In a stunning declaration, Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday and acknowledged that he had an extramarital affair with another man.
“My truth is that I am a gay American,” he said with his wife, Dina, by his side at a nationally televised news conference.
“Shamefully, I engaged in adult consensual affairs with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony,” the twice-married father of two said. “It was wrong, it was foolish, it was inexcusable.”
The Democrat said his resignation would be effective Nov. 15. Senate President Richard Codey, a Democrat, will become acting governor and serve out the remainder of McGreevey’s term, which ends in 2006.
McGreevey, 47, refused to answer questions at the Statehouse news conference. He said that “it makes little difference that as governor I am gay,” but added that staying in office and keeping the affair and his sexual orientation secret will leave the governor’s office “vulnerable to rumors, false allegations and threats of disclosure.”
Two sources close to McGreevey, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man involved in the affair was Golan Cipel, an Israeli poet who worked briefly for the governor as a homeland security adviser despite having no security experience.
A senior McGreevey political adviser said Cipel threatened McGreevey several weeks ago that unless he was paid “millions of dollars,” Cipel would file a lawsuit charging the governor with sexual harassment. The source said a lawyer for Cipel “indicated that should the money be paid, Cipel would disappear until after the 2005 election.”
The second source, a high-ranking member of the McGreevey administration, said Cipel made several threats about a lawsuit and demanded “an exorbitant sum of money to make it go away.” Cabinet members and administration officials learned of that threat Wednesday night, the official said.
Scandal after scandal have marred McGreevey’s tenure following a series of questionable appointments, including Cipel’s, who was named to his post without any background check or official announcement.
Reporters questioned what Cipel did to earn his $110,00 salary, and in March 2001, he was reassigned to a “special counsel” job.
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Compiled from news services and edited by Curt Wagner (cwwagner@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
