orientation.”

If McGreevey’s resignation had taken effect before Nov. 15, state law would have required a special election on Sept. 2. His Nov. 15 departure date makes it impossible for a special election to be held to replace him, averting the possibility of a bruising and divisive Democratic primary. Voters will select a governor in November 2005.

The state’s two Democratic U.S. senators voiced support for McGreevey.

“My heart goes out to Gov. McGreevey and his family,” Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg said, adding: “Jim McGreevey’s speech was touching as he shared a personal confession.”

Sen. Jon Corzine said McGreevey “owes no one an apology” for making his sexual orientation public.

Robert Brunetti, a former New Jersey county executive, said the governor’s disclosure made him sad: “I’m a Republican, but my heart goes out to him. It’s a human issue as much as a political issue.”

Brunetti said it would be a mistake for anyone in politics to exploit McGreevey’s situation. “This has obviously been very painful to him for a long time,” he said. “He may end up having a better life now that this weight has been lifted.”

Zucchino reported from Trenton, Mehren from Boston. Times staff writers John J. Goldman in New York and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago contributed to this story.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

McGreevey profile

Name: James E. McGreevey

Political party: Democrat

Birth date: Aug. 6, 1957

Birthplace: Jersey City, N.J.

Education: Bachelor of arts, Columbia University, 1978; law degree, Georgetown University, 1981; master of arts, Harvard University, 1982.

Political experience: Governor of New Jersey, 2002-04; state senator, 1994-97; Assembly member, 1990-91.

Other experience: Assistant prosecutor, Middlesex County, N.J., 1982-83; executive director, New Jersey Parole Board, 1985-87; lobbyist, Merck & Co., 1987-89.

Family: Married to Dina Matos McGreevey. Two daughters: one with his current wife and one from a previous marriage.

Sources: Almanac of American Politics, 2004; Associated Press candidate biographies; Marquis Who’s Who

Los Angeles Times