New Jersey Gov. (and Jersey City native) Jim McGreevey’s surprise press conference a week ago – to announce that he would resign due to ramifications of a possible homosexual affair – drew shock from local officials, but different opinions over whether he should resign before this November.
McGreevey said he would not leave until Nov. 15, thus preventing an election for his post until the following year. That means that state Senate President Richard Codey will take over as acting governor this November, and will retain that seat until a November, 2005 election determines the new governor. Richard Codey will also retain his Senate president seat.
However, last week, local Democrats met to urge McGreevey to resign by Sept. 2. They hoped to run U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, who lives in Hoboken, for the seat.
As of Wednesday, former state Democratic leader Ray Lesniak, a state senator and Gov. McGreevey’s most vocal supporter, said the governor would not resign earlier than Nov. 15.
“As far as I’m concerned, the governor doesn’t have to resign at all,” Lesniak said during a telephone interview. Under provisions in the state constitution, a resignation made 60 days or more before the next election (this Nov. 2) would require the seat to be filled by a public vote. A resignation scheduled after Sept. 2 would mean Codey will stay.
Wednesday, McGreevey issued a written statement issued to USA Today saying he would not step down early. Lesniak said this stand was firm, and that McGreevey is following the same steps taken in 2001 when then Gov. Christine Todd Whitman resigned to take a cabinet post with President George W. Bush.
“This has to do with the orderly transition of government,” Lesniak said. “We are following the Constitution, which says McGreevey can pass on the reins of government to Senator Codey. We are following what has been done before and it worked.”
Lesniak disputed critics that suggested this could lead to instability, claiming that a rush to a November election would cause more instability than this transition.
“When Donald DiFrancesco took over from Governor Whitman, he had to handle the 9/11 crisis,” Lesniak said. “He handled it extremely well. The public will be well-protected by provisions set by the state Constitution.” Lesniak said McGreevey also set the Nov. 15 resignation date in order to finish up policies the governor had already started.
“This requires meeting with Acting Governor Codey and his staff and to establish a smooth transition of power,” he said. “This will affect dozens of departments and thousands of people. Regulations have to be implemented, and we need to be careful. Senator Codey’s staff will have to be brought up to date on what is going on.”
A coalition of Democrats including Hudson County Democratic Chairman and State Sen. Majority Leader Bernard Kenny (who lives in Hoboken) had been seeking an early resignation.
Lesniak expressed disappointment in Kenny and other Democrats for not rallying around McGreevey “I think their behavior is disgusting,” he said. “Those Democrats are simply showing their own selfish hunger for power at the governor’s expense.”
Lesniak, however, heaped praise on the handful of Democrats statewide who remained loyal despite possible later party retribution. When asked whether he faced retribution for his own support of McGreevey, Lesniak laughed. “Jim McGreevey and I have nothing to lose in this stance,” he said. “We’re not going to give into a pack of party bosses on this.”
Corzine said last week that he does not want to be governor this year, in any case.
The dark side
Lesniak also said last week that he believed McGreevey has been treated unfairly.
“Yes, he made a mistake by giving this fellow a job,” Lesniak said, referring to Golan Cipel, an aide to McGreevey who has accused the governor of sexual harassment. In a controversial move two years ago, McGreevey appointed Cipel to a state $110,000 security post. Cipel, a then-31-year-old Israeli national whom McGreevey had brought over, couldn’t even get federal security clearance.
“But the position wasn’t the head of homeland security, as the Republicans and most of the media are claiming,” Lesniak said. “[Cipel] was to serve as the Governor’s Liaison to Homeland Security. It was a public information position. I do not believe that was cause for the governor to resign. I admit it could be used against Governor McGreevey in his re-election, but not as a grievance. This matter has been distorted in the press. The story is that this man has been [allegedly] extorting the governor and that instead of giving into the extortion, the governor went public. People should be supporting the governor.”
McGreevey had announced in a 4:30 p.m. press conference a week ago Thursday that “I am a gay American” and “I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony.” While many applauded the 47-year-old governor’s candor, speculation soon turned to the uglier impetus behind the revelation. Various newspapers reported that the man with whom McGreevey was referring was Cipel. Sources said Cipel was planning to file a sexual harassment suit against McGreevey, which might have spurred the governor’s announcement.
Cipel has since said that he is not gay and that McGreevey made advances on him. He has not yet filed a lawsuit, but may still do so.
Lesniak disputed reports last week that McGreevey’s refusal to resign sooner could negatively effect the presidential election, which pits incumbent Republican President George W. Bush against Democratic challenger John Kerry.
“I don’t see how this will affect the election,” Lesniak said. “Kerry will carry the state with double digits, just the way Al Gore did (in 2000) and Bill Clinton did (in 1996) before him.”
Reactions
After the announcement a week ago Thursday, local politicians weighed in with their reactions.
Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-32nd Dist.) said Codey’s retaining his Senate president seat “will make Codey a more powerful governor for next year.”
Political observers were concerned about the deeper ramifications of McGreevey’s decision.
County Executive Tom DeGise was reached a few minutes after the conclusion of the press conference. He described it as one more “crazy moment” in a sequence of unbelievable events with huge impacts on the political community.
“I kept thinking, how much crazier can things get?” he said. “Ever since the resignation of [former Hudson County Executive Robert] Janiszewski [in September of 2001 due to a corruption investigation], we have had things happening like this. Who could have predicted Glenn’s [Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham’s] death? Then we had the two freeholders put out of office [due to corruption charges], and now we have the governor resigning. It’s like a cheap novel.”
DeGise, however, thought McGreevey handled the situation well and showed courage.
“But I can’t help waiting for another shoe to drop,” DeGise said. “That the governor is a gay American does not disqualify him from being governor. Not in a liberal state like New Jersey. Even having an affair should not force him to resign.”
Jersey City Mayor L. Harvey Smith expressed shock at the announcement. He said Democrats in the state who are looking to jockey for political position should look at the larger picture in November when there’s the election for U.S. president, and that there should be harmony amongst the state’s Democrats.
But former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, who has announced that he will run for governor in 2005, saw a possible plot in the announcement.
Schundler, in a statement, alluded to the possible suit to be brought by Cipel.
“Why did Golan Cipel decide to bring his charges now?” he asked. “Is it because the Democratic bosses who run New Jersey got to him somehow, and are using him to clear Jim McGreevey out of the way so they can run Jon Corzine for governor next year and keep themselves from losing control of the most powerful governor’s office in America?”
He added, “Indeed, if Jim McGreevey’s resignation is simply the opening act in a drama that was pre-scripted by the leaders of the Democratic party, then these leaders have saved their place in history as the worst scoundrels ever to run a state.”
Helped Hudson
Despite the nefarious implications, local officials lauded the decisions McGreevey has made in the past. He has fought for embryonic stem cell research to help find cures for genetic disorders. He passed the state’s Domestic Partnership Act, and appointed an official at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission who helped Secaucus have more of a say in local zoning.
“Through Susan Bass Levin [the chair of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission], the governor gave us back home rule,” said Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell. “We have more say in our own destiny. Governor McGreevey has been very good to Secaucus, and I hope this will continue through future administrations.”
Hoboken Councilman Tony Soares, who suffers from a form of dwarfism, and local political consultant Paul Byrne both lauded McGreevey’s stance on stem cell research.
Catherine Hecht, the senior co-chair of Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach, said that she was sad that McGreevey was resigning, since she liked him as a governor – not just for the Domestic Partnership Act, but for his policies on the environment and other issues.
She also said that it was courageous of him to announce that he is gay, but she was sad to see him do this in the situation that unfolded. She said she has invited McGreevey to participate in the annual Jersey City Pride parade in the past three years, but he had not attended. He said that this year, he had sent word that he couldn’t attend because he had other engagements on Saturday, Aug. 28.
Secaucus Mayor Elwell said critics of the fact that McGreevey waited to resign are wrong. “We should not force an election for governor in three months” while there is a presidential race going on, Elwell said.
Even Hudson County Republican Chairman Jose Arango was willing to call McGreevey’s personal revelation “courageous.”
“It took an extremely strong man stand up the way he did,” Arango said. “It was a tough decision.” Arango said he knew McGreevey prior to McGreevey becoming governor.
“When I was in the Assembly, he was lobbying,” he said. “I have always seen him as an honorable man. I think this is a very sad moment.”
Assemblyman Manzo said the resignation came as a surprise.
“The news blew me away,” he said. “It was a bolt out of the blue.”
Manzo said he has seen an improving relationship with McGreevey since January, and credited the governor with supporting some key environmental legislation that would outlast this news.
Albio Sires, the Assembly speaker who is also West New York’s mayor, said, “Governor McGreevey’s resignation announcement is a stunning development, and it took extraordinary candor to take responsibility for his actions and resign his office. Hopefully, today’s announcement will not take away from the significant, positive policy achievements of the past couple years.”
Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna was circumspect. “Obviously, my heart goes out to him and his family,” he said. “Right now, I’m in a little bit of a shock, but I’m sure that the party will move on. I don’t believe that [his extramarital gay affair] was the only reason. I know there was a lot of strain on his family and this will cause strain on his political life. I give him credit for doing the best thing, because obviously, it wasn’t the easiest thing for him to do.”
Hoboken Mayor David Roberts said, “I feel very sorry for him and his family, and I hope that he will find some peace with himself. He has been very helpful to Hoboken.”
Assemblywoman Joan Quigley said, “Not only was he a good friend and a great political leader, but I still think of him as a friend and as a political leader. What his sexuality is, is of no matter to me. I was concerned with one of the statements he made, when he said that the situation put such intolerable pressure on him. Seeing his family there with him, they showed how much they loved him. And the people in the room crying, they showed how much they loved him as well. I just hope the people of New Jersey show that they still love him, too.”
Staff writer Ricardo Kaulessar contributed to this report.