McGreevey should resign immediately

[Christine]

McGreevey, resign now!

Posted: August 13, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern



By Kevin McCullough



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© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Gov. James McGreevey owes it to the taxpayers of New Jersey to resign today – not on Nov. 15.

McGreevey has consistently put the well-being of New Jersey at risk. Thursday's pompous campaign-like stump speech was aimed more at homosexual activists practically begging for a job rather than a heartfelt act of redemption to reconcile him with the voters.

The immediate reaction of the New York Metro and Tri-State Media was one of pathetic measure. Nearly immediately the governor was termed "brave," "heroic," "courageous" and "inspiring." Even as he exited the room where he had just delivered his agenda-driven diatribe – where in the course of it he confessed to betraying the marriage vows he took before God to be faithful to his wife – he received thunderous applause.

McGreevey was undeserving of that applause on many levels.

To be faithful to one's wife is no easier for the heterosexual than the homosexual. But McGreevey's biggest issue is not his illicit, homosexual, adulterous affair. The announcement of the affair and the flurry that comes with it is primarily designed to draw sympathy from the public and take the spotlight away from the growing issues related to McGreevey's mismanagement of the state he was given stewardship of.


With a list of scandals that would fill pages, let me just summarize by stating there is more to his resignation than meets the eye.

Consider this: When McGreevey's assumed lover in the matter was hired as the state's security czar, it came with cushy benefits. A six-figure salary, a room on the second floor of the statehouse, and a governor who was constantly pressing Washington for more money were just some of the perks. Golan Cipel, the man at the center of this issue was named by McGreevey over the objections of state legislators and even voters' concerns. In fact, sources close to the governor are now saying he greatly exaggerated the anti-terrorism credentials of the Middle Eastern-born Cipel.

Given that New Jersey was where one of the 9-11 planes originated from, given that the current threat warnings included a building that had been cased in New Jersey (the Prudential building) – not to mention the number of ports New Jersey possesses – one would think McGreevey would have vetted his security czar closely.

According to a sexual harassment lawsuit to be filed shortly by Cipel, perhaps McGreevey did vet him ... a little too closely.

Nonetheless Cipel served as security czar at the behest of McGreevey, but was never able to win the confidence of the feds in the Homeland Security department to even allow him clearances to take federal briefings on such matters. Of course, New Jersey taxpayers were right to ask: "What are we paying him for then?"

When Cipel resigned a few months back, citing "personal reasons," he went to work for Charles Kushner. Kushner is a major Democratic Party fund raiser – his clients have also included Charles Schumer and John Kerry. Kushner is now indicted on corruption charges that feds allege involved the governor in a crooked land deal with a New Jersey farmer triggered by references to Machiavelli in private conversations.

Add to all of this the fact that McGreevey has now selectively manipulated the system so as to not allow New Jersey voters to elect a different governor in this election cycle and you begin to sense the corrupt hands of state Democrats in the mess as well. (If he were to resign at any time before Nov. 15, elections could be held Nov. 2 and begin a new term.)

Voters should not allow these "Torricelli-like" tactics to again be used to thwart the objective will of the New Jersey voter. The voters of New Jersey have a right to elect the man who represents them in the Senate, in Congress, and in the governor's mansion. If necessary, New Jersey voters should march on the state capital every day until McGreevey – whose approval rating before the announcement today was 37 percent – decides to leave.

Something stinks in Trenton, and it has little to do with the governor's proclivity for male sexuality. He has left the state vulnerable, has trounced on the voters' concerns for safety in this age of terror, and is an embarrassment to the voters of New Jersey.

Resignation is expected. Nov. 15 is unacceptable!


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Kevin McCullough is heard daily from 1 to 4 p.m. EST in New York City on AM 570 WMCA, and in New Jersey on AM 970 WWDJ. Additionally, you can read his daily postings at The KMC Blog. For information on how to bring "The Kevin McCullough Show" to a station near you, call Dave Armstrong at 201-298-5700.

[Christine]

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Saturday, August 14, 2004



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My truth, your truth

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Posted: August 14, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern



By Katie Wright



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© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey's resignation Thursday for an extramarital homosexual affair was shocking. But it really should not have been. Gov. McGreevey said, "My truth is that I am a gay American." It is the governor's truth that that he is gay, that there is nothing wrong with being gay, and that he cannot help it. It is his truth; it doesn't have to be yours. You see, we all have our own truths now, and they can all be different because we are all different. My truth may be that homosexuality is wrong, and according to that truth Gov. McGreevey is wrong. But Gov. McGreevey's truth holds that homosexuality is just fine and it is right for him. So Gov. McGreevey is right. But I'm right, too. We are both right even though we disagree on what is right.

There is something terribly stifling about this kind of thinking, which is unfortunately becoming very prevalent in this day and age. People such as McGreevey, who believe that all truth is relative, are denying that such a thing as truth exists. The very phrase, "my truth" mocks the meaning of the word truth. Truth is fact; it is unchangeable. The scheme that any certain person can have their own truth is a lie. Anyone can have their own version of the truth, anyone can deny the truth, but no one can possibly have their very own unique truth, not even a governor.


What is stifling about the idea is that if each person has their own special truth, there is nothing to argue about, there is no wrong or right, there is no reason to correct someone or try to change his thinking. If we were all as passive about truth as the gay-rights groups demand us to be, no one would say anything. We would be very stifled indeed.

Not only is the idea of relative truth stifling, it is also flawed, especially in the case of Gov. McGreevey. Why did he resign? This is an elected governor who did what was right under his own set of laws, who stuck to his truth. More than that, he got out in the open, told everyone his truth, and apologized to his wife. Wait a minute. Why did he apologize to his wife? He apologized to his wife because of those conscience pangs that told him having an extramarital affair was wrong. But it was not wrong! When he had the affair, he was simply abiding by his truth that homosexuality was right for him. To not have the affair would be to deny his truth. Apologizing for the affair denied his truth and exposed a major flaw in the idea of relative truth.

McGreevey's way of thinking is both stifling and flawed. But worst of all, it holds an imminent danger wherever it goes. What if someone decides one day that his truth is that homosexuality is right, an extramarital affair is right, and murdering his wife is right? He might be sentenced to prison or put in a mental institution. But the question will remain: Who are we to impose our truth on someone who was simply following the dictates of his truth? Whose truth is really true?

In any case, Gov. McGreevey has started down a dangerous road with no warning signs. Because when one lets go of truth – real truth – the questions start and the answers are a lie.



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Katie Wright is a conservative writer and campaign consultant who lives in Wilmington, Ohio.




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[katie]

All I heard was that the guy was gay, of course all I did was read the headline about it in the paper.

[Christine]

The 'I'm a gay American' defense

Posted: August 17, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern



By Dennis Prager



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© 2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey's resignation statement was brilliant.

Threatened with a sexual harassment lawsuit by his alleged male lover, having appointed him, a thoroughly unqualified man, as homeland security adviser at a time when America – in particular, the New York metropolitan area – is threatened with horrific terror and with any number of other instances of corruption already revealed and more likely to come out, Gov. McGreevey saw the future and realized he had to resign from office.

But the way he did it was a masterstroke. He turned opprobrium into compassion.

He did it with one sentence: "I am a gay American."


On the face of it, it is irrelevant to whatever wrongs he may have committed against his state, his wife or his religion. But he did so because he knew it would immediately deflect attention from his actions to his sexual orientation.

And then he would receive at least as much understanding and compassion as condemnation.

Why?

Because the moment he announced he was gay, people assumed he did what he did because a homophobic society forced him, a homosexual, to live a fraudulent heterosexual life.

Who then could blame him? If society forced you, dear heterosexual male reader, to live with a man all your life and deny yourself the physical love of a woman, wouldn't you, too, eventually crack under the pressure and make love to a woman?

That is how at least half the country thinks about McGreevey now: "Well, he was wrong, and sure, he shouldn't have given that man a six-figure-a-year job advising the governor of New Jersey on the life-and-death issue of security, but let's be decent here. The guy's gay, and he's been living with a woman all his adult life."

Moreover, the country – or at least its liberal half, which includes the leading news media – has a different standard for homosexual and heterosexual sins. Heterosexual men who have many partners are condemned as womanizers; homosexual men who have many partners are largely ignored. There are no "manizers."

When Massachusetts gay Congressman Barney Frank confirmed, as reported by the Washington Post, "that he paid Stephen Gobie for sex, hired him with personal funds as an aide and wrote letters on congressional stationery on his behalf to Virginia probation officials," and that Gobie ran a gay prostitution service from Congressman Frank's apartment, it meant nothing to his voters or to most of the country. Imagine, on the other hand, if a heterosexual politician had such a relationship with a call girl who ran a prostitution ring from his home. The man would have been forced to resign in a week.

So, Gov. McGreevey knew exactly what he was doing when he announced, "I am a gay American." In addition to eliciting compassion, he was appealing to the double standard the country holds on behalf of gays – and striking a blow for same-sex marriage. That is why, as the New York Times reported on its front page, McGreevey's "precisely worded bombshell line – 'I am a gay American' – was strategically devised with the help of a national gay rights organization the governor had consulted."

What makes the assertion even more manipulative is that it may not even be true.

The odds are that the governor is not homosexual, but bisexual.

On the assumption that having been married twice he has had sex with at least two women, and on numerous occasions, it is quite likely he was able to perform sexually with them – presumably in a way that did not arouse their suspicions.

How is this to be explained? Aren't we repeatedly told by gay spokesmen that a homosexual man can no more enjoy sex with a woman than a heterosexual man can enjoy sex with a man?

Either this assertion is false or Gov. McGreevey is not "a gay American."

The odds are therefore overwhelming that Gov. McGreevey is a bisexual who prefers men.

But if he had announced he was bisexual, he would have received far less sympathy, because unlike homosexuals, bisexuals do have a choice.

We have come a long way from society unfairly condemning homosexuals' perennial fear of blackmail to a time when announcing one is a homosexual is a sympathy-gaining tactic.

And for those who believe that society unfairly pressures men to marry women, I suggest asking Mr. McGreevey this: "If you could do it all over again, would you have never made love to a woman, never married and never had the two daughters you have?"

Yes, society pressures men into marriage, and admittedly, some men, not only gays, should not marry. But without that pressure, far fewer men would marry. Just as McGreevey may have always preferred sex with men, most heterosexual men married to a woman would prefer sex with a succession of women to sex with only one. Marriage demands of all men that their sexual nature not be fully expressed. It does so for society's sake, for the sake of children, for women's sakes, and, yes, ultimately for men's sakes as well. Admittedly, such an idea is foreign to those who believe that sexual self-realization is the highest personal value.

No politician should have to resign from office because he committed an infidelity. But gay politicians should be held to the same standards as straight ones. Otherwise, "I am a gay American" will continue be a great defense, even when it may not even be true.


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Dennis Prager, one of America's most respected and popular nationally syndicated radio talk-show hosts, is the author of several books and a frequent guest on television shows such as Larry King Live, Politically Incorrect, The Late Late Show on CBS, Rivera Live, The Early Show on CBS, Fox Family Network, The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes.

[Christine]

Despicable coward
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Gov. McGreevey is a scoundrel and a coward. His resignation has as much to do with his sexual activity as weapons of mass destruction have to do with why we are in Iraq. He has put the people of New Jersey and beyond at great risk in order to promote a personal relationship.

Four months after 9-11 and anthrax poisonings, McGreevey chose to pass over former FBI Director Freeh for the newly created director of Homeland Security for his unqualified paramour. Given the world we live in, no job was more vital to insuring the public's safety. McGreevey's decision was to select Cipel – perceived as some type of Mossad operative when, in fact, he was a poet – boggles the mind. How does he explain to the victim's families that a poet was more qualified than the former FBI director?

But, as we have learned, the choice was not due to gross incompetence, but rather to reward a personal relationship. As a result, he betrayed and endangered the general population for personal gratification. How low an individual is he to have been so derelict in holding the public with such contempt?

Commended for his courage by "coming out," he in fact, brought more pain upon his family. Didn't they suffer enough in privacy or did he have to drag them out to be window dressing for his farewell speech? The agony his parents were going thru was heart wrenching – did television and millions of people need to see this as well? Why did he place his wife into such a gut-wrenching position, forcing her to "put on a happy face"? He was not courageous in coming out, he was a despicable coward who continued to inflict pain on his family in order to exploit them for personal gain.

As for his sexuality, he was not hounded out of office by voters or public opinion. Whether society accepted it or not was never to be determined. Rather, he used the excuse of his lifestyle to cut and run. The real reason was not an affair, but, to cover up the failure of the most basic duties of his office: to protect and preserve.

McGreevey's final act is to place in the office of governor a man not elected, thus depriving the voters their constitutional rights. He should be so lucky to merely resign – jail should be his punishment for recklessly abdicating his responsibility and placing the public in harm's way.

Brian C. Greenberg

[Christine]

Sources say McGreevey's top donor to plead guilty on Wednesday

By JEFFREY GOLD
Associated Press Writer

August 17, 2004, 9:02 PM EDT

TRENTON, N.J. -- A federal official said a top donor to Gov. James E. McGreevey is to plead guilty Wednesday in a case involving allegations that he had a prostitute seduce a government witness.

The plea by Charles Kushner is to be taken before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark, an aide to the judge said Tuesday. A federal official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the hearing would be for a guilty plea.

Kushner is charged with conspiracy, obstructing a federal investigation and promoting interstate prostitution.

Messages seeking comment from Kushner lawyer Benjamin Brafman were not immediately returned.

Greg Reinert, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, said federal prosecutors would have a news conference following an 11 a.m. proceeding in front of Linares. Reinert declined to say more.

McGreevey's spokespeople and lawyer did not immediately return calls. McGreevey has not been charged in the scandal.

Kushner, a real estate developer, was accused July 13 of hiring a prostitute to have sex with his own brother-in-law, who was a cooperating witness in an investigation into whether Kushner violated campaign contribution laws and committed tax fraud.

Prosecutors said Kushner ordered the sex act videotaped and a copy of the tape sent to his own sister, the witness' wife.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

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