New Jersey's Governor resigns

[Pam]

Yesterday Gov. McGreevey resigned from his office as governor of NJ due to an alleged attempt on the part of his gay lover to extort $5,000,000 from him. Golan Cipel had been given a job by McGreevey as Homeland Security Advisor, a position for which he had no qualifications. I really don't care what McGreevey's sexual orientation is but, as a New Jerseyan, I am stunned that he would appoint someone to such a strategic position of importance. Story here if you haven't already heard:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/12/politics/main635631.shtml

[Tonya]

Yeah, that is b.s.! And what in the heck is his wife holding his hand for?! He cheated on her.

[micki76]

Originally posted by Tonya
Yeah, that is b.s.! And what in the heck is his wife holding his hand for?! He cheated on her.

And with another man, at that! :eek:

[Tonya]

You know why...she's gonna be laughing herself to the bank. It's her way out. lol.

[RICHARD]

Hmmmmm,

His first job is to take care of the people that elected him..

The personal and political sides of this story mesh.....It was
unethical for him to appoint this guy as his aide. He did have an affair that led to his resignation-the affair is between his wife and him, the appointment is a public matter...

Also, he was being blackmailed and would have been subjected to a harrassment/rape charge-it was reported that the assistant was ready to file those charges...

He had the bits to admit he did wrong in public and he stated that he was resigning to protect the governor's office.

Would any other official resign had they slept with a woman???
:confused:

It happened to a gal named Hillary once, and she stayed "by her man"........she was lauded as being 'brave' and 'willing to forgive'

I think we should afford his wife the same courtesy.

The points of the story overlap as far as public, personal and political points go.........

I personally don't care WHO he was sleeping with.....MY conern would be who got the job and how did they get it...

[Logan]

Pam, I was thinking of you when I heard this yesterday. What a mess, and what an embarassment to your state. I don't understand the wife thing, either, but the cynical part of me agrees with Richard. She's going to hold hands all the way to the bank. :(

[RICHARD]

Originally posted by Logan
I don't understand the wife thing, either, but the cynical part of me agrees with Richard.

ME? CYNICAL???:eek:

Just think of Donna Hanover, Giuliani's wife.....she didn't leave the Mayor's house until they kicked her out!!

And you have to take into consideration that some spouses MAY want to have it that way-- or don't care.:confused:

We won't know until the book come out....


A final thought...

See what happend when you don't pull up your zipper???

I only wear button fly jeans....I won't get into trouble!;)

[Logan]

Originally posted by RICHARD
ME? CYNICAL???:eek:

Just think of Donna Hanover, Giuliani's wife.....she didn't leave the Mayor's house until they kicked her out!!

And you have to take into consideration that some spouses MAY want to have it that way-- or don't care.:confused:

We won't know until the book come out....


A final thought...

See what happend when you don't pull up your zipper???

I only wear button fly jeans....I won't get into trouble!;)

Silly! I wasn't calling you cynical (although I know it sounded like I was). I meant me! I'll have to think of another way to express that "agreement".

[Tonya]

Originally posted by RICHARD

And you have to take into consideration that some spouses MAY want to have it that way-- or don't care.:confused:

That is true, Richard. One of the guys I work with has a marriage like that. Confuses the heck out of me, but whatever! :confused:

[Pam]

Once again the real casualties in these types of affairs (whether heterosexual or homosexual) are the family members.

We all know that finding a job for one's friend is not all that unusual. What I find to be the real issue here is putting his "friend" (I guess you could call his lover a friend) into such a serious position who was ill prepared for the task. Couldn't he just have given him a job sweeping floors or something. :rolleyes: Only kidding, and I guess it is no joking matter really.

A former state senator quoted in today's paper said "This is not about the governor being gay. It's about a governor abusing his power and misusing taxpayers' money by hiring his friend, Golan Cipel, who was not even a citizen, to a high position."

Obviously he wasn't too smart either. This type of relationship would easily lend itself beautifully to extortion. Some men don't think with their brains. Sorry, Richard, this is not directed at you of course. :p

Whatever becomes of McGreevey he has only himself to blame. You reap what you sow.

[Lady's Human]

McGreevy has been in trouble for corruption of one sort or another since he was elected to the governor's office in NJ. He is damaged goods, can't be re-elected (too much baggage regardless of his peccadilloes/sexual preference) so he resigned. The interesting thing is that he resigned effective Nov 15th, which under NJ Law leaves the governor's office to the speaker of the house, a fellow democrat, rather than resigning immediately and letting the people decide who is going to run the state. This gives the speaker of the house a leg up in the next election, as he can run as an incumbent, with all of the advantages that gives a candidate. His extracirricular activities in the bedroom really have little to nothing to do with his resignation. He was sunk politically before this, the lawsuit by the person he had an affair with just brought the matter to a head earlier than otherwise would have been the case.

[heinz57_79]

Originally posted by micki76
And with another man, at that! :eek:

CHeating is cheating... it doesn't make it any worse because he cheated with another man. His wife is smart for "supporting" him, tho. She'll get a nice payoff in the end.

[micki76]

Originally posted by heinz57_79
CHeating is cheating... it doesn't make it any worse because he cheated with another man.

I don't quite see it that way. If a man cheats on his wife with another woman, then he's made a bad choice and maybe isn't a great guy. If he cheats with another man, that means that most likely (if she had no inkling that he was bi/gay) their whole relationship was based on a huge lie to begin with. Obviously he didn't "turn" gay, he knew he wasn't straight and led her to believe he was. Not saying that's the case here, we'll never know, but IMO that's a little different than an affair with another woman.

[Soledad]

I have a feeling his wife has known for a while, if not from the get go.

The whole situation is weird, but I don't think he resigned just because of his sexuality. More will come up on this later.

[catlady1945]

His boyfriend was given a very sensitive position for which he was not qualified - at over $100,000 per year.

This is his 2nd wife also. I wonder what makes these gals show up at press conferences standing behind their men (Kobe's wife got the big ring so I get her motivation).

[gini]

Gosh, gals, we all seem to be thinking that these women/wives are sticking it out only because of a monetary reward.

What was she going to do? Stay home - draw the drapes?

I think the press would have had a field day with that approach and would have driven her mad, hounding her on her front lawn.

There are children involved too -

I just don't think we have the whole story about what the "wives" think.........and we probably won't unless as Richard says, there is a book.

I can tell you that I was sick to death of seeing the tape over and over on the various channels.

[catnapper]

Watching TV, and a commercial was just on for New Jersey's travel bureau, and at the end of the commercial, the ex-governor was on the screen with his wife and child showing how great Jersey is for families! Snicker, giggle... don't you think they *might* want to pull the ad and re-work it? ;)

[catlady1945]

Still think it's pretty undignified to show up when your hubby has humiliated you in public. Stay home and let him be humiliated. And I don't have a problem with the wives benefitting monetarily after that kind of crap.

[Logan]

The conservative "gossip" on the radio, today, says that he might just decide to stay in office because the opinion polls have actually gotten better in his favor!!! :confused: This has nothing to do with his sexual persuasion, overall, but the poor leadership decisions he made!!!! YIKES!!!!!

[catlady1945]

Lord, are people starting to feel sorry for that sleezebag? They should save their sympathy for someone who deserves it.