New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey received advice from the Human Rights Campaign
before he announced last week that he is gay and would resign his office due
to an extramarital affair with another man. (Photo by AP)
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JOE CREA
Friday, August 20, 2004
After New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey told the world last week that he
is gay, had an extramarital affair with another man and announced his resignation,
many gay groups came to his defense, calling his proclamation that he is a “gay
American,” courageous.
Yet a growing chorus of politicians, activists and media outlets claim that
the governor came out of the closet only because he was being blackmailed and
had abused the powers of his office by appointing his sexual companion to a
sensitive homeland security position for which he was not qualified.
Cheryl Jacques, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, confirmed
this week that the group had advised McGreevey before last Thursday’s
coming out announcement. She said McGreevey showed “enormous courage.”
“We were there for him as we would be for anyone looking for guidance
on coming out,” Jacques said. “I was pleased that Governor McGreevey,
with character and confidence, told the world that he is a gay American.”
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force,
echoed Jacques’ sentiments, noting, “It takes a great deal of courage
to be so honest and straightforward.”
HRC also confirmed that McGreevey’s memorable line from the news conference — “I
am a gay American” — was suggested by HRC during a consultation
last week.
“It’s a pretty simple phrase that we found in the early ‘90s
was one of the most powerful ways of describing ourselves,” said Steve
Fisher, communications director for HRC. “It ensures that as a community
we are part of this country and are no different than anyone else.”
But not all prominent gays are rushing to McGreevey’s defense.
“The ‘courage’ issue is overrated,” said gay historian
Eric Marcus, author of “Making Gay History: The Half Century Fight for
Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights.”
“Being gay is the least of his problems. McGreevey and I are almost
the same age. He had choices to make when he was a young man. He’s an
educated guy who chose to remain in the closet.
“He married not once, but twice, the second time late in his life when
he had to know he was gay. He appointed an adulterous romantic partner to a
state job for which he wasn’t qualified. And the way he constructed his
speech it felt like he was using his gay identity to deflect attention from
what was really going on. I find myself curiously without sympathy for his
situation.”
The man McGreevey is believed to have had an affair with, Golan Cipel, 35,
claims he is straight and that they did not have a consensual relationship.
Further, Cipel said this week though his attorney that the governor made repeated,
unwanted sexual advances, including an incident in which McGreevey allegedly
forced himself on Cipel and performed oral sex.
“At first it looked like he was only appointing someone who wasn’t
qualified but now he has to deal with an issue closer to nepotism,” said
Ingrid Reed, director of the Eagleton Institute for Politics at Rutgers University’s
New Jersey Project.
Juliet Johnson, a spokesperson for the governor, said McGreevey is not granting
any interviews on this subject and that he is remaining focused on his family
and his job.
During his news conference, McGreevey said he had an affair with another man
but did not name the person. News reports claim the other man was Cipel, an
Israeli national whom the governor appointed New Jersey’s homeland security
director at a $110,000 annual salary, the fifth highest salary on the governor’s
staff.
During Cipel’s tenure, which began the first day McGreevey took office
in January 2002, the Israeli citizen was unable to obtain federal security
clearances. Cipel, whose background is in public relations, was eventually
moved out of the homeland security position but remained on the payroll at
the same salary as an adviser.
McGreevey reportedly met Cipel in 2000 on a trip to Israel. In 2001, Cipel
helped McGreevey during his second gubernatorial bid. McGreevey first ran for
the state’s top office in 1997 when Christie Todd Whitman narrowly defeated
him.
Shortly after his time working for the governor, Cipel was hired by one of
McGreevey’s top fund-raisers, multi-millionaire Charles Kushner, who
federal prosecutors charged in July with hiring a prostitute to impede a federal
probe, according to an Associated Press report.
On Wednesday, Kushner pled guilty to tax violations and to charges stemming
from a witness tampering scheme in which he allegedly hired a prostitute to
have sex with his sister’s husband, who was a witness in an FBI probe
into fund-raising irregularities. Prosecutors said Kushner had the sex act
videotaped and sent his sister a copy, according to AP.
In February 2003, McGreevey nominated Kushner to head the Port Authority of
New York and New Jersey, but Kushner declined. Kushner hired Cipel at McGreevey’s
recommendation and gave him a $30,000-a-year job doing public relations work
for his real estate empire, according to AP.
In his televised remarks last week, McGreevey said he plans to leave office
on Nov. 15. But pressure is mounting on him to step down immediately.
Several major newspapers, including the New York Times, are urging McGreevey
to leave office without delay. In a Monday editorial, USA Today said “McGreevey
deserves an award for chutzpah, not for conscience,” adding that if he “wants
to show some real political courage, he’d quit now.”
GOP officials are pushing for his immediate removal and a few top Democratic
officials want McGreevey to leave office so U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.)
could run in a special election that would be held on Nov. 2, though AP reported
Wednesday that Corzine will not run for the post then.
Only one gay group, the Log Cabin Republicans, has called for McGreevey’s
immediate departure.
While expressing sympathy for the governor’s struggle with his sexual
orientation, Patrick Guerriero, LCR’s executive director, said the 47-year-old
McGreevey should resign by Sept. 2 so that an interim election can be held.
The governor said in his news conference that he intends to stay until Nov.
15 when Senate President Richard J. Codey, a Democrat, would become acting
governor until the term expires in January 2006.
Should Codey — who has held office since 1974 — assume the governorship,
the state’s constitution mandates that he also remain Senate president.
New Jersey law stipulates that if a special election is to be held, it must
be scheduled at least 60 days ahead of Election Day. So if McGreevey can hang
on until Sept. 3, experts say Codey will become governor.
Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics,
said McGreevey’s news conference did not go as well as the governor planned,
since his approval rating only moved up by two percentage points, according
to a Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll released this week.
According to the poll, McGreevey’s approval rating stands at 45 percent,
two points higher than in a poll conducted two weeks before his resignation
announcement.
“I’m really wondering if he can survive this scandal,” Sabato
said. “I think it is right on the edge of the butter knife. However,
what the public knew at the time that poll was taken and what’s going
to be coming out are two different things.
“The focus then shifts from the sympathy of a person going through this
personal trauma to corruption, improper use of public office, etc.,” Sabato
said.
In January, McGreevey signed into law the Domestic Partnership Act, which allows
gay couples to get access to medical benefits, insurance and other legal rights
that are available to married people. At the time, McGreevey’s spokesperson,
Micah Rasmussen, said the governor believed marriage is the union of one man
and one woman.
Responding to those who say the governor is now wrapping himself in a rainbow
flag to distract from accusations of corruption, Jacques said she would not
speculate on the allegations.
“We are not involved in whatever allegations are surrounding him. HRC
only cared about the portion of Governor McGreevey telling the world he was
gay,” Jacques said.
Israeli citizen Golan Cipel denies a consensual affair with New Jersey
Gov. James McGreevey and claims the governor harassed and assaulted him.
(Photo by AP) |
“Based on what we know, I heard a man trying to turn his life around,
come straight with his wife and constituents in the most difficult of circumstances,
honestly admitting to having an affair.”
Jacques appeared last week on ABC’s “Nightline,” and was
asked by host Ted Koppel whether McGreevey might be stepping down because he “misused
his power in office to benefit a lover of his with a job for which the man
was not qualified.”
Jacques responded that she would “work off the facts we know today.
And today we know that he’s gay.”
“And he certainly shouldn’t resign because of that,” Jacques
told Koppel. “And we know that he has admitted to an affair. And that’s
a personal matter between he and his wife, and has really nothing to do with
his job performance. If more facts come out, you know, he should be judged
as we would judge any human being for doing inappropriate or whatever activity
that comes out.”
Sabato said that gay groups risk losing some of their credibility if they
align themselves too closely with someone like McGreevey who is surrounded
by allegations of ethical impropriety.
“They would be well advised to be cautious, very cautious, here,” Sabato
said. “This is someone who is in deep trouble who is trying to use them.
That’s what happens when you get these corrupt arrangements; ‘If
you stand up for our cause, we will do this for you.’”
The McGreevey scandal has prompted reminders of another political scandal — the
1970s case of Congressman Wayne Hays of Ohio who put his mistress on his payroll
as his secretary even though she could not type. According to Sabato, Hays,
a powerful committee chair, was forced out of his chairmanship and eventually
Congress as a result.
McGreevey’s coming out experience is different than that of other politicians.
Kentucky State Sen. Ernesto Scorsone declared his sexual orientation in 2003
after Gov. Paul Patton signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination
against state employees or job applicants on the basis of sexual orientation
or gender identity.
At the time, Scorsone said his sexual orientation was unrelated to his job
as senator.
Jacques emphasized that despite growing up in the New Jersey and New York
area and moving in progressive circles at Harvard University, McGreevey still
did not feel comfortable acknowledging his sexual orientation.
“It is a hostile environment [for closeted gays],” Jacques said. “We
have a president promoting intolerance and a young McGreevey growing up didn’t
have gay role models. No gay-straight alliance in his schools. The workplace
didn’t protect him. I take him at his word when he says he did not have
environments that made him feel safe.”
Eric Dezenhall, author of the novel “Shakedown Beach,” which is
about New Jersey politics, said that “old-line prejudice” in the
state’s politics regarding homosexuality is still apparent.
He calls New Jersey politics “very rough and very masculine,” represented
by the, “Three I’s” — Italy, Israel and Ireland, self-made
ethnic Americans who are a very different breed of Democrat. The environment
might not be as welcoming to an openly gay person, he suggested.
“They are not Teresa Heinz Kerry Democrats, they are Jimmy Hoffa Democrats,” Dezenhall
said. “There is an old world macho, immigrant culture that regardless
of whether you lean to the left or right, there’s a certain pride taken
in being a man’s man, in the old world sense of that.
“If a kid comes home from school and tells his parents that he was beaten
up on the playground, he doesn’t have a parent who says, ‘Isn’t
it terrible what’s happening to kids today.’ No, they say, ‘Well,
you better deal with the playground then,’’ he said.
Joe Crea can be reached at jcrea@washblade.com.
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