Truck Stop Governor

McGreevey as Governor of New Jersey -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I don't love politicians, but after listening to "The Confession" by New Jersey's ex-governor Jim McGreevey, I particularly detest this one. Don't detest him for being gay or even sleazy, not at all. I detest his extreme worship of power, glitz, and material position. I detest him for his crass superficiality and his complete using of other people for his own naked ambition.

As a boy at St. Joseph's High School in Muchen, he was already mesmerized by the power of parish priests. He was all the more thrilled to be selected as an altar boy; from there on his life seemed to be all about kissing up, getting promoted and getting elected. His career prior to the governorship included jaunts as prosecutor's assistant, New Jersey assemblyman, governor of Woodbridge and state senator. All his talk of environment and stem cell research seems hollow in retrospect -- his biggest concern was always about assuaging the right union bosses and power brokers for his next election foray.

McGreevey knew from childhood that he was gay, but suppressed and hid what he knew would be a political roadblock. Thru his stint as a Columbia student and working at a prosecutor’s office, he frequented truck stops and adult book stores to quench his desires. Rumors about his sexuality dogged him his entire career, and there was always a threat of blackmail or public disclosure. In fact, when he ran against Christine Todd Whitman in 1997, they already had "the dirt" on him but chose not to use it. Whitman won that election, but barely. McGreevey ran again in 2002 against another candidate -- won the governorship that time. His term was cut to two years by the scandal however.

His first wife, Kari, left him in 1995 after three years of a sham marriage. She never questioned his sex preference, but did pick up on McGreevey's extreme superficial photo-op treatment of marriage and children. His second wife, Dina, did suspect he was gay well before the publicity hit. Perhaps that was because McGreevey was secretly taking phone calls and meeting with his Israeli lover, Golan Cipel, every day. Golan himself appeared to be a man of ambition, hoping to reach new levels of influence thru McGreevey. McGreevey did appoint Golan to a new NJ security office for which Golan wasn't qualified and could not even get security clearance. This move is partly what blew open the whole story; the things we do for "Love".

The main love that McGreevey has is self-love. Nobody can break up that partnership. McGreevey is now living with a new Australian boyfriend and attends an Episcopal church. One has to wonder where he'll channel his enormous energies for lying, using and manipulating -- he's still in the legal profession so there must be a way.

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