The New Jersey gubernatorial soap opera continues to play out with accusations and bizarre claims that only tabloid coverage can do justice to. And they have.
In the first episode, Gov. Jim McGreevey stood beside his second wife and said, 'I am a gay American'—trying to obscure the fact that he had put his paramour on the state payroll at a hefty salary. Golan Cipel, the other man, claimed that he was heterosexual and the victim of sexual harassment by the Governor.
'When the pixie dust cleared, it became obvious that the Drumthwacket-eer [the name for the governor's mansion] had played the lavender card and blinded us to the fact that he'd apparently put gayroll on the payroll and used taxpayer money to fund dubious jobs for what was basically a glorified trick, whether real or imagined,' Michael Musto wrote in the Village Voice.
'The hilarious result is that Rosie O'Donnell is now living in sin, but McGreevey's marriage to his beard stands as law.'
It was enough to make another New Jersey gay elected official come out. 'It's not enough to say, 'I'm sorry, I'm a gay man,' to cover up' the scandal said Hudson County Freeholder Ray Velazquez in openly declaring his own sexual orientation. He represents a section of Jersey City.
'As a gay man who has worked his entire life and who feels an obligation to the gay community, I think it's best that he [McGreevey] resign his office immediately,' Velazquez said. 'Being gay does not give you the right to abuse your public office.'
'Golan is my Gay Ex,' screamed the New York Post as it splashed the ranting of New Jersey physician Michael David Miller across its front page Aug. 19. The fact that the doc was wearing only a pair of blue shorts and white socks as he rambled around his house with reporters was a clue to the credibility of the source that the Post duly noted.
Miller was arrested the next evening on charges of impersonating an FBI officer and causing false public alarm, said Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura. He had told others that he was a CIA agent and used his satellite dish to communicate with the agency. The man 'has serious problems with reality,' the sheriff said. He is being held for psychiatric evaluation.
'Never in my life have I had relations with a man, certainly not with this man [Miller],' Cipel said in a statement faxed to the Associated Press from Israel where he was in seclusion with his family. 'I am a lone person fighting against a monstrous well-oiled machine of lies and manipulation operating in a methodical manner against me.'
Cipel's New York attorney, Rachel Yosevitz, said the governor's representatives tried to intimidate her client several times, threatening to have the Israeli citizen deported. McGreevey's attorney denied the charges.
Cipel is likely to return to the U.S. this week to file sexual harassment charges against McGreevey. The statute of limitations to do so expires the end of August.
Another player, Charles Kushner, plead guilty to tax violation and hiring a prostitute to blackmail his brother-in-law on Aug. 18. The wealthy developer gave more than a million bucks to McGreevey's campaign, so it was mere chump change for Kushner to hire Cipel when he first moved to New Jersey, and help him land another job when he left the administration.
The political vultures circled, with many Democratic leaders joining Republicans in urging McGreevey to resign before Sept. 2 so that a special election could be held to fill his seat.
Jon Corzine, who bought a U.S. Senate seat by spending about $65 million of his own money on the campaign, declared his interest in running for Governor. But McGreevey told the Senator he was staying until Nov. 15, and Corzine declined to play hardball.
