Initial discussion on talk shows and cable news of New Jersey
Gov. Jim McGreevey’s resignation has rapidly devolved to a single
question, or rather on a pair of opinions. No, he shouldn’t have
resigned because he was gay. Or, being gay had nothing to do with
it, he hired his gay lover for a $110,000 state position for which
that man was unqualified — corruption, ergo, gone.
McGreevey was being blackmailed. Just as attempted blackmail,
and dithering over whether to make the payoff, was at the heart of
Watergate and of Nixon’s resignation, McGreevey didn’t give up the
game until he was forced to turn evidence of Golan Cipel’s attempt
to shake him down over to state investigators.
Here are the key paragraphs from the New York Post’s
August 13 story. The first is the lead — it’s inexcusable to
miss it:
“New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey stunned the nation
yesterday by announcing he is resigning because he is gay and had
an extramarital affair with a man who aides said tried to blackmail
him for up to $5 million.”
Further down in the story we get to the nut of the matter:
…Channel 4 quoted a federal law-enforcement official
as saying Cipel tried to extort $5 million from the governor.
A senior McGreevey political adviser said that three weeks ago,
Cipel tried to blackmail the governor by threatening to file a
sex-harassment suit.
“A demand was made for millions of dollars,” the adviser said.
“Unless these monies were paid, the governor would be exposed to
charges of sexual harassment and worse. Therefore it was turned
over to appropriate law enforcement.”
The adviser said a lawyer for Cipel “indicated that should the
money be paid, Cipel would disappear until after the 2005
election.”
“A second source, a high-ranking member of the McGreevey
administration, said Cipel made several threats about a suit and
demanded “an exorbitant sum of money to make it go away.”
There were widespread reports that Cipel planned to file the
sex-harassment suit today.
It appears from this report that McGreevey dithered for three
weeks about those blackmail threats. That puts him in exactly the
same position as Nixon.
For a government official to be under the influence of
blackmail, as McGreevey obviously was, is completely impossible. It
puts that official in another’s power — for just about
anything.
In addition, if he could be blackmailed over a gay affair, it
matters that the governor was gay. It matters a whole lot.
That cable shout shows should overlook this may be
understandable — even though it appears on the front page of one
of the major newspapers in the biggest city in America. But that
right-wing talk and conservative blogs should overlook it is simply
beyond belief.
That old crime reporter, Boston talk show host Howie Carr, must
be on vacation. And in fact, he is.
