McGreevey: A Commentary

August 30, 2004

I was just finishing this month's article when the news trickled in that New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey was making a major announcement and would probably resign. Like many of us here in New Jersey, and elsewhere, I watched the news conference live. And like many of us here in New Jersey who knew or had met the Governor, the news was no surprise.

I do not pretend to know the Governor, but as a politically active member of the GLBTI community in New Jersey, I had the privilege of meeting him on several occasions, most recently at a brunch at the Governor's Mansion celebrating first domestic partnerships in the state. The Governor is a warm man and his heart is generally in the right place, particularly when it comes to equality.

I thought the Governor's admission, I am a gay American, was particularly brave of him. How many of us could handle coming out in such a public manner and do so with as much dignity? On the otherhand, his admission made the Governor's opposition to same-sex marriage seem hollow and hypocritical.

His former aide is, by every account I have heard over the last two years, an opportunist who took advantage of his relationship with the Governor. He was given several high-level government positions at the Governor's insistence, despite the fact that he was completely unqualified. When he became an embarrassment to the Governor's office, he was given jobs with two Trenton lobbying firms, both of which fired him for his incompetence. After attempting to blackmail the Governor, he has the temerity to threaten to sue for sexual harassment, playing the innocent, heterosexual led astray by a powerful man. I don't believe there is anyone in the State of New Jersey that buys into this man's story.

But Jim McGreevey is a flawed man in many ways, who was often led astray by people he trusted and by his own political ambition. Their actions reflected badly on him, giving the appearance that corruption was rampant throughout his administration. Several of his former aides and political acquaintances have been indicted and many people believed that the Governor could not survive another scandal. Many of us were heartened that the Governor's new chief of staff, a man for whom I have great respect, could keep the Governor insulated from these bad actors.

Then this bombshell hit and for most of us in the Democratic Party, it was the last straw. Make no mistake about this — Governor McGreevey didn't resign because he was gay, and he didn't resign because he'd cheated on his wife. He resigned because he abused his office for his own personal needs.

If there is a bright lining in this, it is the response of the people of my state. They are disgusted by the corruption, and by the Governor's betrayal of his wife, but almost without exception, they don't seem to care that he is gay. That says volumes about how far we have come, and opens the door to openly gay candidates running throughout the state.