Gay New Jersey governor accused of harassment

By Christopher Lee and Michelle Garcia
The Washington Post

DANIEL HULSHIZER / AP New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey announced Thursday that he is gay, had had an adulterous affair and would resign.

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Allen Lowy, a lawyer for Golan Cipel, a former homeland-security adviser to the Democratic governor, said McGreevey had attempted "to make my client a double victim. First, the sexual harassment by the governor. And now he's a victim of an attempted smear campaign."

Micah Rasmussen, McGreevey's spokesman, said, "These are completely and totally false allegations from a person trying to exploit his relationship with the governor. The matter has been referred to federal authorities for investigation."

McGreevey, 47, announced Thursday that he would step down Nov. 15 after disclosing he had engaged in an adulterous affair with a man — confirmed by a former aide to be Cipel — that left the governor vulnerable to "false allegations and threats of disclosure." With his wife at his side, McGreevey also declared that he was "a gay American."

Shortly before that admission, the governor and his representatives contacted the FBI to complain that Cipel had sought money from the governor and threatened to file a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment, said Democratic Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, a friend of McGreevey's and vice chairman of the state Democratic Committee.

"The governor and his attorneys reached out to the FBI," Cryan said. "This is an extortion threat."

An FBI spokesman in Newark would not confirm the complaint and declined to comment. A person close to McGreevey said Cipel, 35, had demanded $5 million.

Lowy denied that Cipel demanded a payoff.

"In fact, it was Mr. McGreevey's representatives who, without provocation, offered a sum of money to make my client go away," he said in a statement he read to reporters. "But money was never the ultimate goal in my client's search for justice."

Lowy said Cipel felt "somewhat vindicated" by McGreevey's decision to step down. "What the future will hold with regard to filing a lawsuit or any other action is something only time will tell," he said.

Republicans yesterday called upon McGreevey to leave office immediately rather than in November, saying a chief executive entangled in a sex scandal could not do his job properly.

	AP, 2002 Ex-aide Cipel is thought to have had an affair with the governor.

"It is my suspicion that there will be more awkward stories in the days and weeks to come — stories that will make it very difficult for him to carry out the duties of his office," state Republican Chairman Joe Kyrillos said.

Under the state's constitution, Senate President Richard Codey, a Democrat, will serve in both his current job and as acting governor until the completion of McGreevey's term in January 2006. If McGreevey were to leave office before Sept. 3, however, a special election must be held — leading to speculation that the governor delayed his departure chiefly to help his party hang on to power.

"It's unfortunate that they (Republicans) are playing politics with what was a very intense, personal decision," said Juliet Johnson, a McGreevey spokeswoman. "The decision he made he did ... in order to ensure a smooth and orderly transition. ... It's absurd to think we would be able to hand over the reins in a matter of days."

Republican lawyers told The Associated Press that they were considering legal options that would force McGreevey to resign earlier, but added that pursuing impeachment was not one of them.

McGreevey has other political problems. Federal prosecutors in Newark in recent months have indicted two men who are top fund-raisers for him. McGreevey's name appears 83 times in the indictment of one of the men, and Cipel recently worked for the other fund-raiser.

McGreevey met Cipel in 2000 during a trade and political trip to Israel, according to news accounts and a person close to McGreevey. The future governor was the mayor of Woodbridge, N.J., and Cipel, a native of Israel, was a spokesman for the mayor of a city near Tel Aviv.

Cipel came to the United States several months later to work on McGreevey's gubernatorial campaign and was paid by the Democratic State Committee. McGreevey also helped Cipel get a public-relations job with developer Charles Kushner, a major campaign fund-raiser who is one of the men now under indictment.

As governor in 2002, McGreevey named Cipel to be his adviser on homeland security, a job that paid $110,000 a year. But Cipel, a published poet and former officer in the Israeli navy, left state government after news organizations and state Republicans repeatedly raised questions about his qualifications. Cipel soon landed jobs at two politically connected businesses.

Political analysts said questions about McGreevey's close relationship with Cipel have persisted for years, but few people expected it would lead to the kind of political meltdown the governor experienced this week.

Meir Nitzan, the Israeli mayor who introduced Cipel and McGreevey, told The Associated Press that he did not know whether Cipel was gay, instead describing him as a "straight-laced" man who was, by all appearances, heterosexual.

The question now is whether McGreevey can survive the controversy long enough to remain in office until November.

"I think he can, unless the anticipated lawsuit is so seamy that the governor would be clearly distracted from performing his duties," said David Rebovich, managing director of the Rider Institute for New Jersey Politics. "If it turns out that the daily coverage resembles the Kobe Bryant trial, then I think Jim McGreevey would take a deep breath and say, 'I simply have to get out of here. It's not good for me, and it's certainly not good for New Jersey.' "

Washington Post researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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