NEW YORK, 14 August 2004 — New Jersey Governor James McGreevey’s decision to resign because of a homosexual affair shook the airwaves Thursday and threw New Jersey’s political leadership into confusion.
McGreevey, a one-time rising Democratic star and twice-married father, announced his resignation during a brief news conference from his outer office in the State House — accompanied by his wife and parents — with the startling disclosure that he is gay and had an extramarital affair with a man that he said threatened to undermine his “ability to govern.”
“My truth is that I am a gay American,” the 47-year-old governor said. He described decades of sexual confusion that dogged him through two marriages and ultimately led him to an act he called “wrong, foolish and inexcusable.”
What he did not say was why he had decided to go public with the information now: Aides report his paramour had threatened to sue the governor and accuse McGreevey of sexual harassment.
One senior McGreevey political adviser told reporters Golan Cipel, an Israeli citizen, threatened McGreevey several weeks ago that unless he was paid “millions of dollars,” he would go public with their affair.
McGreevey’s office called the FBI on Thursday to complain about Cipel asking for money. It is believed they told him to go public with the affair.
From the start, there were questions about Cipel. McGreevey met Cipel during a junket with other mayors in 2000 to the Israeli city of Rishon Le-Zion, where Cipel reportedly worked. He was, according to news reports, a published poet.
He served in the Israeli Navy. He had also served as an information officer in the Israeli Consulate in New York.
McGreevey decided to bring Cipel to the United States, and Cipel was first hired by the Democratic State Committee, which also paid his $1,100 registration fee with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Scandal began to mar McGreevey’s tenure following questions over a series of questionable appointments, including the naming of Cipel to the newly created $110,000-a-year post of homeland security adviser without any background check or official announcement — shortly after McGreevey took office in 2002. But because he was a foreign citizen, Cipel could not get a federal security clearance and could not sit on high-level intelligence briefings.
Cipel was then shifted by McGreevey to a $100,000-a-year job as “special counsel” to the governor. But the new job did not end the controversy. News reports continued to question exactly what Cipel was doing, and whether he was doing anything at all — or even showing up for work. By August 2002, he had resigned.
And those questions did not end with Cipel’s departure. He first landed a job at MWW Group, a lobbying firm with connections to Democrats, with a recommendation from McGreevey.
That lasted a month. Later, he got a new job with a Trenton lobbying firm close to McGreevey, based on a “positive recommendation” from the governor, a partner in the firm told journalists.
Observers say Cipel had been sponsored for a work visa and given a job in 2001 by real estate developer Charles Kushner, McGreevey’s biggest political donor, since indicted for hiring prostitutes as part of a scheme involving a federal prosecution and fund-raising.
McGreevey said his resignation would be effective Nov. 15.
Former Republican Gov. Christie Whitman said McGreevey “made a courageous decision” but criticized his plan to wait until Nov. 15 to leave office, saying it “smacks of politics.” She said it “would be in the best interests of the state” for the governor to step aside immediately.
