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McGreevey’s unsecret

11 comments on McGreevey’s unsecret

McGreevey’s unsecret

: Well, I didn’t know.

But apparently, everyone else in New Jersey media knew McGreevey’s secret. And if that’s so, it raises lots of questions. I’m not saying they should have outed him; I long for the day when a politician’s personal life is just that. But if he indeed hired his lover for a state job for which that reputed lover was in no way qualified… well, that’s a crime. Why didn’t we know? We want to know.

Robert Sterling says at MemeFirst:

Every single politically astute person in New Jersey has known about McGreevey’s homosexuality for a long time – at least since 2001. In fact, McGreevey’s elaborate efforts to stay in the closet were a source of periodic amusement to New Jerseyites, as when he shattered his femur in 2002 while in the company of his boyfriend, and then concocted an elaborate cover story that claimed the injury occurred while walking down the beach with his wife….

So why has McGreevey come out of the closet now? And so publicly? Simply put, he’s in deep doo-doo, and needs a way out. His administration has been wracked with scandal to a degree that well exceeds even the norms of New Jersey. There are at least two distinct rumors of lawsuits or complaints about to be filed, which seem sufficiently distinct to me that they may possibly concern two different men. One of the rumors definitely concerns an Israeli national named Golan Cipel, whom McGreevey appointed to a high paying state anti-terrorism post, before complaints of Cipel’s lack of qualifications caused the governor to withdraw the appointment. Were Cipel to admit a sexual relationship, McGreevey’s conduct on this matter may be indictable. By resigning – and simultaneously declaring himself a member of a persecuted minority – McGreevey may be able to dodge this and any number of other criminal investigations….

So this is a standard CYA move by McGreevey.

11 responses to “McGreevey’s unsecret”

  1. Mike G Avatar
    Mike G

    Similar situation in Illinois. A major politician and officeholder was “known” by “everyone” to be gay, in fact to have had a longterm relationship with a Marshall Fields’ window-dresser. Is he? Did he? I have no idea, in reality. But everyone “knows” the story. Indeed, one variation on the story had it that he was under consideration for the vice presidency at one point, but this scotched it– and so another midwestern Republican, J. Danforth Quayle, was selected instead.
    As widespread as the story is in Illinois, though, it’s apparently unknown enough outside the state that this person’s name was dropped more than a few times by outside commentators as someone who could replace Jack Ryan in the Senate race. Now THAT would have been amusing to see the press dig into….

  2. Kat Avatar
    Kat

    His gayness or lack of, has nothing to do with the REAL issue. He lived a lie–but that is his personal business–it’s the fact that he is trying to use his gayness to detract from his real crime, is what pisses me off–that and wondering how the hell one breaks a thigh bone having sex….maybe it was a threesome and they were all intertwined like pretzels.:)

  3. Lynxx Pherrett Avatar
    Lynxx Pherrett

    “But if he indeed hired his lover for a state job for which that reputed lover was in no way qualified… well, that’s a crime. Why didn’t we know? We want to know.”
    Interesting concept — the chief executive of a state wangling their extra-marital lover a government job is “a crime.” Maybe that explains why the media continuously called Monica Lewinsky an “intern,” even after she was given a job in the Pentagon. Or does it only become a “crime” if the lover is deemed “unqualified” by the executive’s opponents?

  4. Sterling Avatar
    Sterling

    Interesting concept? They’re called “civil service laws”. Read this and get back to me: http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,602598,00.html
    (And if you don’t understand why McGreevey didn’t want Cipel to appear under oath before a state senate committee, you haven’t been paying much attention to today’s events. Ex: “Mr. Cipel, exactly what services do you provide to the governor that he’s willing to pay you $110,000 in state funds each year?”)

  5. Lynxx Pherrett Avatar
    Lynxx Pherrett

    The W3C really needs to come out with a sarcasm tag.

  6. Sterling Avatar
    Sterling

    It would be especially helpful when unfunny people dabble in extremely subtle humor.
    Not that is one of those cases.

  7. HA Avatar
    HA

    Jeff,
    Why didn’t we know?
    You kidding right? Surely you can’t be so naive. We didn’t know because he is a Democrat.
    Today’s Democrat controlled media will not report news that is unfavorable to Democrats. This is also why we don’t know about Kerry’s 35 years of pathological lies and treasonous agenda. This is why America doesn’t know that Kerry negotiated with the North Vietnamese commies still in the Naval Reserve. This is why America doesn’t know that Kerry attended a meeting where assasinations of US senators was discussed.
    Meanwhile, the media fights to gain access to Jack Ryan’s divorce records so a Democrat like Barak Obama can run essentially unopposed.

  8. ronbo Avatar
    ronbo

    Jeff, I think the problem was that it would have been impossible to fully report the Cipel story without outing the Governor. By common consent, I guess, the media decided that the lesser of two evils was to respect McGreevey’s privacy even if that gave him a pass on Cipel.
    Two other comments: First, although the post from “HA” is a bit over the top, it is worth asking how the media would have covered this story had the governor been a Republican.
    Second, as Sterling and others have noted, McGreevey’s sexual orientation was well known within both parties, and the Republicans never used it. Just an FYI for those inclined to tar the entire GOP as homophobic.

  9. Doug Stewart Avatar
    Doug Stewart

    ronbo:
    I think that the NJ GOP hasn’t used McG’s sexual orientation to this point precisely because it would have granted him immediate victim status. “There go those homophobic Republicans again. Poor, persecuted Jim! Why, look, he’s been so terrified of people like the Republicans for so long that he’s had two sham marriages and two kids!”
    No, the GOP in NJ is generally “moderate” (with outliers like Forrester and Schundler) and terrified of the electorate’s relatively progressive views on social issues, so much so that they can’t throw their full weight behind any truly conservative candidates (ref. Schundler and Forrester, as above).
    Also, there’s so much dirt in NJ politics that I’m sure that any politician or public figure that tried to nail McGreevey (pardon the expression) would probably be “outed” on other unseemly charges.
    *sigh*

  10. raj Avatar
    raj

    Sterling at August 13, 2004 12:49 AM
    >Interesting concept? They’re called “civil service laws”.
    This is in no way meant to defend McGreevey, but are you sure that the position the boyfriend was to be appointed to was a civil service position? From the description, it sounded like a position subject to political appointment, and I believe those are not usually covered by civil service.
    BTW, I don’t know what the original post meant by “Why didn’t we know?”, but if the question was “why didn’t you know that he was having homosexual affairs while he was married with children,” maybe you don’t read the right newspapers. While doing a little googling on the subject yesterday, I ran across an column in a NJ paper from May 2002 in which he was, indeed outed:
    >THE PROBLEM WITH GOVERNOR MCGREEVEY

  11. dave Hume Avatar
    dave Hume

    Look, everyone, don’t be dumb. This entire Golan Cipel story is MOSSAD and CIA all over it. The news reports are all confused. One says they met a cocktail party in Haifa, another one says Cipel was a tour guide in Jerusalem when NJ Gov was visiting. Now, reports are coming out that Cipel actually met NJ Gov when he was still mayor of Woodbridge, like around 1995. See? Which is it?
    LOok at his bio. Cipel was a poet. had girlfriends in Israel, worked as leg assistant for Isreali Parilament, worked for Israeli embassy in NYC, met NJ Gov when he was mayor, then on his transition team for Gov, this all smacks of a MOSSAD set up.
    See? MOSSAD wants to get a agent inside USA. They set up him to meet NJ Gov as mayor and then as candidate. This was all arranged well in advance.
    Golan was not even gay for crying out loud. NJ Gov got entrapmented.
    Watch the news follow my lead in the next few days.
    This was huge intel op.