Posted on 08/12/2004 9:15:38 PM PDT by goodly
(KRT) - Jim McGreevey met Golan Cipel during a goodwill tour to the Holy Land four years ago.
Yesterday, that relationship helped trigger the governor's resignation, people close to McGreevey said.
When they first met in Israel in March 2000, Cipel was a dark-haired, 31-year-old poet, a press aide for a midsize Israeli city, Rishon Le Zion.
McGreevey, 43, was the boyish mayor of New Jersey's sixth-largest city, Woodbridge, and the likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the next election.
The two men became quick friends.
That fall, Cipel (pronounced "sa-PELL") joined McGreevey's campaign for governor. Key fund-raiser Charles Kushner helped the Israeli citizen get a visa. McGreevey helped Cipel find places to live.
As a campaign adviser on Jewish issues and a Kushner company employee, Cipel drew little attention.
"Jim is a "mensch for all seasons," Cipel told the New Jersey Jewish News in a rare interview, using the Yiddish word for "person of honor."
After McGreevey was elected governor, he helped Cipel shop for a townhome near Trenton. Cipel brought McGreevey by to see it before he made the formal offer.
"He wanted to have a place that was in close proximity to where the governor was because he was a personal adviser on call 24 hours a day," the seller, Elaine Dietrich, later told the Newark Star-Ledger.
No one publicly questioned Cipel's role until January 2002, when the governor named him state homeland security director, a post created after 9/11. Reporters and Republicans began asking questions.
What experience did he have, beyond five years' service in the Israeli navy and work as a spokesman for the Israeli consulate in New York?
How could a foreigner obtain the necessary security clearances? Why wasn't Cipel forced to undergo the same background investigations required of other top appointees?
Cipel never confronted his critics publicly. But the governor's spokesman said he "brings a wealth of experience to the job, and more importantly, he also has the trust and confidence of the governor."
The scrutiny only intensified.
In early March 2002, Cipel quit.
Still, he kept his $110,000-a-year salary and remained a special adviser to McGreevey. Statehouse reporters kept querying the governor about Cipel's duties. One reporter noted that she called Cipel every day for four months without success.
By mid-August of that year, Cipel quit state government. He joined the public relations firm MWW Group as vice president in charge of its Israeli unit in New York.
McGreevey gave him a reference. "Mr. Cipel provided valuable input, critical thinking, and was of assistance," the governor said at the time, summarizing the reference.
When reporters asked about Cipel's work for the state, the governor's spokesman said, "He worked on a series of issues important to the governor." Asked what those issues had been, the spokesman responded: "That's all I'm saying."
Robert Sommer, executive vice president of MWW and a major McGreevey fund-raiser, told reporters at the time, "We're delighted to have him."
Cipel left MWW a month later.
He joined a Trenton lobbying firm, State Street Partners, founded by a close friend of the governor's, Rahway Mayor James Kennedy.
He lasted a few months.
McGreevey's office declined Thursday to comment about the governor's relationship with Cipel.
Cipel could not be reached for comment. In New York, reporters gathered at his Upper West Side apartment near Columbus Circle, where he lives on the 24th floor. Doormen told reporters to leave.
Several people close to the governor said Thursday that Cipel maintained a special relationship with McGreevey.
"From the beginning, the thinking was, who is this guy?" said one Democratic lawyer. "Where did he come from? Why did he get this special treatment?"
The lawyer said the announcement that the governor is gay - and reports that his lover was Cipel - surprised few who knew both men.
"I can't say the revelation was shocking," a prominent Democrat said.
Cipel's relationship with McGreevey soured soon after he left the state payroll, according to several sources close to the governor.
One primary reason is that Cipel believed that the governor should continue to help him find a job, two sources said.
This summer, Cipel's lawyer offered an ultimatum, sources close to the governor said.
It came in late July, shortly before McGreevey left for the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
The sources said Cipel sought a cash payment in return for promising not to file a legal action that would make public details of their relationship.
fter three weeks of discussing the problem with an extremely tight-knit group of advisers, the governor made his decision.
---
(Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondents Miriam Hill, Mitch Lipka and Wendy Ruderman contributed to this report.)
Also, guess who sponsored Cipel's visa -- Charles Kushner, McGreedy's fundraiser!
http://nytimes.com/2004/08/13/nyregion/13suit.html
Nice editorial by the Slimes there. I'm surprised that even they get what this is all about.
The Slimes fell just short of calling for McGreevy's immediate resignation and a new election. There may be hope yet.
Bingo.
Our friends, the MOSSAD.
I think they're going to wait to see how the polls go. If keeping McGreevey until November puts NJ in W's camp, they'll say it's time to go.
God, please, say it ain't so!!!
How contrived and desperate that assertion can be.
Now there's a right-wing/gay-Jewish conspiracy to disgrace Democrat politicians... (/sarc)
Whoever made this assertion needs desperately to take his/her meds right away.
For a minute there I thought they were going to say he committed extortion.
Har, matey! Whar's me cabin boy?
"Who the hell care about a gay governor. How does him coming out or resign affect me."
If, the NJ GOP had a set, (which they don't) they would raise bully hell about the scandal ridden governor not allowing an early election.
In other words, stir the shiite & imply that after the NJ Tortured Silly/Lountenburg crap, this is just more of the old samo, samo, of the democratic partie's MO.
Anything to make people doubt the dems is worth pursuing to the nth degree.
Where have we heard this before?
Yes it is so!
The Neocons sent one of their secret agents [a Jewish one no less] to take it up the rump in order to vanquish McGreasy.
That's the latest VRWC conspiracy being floated over at DU...no doubt someone at LP will run with it next.
bttt
I am a Redneck Ninja Poemist. Poet's are always women or gay! So remember I am a RNP.
HAHAHAHAHA.
Contact Information
Street and Mailing Address
New Jersey Republican State Committee
150 West State Street, Suite 230
Trenton, New Jersey 08608
info@njgop.org
Telephone
(609) 989-7300
You should have some business cards made up.
Good idea.
Conspiracy Guy, RNP
Redneck Ninja Poemist
Done, and thanks for the Email addy of the NJGOP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.