Notes From Out of the Blue . . .

Trochilus

[Trochilus]

Notes From Out of the Blue . . .

Greetings from New Jersey, a State which on Monday will shed Governor James McGreevey, who has single-handedly rewritten the book on personal and political recklessness, to the point that he is now obliged to resign in disgrace.

The Governor has been awash in examples of high-risk political behavior since taking office. Many of these have been well documented, including during the final run-up to his resignation Monday, November 15th, as in a recent Gannet compilation found at http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m110704c.htm.

But the Governor has also taken part in unacceptably high-risk personal behavior, the serious extent of which is only now becoming known as a result of one of his previous self-aggrandizing PR ploys, aimed at improving his personal political image. Here is a story you haven’t heard, but the facts are not in dispute. In February of 2003, a little over a year after he took over as Governor, the State and the region were experiencing a shortage of donated blood, during a snowstorm. The Governor decided to personally donate and to widely publicize his donation by posting a picture of himself giving blood on his website http://www.state.nj.us/governor/press_photos/images/030225bloodbig.jpg

along with a press release that specifically stated the picture showed him donating.

http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/governor/njnewsline/view_article.pl?id=1067

That was nice enough, except for one problem. The very specific guidelines of the American Red Cross specifically prohibit those who are at increased risk for becoming infected with HIV, from donating blood.

In pertinent part they read:

"HIV, AIDS Those who are at increased risk for becoming infected with HIV are not eligible to donate blood. According to the Food and Drug Administration, you are at increased risk if:

· you are a male who has had sex with another male since 1977, even once;"

Found at http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_557_,00.html

they also provide that a potential donor must:

"Wait for 12 months after close contact with someone who is at an increased risk for HIV infection. This occurs when paying to have sex, as a result of rape, or when having sex with an IV drug user."

What was not known publicly at the time, was that the Governor had been engaging in a pattern of high-risk behavior that should have precluded him from personally donating, which he knew but chose to ignore. In accordance with Red Cross practice, he specifically had to read the guidelines, and then sign a form stating that he was eligible to donate, and that he had not engaged in behavior precluding him from donating.

Yet, we now know he had engaged in at least one homosexual affair with a Israeli poet named Golan Cipel, a man who he had outrageously appointed the head of the State’s homeland security office just after taking office, four short months after 9/11. Cipel had absolutely no qualifications for the job, and was driven from the position as a result of press exposure.

In addition, the Governor reportedly had maintained an ongoing relationship for several years with a drug-abusing prostitute named Rosa, who we now know recently died of a drug-overdose in Philadelphia. Press accounts regarding his relationship with her only recently surfaced; in fact, they popped up just after this November’s election.

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-18/109981047644860.xml?starledger?ntop

According to the accounts, those around him have known about these liaisons and have acted repeatedly to cover up for him, including unlawfully paying for a trip for Rosa to go down to Disney World in Florida to get her out of the State just before the election for governor in New Jersey in 1997. McGreevey ran that year in a close election against Governor Christie Whitman, but lost a close race. He then ran again in 2001, this time successfully.

When McGreevey tried to appoint Cipel to the homeland security post, the press corps in New Jersey quickly focused on Cipel’s singular lack of qualifications for the position, and to some extent followed with interest Golan’s subsequent trail of failed jobs in the private sector after he left the $110,000.00 post. It was widely believed the Governor used his influence to secure those positions for Golan. But the press would not report earlier what was obvious to observers around the State House in Trenton; that the married Governor had surrounded himself with a host of singularly unqualified young men. Only after he resigned, did this become known through press accounts, one a story in the Record entitled “Big jobs: No experience needed.”

http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NTk3Njc4

This blood donation incident is really a microcosm of a pattern of bad behavior by Jim McGreevey. He could have simply said he did not feel well on the day of the donation and given himself an entirely legitimate “out.” Certainly reckless, as well as seriously endangering to the health of an unknown recipient of the pint of blood he donated, McGreevey’s behavior was simply inexcusable on any level. He is a lawyer with a Harvard education, but Jim McGreevey has now left a trail of political and personal actions here that defy reasonable explanation.

Trochilus

[mvpel]

Let's hope that when he went into the little booth, he had at least one shred of moral fiber to select the "DO NOT USE" barcode for his pint even if he'd lied all the way through the interview.

[Gibtx]

just a crook who used homosexuals as a scape goat... was an interesting tactic to ward off the MSM and all of them got and wink and nod..... he is clean .....

[HARBER]

Hey New Jersey and Federal Law Enforcement - It's high time to put this dangerous crook in prison NOW. By endangering the blood supply in New Jersey, McGreevey is almost as dangerous a criminal as a terrorist like Osama Bin Laden.

This is a subject that has to be talked about all over the country as soon as possible...like NOW!

[Trochilus]

Interesting observation. The only way to be sure would be to trace the records, which could be readily done because New Jersey, like other states, requires highly detailed records to be kept.

Under the New Jersey Administrative Code (NJAC) at section 8:8-5.1, is a requirement that, “[r]ecords needed to trace a unit of blood or blood component from its source to final disposition shall be kept for at least 10 years ….” And NJAC section 8:8-5.1(f)(2) specifically requires the ability to “trace a unit of blood or blood component by a sequential numeric or alphanumeric identifier from source (donor collection facility) to final disposition (for example transfused, shipped, autoclaved) ….

Finally, NJAC section 8:8-6.5(f) has a requirement that every donor “shall have signed a written statement confirming that: … (4) Blood or blood components shall not be donated for transfusion purposes by a person if the person has reason to believe that he or she has engaged in high risk behavior.”

So, the determination could be made.

[Trochilus]

MVPEL,

My apologies . . . I intended my response with the postings of the specific NJAC postings as a response to MVPEL's comment. But, the information is now out there! Thanks for his comments. Yes, I hope McGreevey did insert the "Do Not Use" message in the envelop. But it certainly seems to me that, even if he did, the misuse of the system and the waste of resources at a time of blood shortage is an outrage in itself.

Trochilus

[Trochilus]

The story hit the regular press, including Channel 3 KYW TV News in Philadelphia this evening. Here is the Gannett story, which was in the Camden Courier Post.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m111604d.htm

The story unfortunately downplayed the ex-Governor's intentional lie on the screening application, and does not focus on the fact that there is an incubation period between contraction of HIV and the ability to detect it in the donated blood. Even when donated blood is tested using Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT), there is a 10 day or longer gap, during which contracted HIV would not be detected. That fact continues to underscore the reason for the CDC's continuing policies regarding donation.

http://www.thebody.com/cdc/news_updates_archive/aug8_02/cleansing_blood.html

As noted in the above article posted on the CDC's public service HIV/AIDS Newsroom website,

"Since 1999, American blood banks using highly sensitive nucleic acid have tested for HIV in donated blood, cutting the transfusion transmission risk to just 1 in 2 million. The procedure works very well except when a donor gives blood up to ten days after becoming infected, as is believed to have happened in the Florida Blood Services case. Within that window there may not be enough virus in the sample for the test to detect."