Why McGreevey Should Resign Now

[LRB]

Why McGreevey Should Resign Now

New Jersey newspapers are calling for Gov. James McGreevey (search) to resign — not on Nov. 15, but now. Today. Yesterday, if it can be worked out.

What's the big deal, you say? He already confessed he's gay, had an affair with someone who worked for him, cheated on his wife with a man, and quit the governorship of a very important state. Why run him out on a rail this afternoon?

Here's why…

First of all, keeping McGreevey around for two months has the effect of keeping the governor's job in Democrats' hands. That seems a bit much considering it was Democrats who knew what McGreevey's been up to the last two years, and didn't do anything about it until he was about to be outed by his boyfriend.

But more than that, McGreevey should be under criminal investigation and removed from office now because he turned over (or attempted to turn over) the state's homeland security adviser job to his boy toy, the Israeli Golan Cipel (search).

It didn't work because the love struck governor didn't realize his Israeli boyfriend would have to pass U.S. security checks. The feds refused, and the Israeli had to get another job where security clearances weren't an issue.


For the governor of the state to be turning the state's homeland security apparatus to his gay love has to be a crime, even in New Jersey where Tony Soprano has yet to have a serious run-in with the law.

Don't forget that one of the Sept. 11 planes was hijacked from New Jersey. Some of the hijackers even lived in Patterson, and the blind sheikh was from Jersey City...

There are some serious homeland security issues in New Jersey, and McGreevey and the Democratic machine were content with that job going to the governor's gay lover as a way to keep them close together.

Come on... this is as bogus as it gets. McGreevey should leave the governor's office now, and he should be in the nearest courtroom to make a plea.

That's My Word.