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Revision as of 18:19, 18 July 2006 by Epeefleche (talk | contribs) (→Decision to resign)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Jim McGreevey | |
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| File:Jimmcgreevey.jpg | |
| 52 Governor of New Jersey | |
| In office 2002–2004 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Codey |
| Succeeded by | Richard Codey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 6, 1957 Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Kari Schutz, divorced;(2) Dina Matos, separated |
James Edward "Jim" McGreevey (born August 6, 1957) is a United States Democratic politician. He served as the 52nd Governor of New Jersey from January 15, 2002 until November 15, 2004, when he left office three months after admitting that he had had an extramarital affair with a male employee. Upon publicly revealing his homosexuality on August 12, 2004, McGreevey became the first and, to date, the only openly gay state governor in United States history and the only openly gay man to serve as a head of government anywhere in North America.
Career
McGreevey was born in Jersey City, grew up in Carteret, and attended St. Joseph High School in Metuchen. He attended The Catholic University of America before graduating from Columbia University in 1978. He later earned a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1981 and a master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1982.
McGreevey was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1990 to 1992, when he became Mayor of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. He was re-elected mayor in 1995 and 1999. He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1993, simultaneously serving as mayor during the four-year Senate term. He first ran for governor in 1997, but was defeated in a close race (47%-46%) by the incumbent Republican, Christine Todd Whitman, with Libertarian candidate Murray Sabrin taking slightly over 5% of the vote. McGreevey ran for the governorship again in 2001 and won. His Republican opponent in that race was Bret Schundler, who began to campaign after Donald DiFrancesco dropped out of the race due to allegations of corruption.
After being elected to the governorship on his second try (on November 6, 2001), McGreevey inherited a $5 billion budget deficit. During his term, McGreevey fought tax increases for most residents of the state, although he did eventually raise the tax on cigarettes and increased the state tax rate for the higher incomes.
McGreevey, who is of Irish descent, was raised as a Roman Catholic in a socially conservative household. Due to his pro-choice stance on abortion, he stated as governor that he would not receive Communion at public church services. This decision came after a request by Archbishop John J. Myers of the Archdiocese of Newark for pro-choice supporters to not seek communion when they attended mass. McGreevey is committed to the separation of church and state, having said that he believes "it's a false choice in America between one's faith and constitutional obligation." McGreevey implemented a stem cell research plan for New Jersey, and heavily lobbied for the state's first domestic partnership law for same-sex couples, which he signed into law in early 2004. Because he remarried without an annulment from his first marriage, Bishop Joseph A. Galante of the Diocese of Camden said that he would refuse communion to McGreevey if he attended his installation as bishop.
Decision to resign
McGreevey's term was mired in controversy, from questions as to the credentials of several of his appointments to pay-for-play and extortion scandals involving many of his backers and key New Jersey Democratic fundraisers. On August 12, 2004, faced with reports that his former homeland security aide Golan Cipel would file a sexual harassment suit against him in Mercer County Court, McGreevey announced at a press conference that he was "a gay American," that he "engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man" (whom his aides immediately named as Cipel), and that he would resign effective November 15, 2004. Even though McGreevey's sexual orientation was reportedly well known to some New Jersey Democratic Party bosses, this announcement made McGreevey America's first openly gay governor. The Star-Ledger won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. After only eight months in office, Cipel resigned from his homeland security post amid persistent complaints about his lack of qualifying experience for the position. Cipel lacked any relevant prior experience that would warrant such an appointment and could not gain a security clearance from the federal government, given that he was not a U.S. citizen, but rather an Israeli citizen whom McGreevey met during a trip to Israel in 2000.
The timing of McGreevey's announcement enabled him to be the first to present news of the upcoming lawsuit to the media, and the decision to delay the effective date of his resignation until after September 3, 2004 avoided a special election in November to replace the governor. Doing so allowed the Democratic Party to retain control of the governor's office for at least another year, and avoided the prospect of a Republican candidate for governor running in tandem with George W. Bush, which could have helped Bush capture New Jersey's electoral votes. (Bush did not win New Jersey's electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election, but captured 46% of the statewide vote, compared to 40% in 2000.)
Almost immediately after McGreevey's announcement, Republicans and others in New Jersey called upon the governor not to wait until November to resign and instead to do so at once. An editorial in the New York Times read, "Mr. McGreevey's strategy doesn't serve New Jersey residents well. The state will be led by an embattled governor mired in personal and legal problems for three months." An online petition paid for by the "Scott Garrett for Congress" campaign was claimed to have drawn 10,000 signatures by Garrett's campaign manager on August 27, although it wasn't clear how many of the signatures were those of New Jersey residents.
On September 15, U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. dismissed Afran v. McGreevey, filed by Green Party lawyers Bruce Afran and Carl Mayers, dismissing their claim that the postponement of McGreevey's resignation had left a vacancy, thereby violating New Jersey residents voting rights. Brown stated that McGreevey "clearly intends to hold office until November 15, 2004. The requirement of holding a special election does not arise. The rights of registered voters are not being violated." Afran re-filed the same suit in Mercer County Superior Court and Judge Linda R. Feinberg heard arguments on October 4.
Fellow Democrat and New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey took office upon McGreevey's resignation and served the remainder of the term until January 17, 2006. At the time of McGreevey's resignation, the New Jersey State Constitution stipulated that the Senate president retains that position while serving as acting governor.
Some members of the media speculated that McGreevey used the affair with Cipel as the rationale for his resignation in order to deflect attention from numerous scandals that erupted during his term, including alleged bribery, fraud, and attempted interruptions in Congressional investigations. Conservative gay columnist Steve Yuhas, for example, wrote:
- "What we witnessed with McGreevey was not a courageous, honest or an unfortunate man finally coming to terms with the demons of his closeted life. What we witnessed was a cowardly attempt to deflect attention from a scandal-laden administration that gay organizations have decided to ignore because they can now add a gay governor to their list of openly gay public officials."
Personal life
McGreevey has one daughter, Morag, from his first marriage to Canadian Kari Schutz, which ended in divorce, and another daughter from his second marriage to Dina Matos, from whom McGreevey is now separated. McGreevey and Matos are in the process of divorcing.
In an excerpt from his forthcoming memoir The Confession, McGreevey describes the duality of his personal life before he came out as gay: "As glorious and meaningful as it would have been to have a loving and sound sexual experience with another man, I knew I'd have to undo my happiness step by step as I began chasing my dream of a public career and the kind of 'acceptable' life that went with it. So, instead, I settled for the detached anonymity of bookstores and rest stops -- a compromise, but one that was wholly unfulfilling and morally unsatisfactory."
McGreevey has been dating an Australian-born executive, Mark O'Donnell, since late 2005. The New York City-area media reported in April 2006 that the couple were planning to buy a house together in Plainfield, New Jersey.
McGreevey and O'Donnell regularly attend St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, which has a far more liberal attitude towards homosexuality than the Roman Catholic Church.
Trivia
- In 2005, television writer Dena Higley cited McGreevey's story as inspiration for her storyline on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, in which District Attorney Daniel Colson (Mark Dobies) murders Paul Cramer (David Tom) and Jennifer Rapport (Jessica Morris), and marries Nora Buchanan (Hillary Bailey Smith), to hide his homosexuality and advance his political career.
- McGreevey is writing a memoir, entitled The Confession, which will be published by ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins, in September 2006.
- McGreevey irritated radio shock jock Howard Stern when he renamed a rest stop on Interstate 295. Former governor Christine Todd Whitman had honored her promise to the DJ to name a highway rest stop after Stern if she won the gubernatorial election (Stern, in return, endorsed Whitman for governor).
- After Donald DiFrancesco's title was elevated from acting governor to governor retroactively in 2006, McGreevey became New Jersey's 52nd governor instead of the 51st.
References
- McGreevey Won't Take Communion in Public, Fox News, May 5, 2004
- Ex-Aide Says He Was Victim of McGreevey, The New York Times, August 13, 2004
- The Governor's Secret, The New York Times, August 13, 2004
- "Political Lies and Personal Lives: The difference between courage and expediency", San Francisco Chronicle, August 17, 2004
- Tales of Torment: First Look at McGreevey Book Newark Star-Ledger, May 21, 2006
- McG meets parents: Ex-N.J. Gov Down Under to visit boyfriend's kin, New York Daily News, April 30, 2006
- McGreevey Nests with New Lover, New York Post, April 10, 2006
- McGreevey Explores Homosexuality in Memoir 1010-WINS, April 28, 2006
External links
- Text of McGreevey's Resignation Speech
- A year after coming out, McGreevey still trying to find his niche (August 2005 article)
- James and Dina McGreevey Marriage Profile
| Preceded byActing Governor Richard Codey | Governor of New Jersey 2002 – 2004 |
Succeeded byGovernor Richard Codey |
- 1957 births
- Living people
- Columbia University alumni
- Gay politicians
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- Governors of New Jersey
- Harvard University alumni
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