McGreevey is gay...

[Aveirenses]

No really, he is.

He resigned from being NJ governer after revealing he was a gay-American.

The same day Bush wants to get rid of the IRS...

What a messed up day...

LONG ARTICLE, SORRY BUT I CANT LINK IT.
TRENTON, N.J. (Aug. 12) - In a stunning declaration, Gov. James E. McGreevey acknowledged that he had an extramarital affair with another man and announced his resignation Thursday. ''My truth is that I am a gay American,'' he said.

''Shamefully, I engaged in adult consensual affairs with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony,'' the married father of two said. ''It was wrong, it was foolish, it was inexcusable.''

The Democrat said his resignation would be effective Nov. 15.

McGreevey said he would step down because his secret - both his sexuality and his affair - leaves the governor's office vulnerable.

The former suburban mayor took office 2 1/2 years ago, and despite inheriting a $5 billion budget deficit, he steadfastly refused to boost income taxes for most New Jerseyans, instead raising taxes on millionaires, casinos and cigarettes.


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But he has been dogged by several scandals involving fund-raising.

Among those caught up in recent scandals were his first chief of staff and former counsel; a top Democratic fund-raiser and former high school classmate; and real estate developer Charles Kushner, McGreevey's biggest campaign contributor, who was charged with trying to thwart a federal campaign-finance investigation by luring a grand jury witness - his own brother-in-law - into a compromising position with a prostitute and sending video and photos to the man's wife.

McGreevey would be the second governor to resign in weeks, following the resignation in June of Connecticut GOP Gov. John Rowland amid corruption investigations and threats of impeachment.

McGreevey rose from suburban mayor to state chief executive by his tenacious pursuit of party politics, maintaining a power base days after he narrowly lost to Republican Christie Whitman in 1997.

McGreevey never truly stopped that campaign until he won in November 2001, beating Republican Bret Schundler by 15 percentage points.

Born in Jersey City, McGreevey graduated from Columbia University in 1978. He earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1981 and a master's degree in education from Harvard University a year later.

After briefly serving as a county prosecutor, McGreevey became a lobbyist for a pharmaceutical company, then a state government official. While in the Legislature, McGreevey voted for Gov. Jim Florio's $2.8 billion tax hike that prompted a voter rebellion against Democrats.

 

[Virgo]

that's some funny sh*t

 

[$teauA]

Only in America

 

[QuikZilver]

I wonder who blackmailed him into resigning from his job.

 

[ishan1990]

what a screwed up country i live in


funny as hell, but screwed up

 

[Elder]

I thought it was cool to be proud to be gay?! Why resign over it while standing next to your wife???

Strange dude... but yet another dem to cheat on his wife.

 

[Vagegast]

Okay, this dude is so f*cking weird. This is from a Time article a few weeks ago:

So, Did You Get My Gift?
A top Democratic donor is accused of entrapping his brother-in-law — and sending his sister the tape

By JOHN CLOUD

One must work hard to resist the Sopranos comparison. If the show has taught anything, it's that beneath the garish veneer of suburban New Jersey family life steams a sewer of betrayal. But the comparison is actually unfair — to the Soprano clan. Bad as he is, Tony would never pull something as bumbling — and psychosexually crude — as what Charles Kushner, a real estate impresario and one of the Democratic Party's most generous political donors, is alleged to have done to his sister.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie filed a complaint last week charging that Kushner, whose company's holdings are said to be worth $1 billion, recruited a prostitute to seduce a man who used to work for him. The complaint says the man's wife was cooperating with investigators examining whether Kushner broke tax and campaign-finance laws. Kushner, prosecutors say, wanted leverage over the ex-employee, so he not only hired the hooker to have sex with the man but had their congress videotaped. The woman approached the target in December by saying her car had stalled. The next day, the complaint says, he met her at the Red Bull Inn in Bridgewater, N.J. They had sex as a hidden camera rolled.

Kushner held on to the tape for several months. The complaint doesn't accuse him of trying to blackmail the ex-employee during this period (although, in an unnecessarily ribald aside, the complaint notes that Kushner watched the video and "expressed satisfaction"). In May, for reasons that defy immediate explanation, he sent a copy of the tape to the man's wife, who turned it over to federal law enforcers. Although the complaint omits the other players' names, it wasn't long before they were leaked: the wife is Kushner's sister Esther. The ex-employee is Kushner's brother-in-law William Schulder.

Neither of the Schulders returned calls, but Benjamin Brafman, Kushner's lawyer (past clients: Michael Carlos*son, P. Diddy), said his client would be exonerated. He also sent a statement saying Kushner — who could face 25 years in prison on charges that include promoting prostitution and obstruction of justice — is "widely known as a very generous philanthropist."

That, at least, is true. Kushner's cash has built a school, inner-city programs and several political careers. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, employees of Kushner Cos. gave more money ($82,000) to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton from 1997 to 2002 than those at any other firm. (A Clinton spokeswoman says the Senator will return Kushner's latest contributions if he is convicted.)

In October 2002, Kushner made a single donation of $1 million to the Democratic Party. Kushner is also the biggest financial backer of New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, who was only a mayor when Kushner began writing him checks in the '90s. "The amount of money he raised is unusual for one person," says Ingrid Reed of the Eagleton Institute of Politics. "He's not a household word...but he was a respected, well-known figure among the elite."

Of course, you can't link the beneficiaries of Kushner's largesse to the current allegations. U.S. Attorney Christie, a Republican who has not ruled out a race against McGreevey next year, was careful to say last week that none of these charges "has anything to do with Mr. McGreevey." But many people — including Kushner's brother Murray; Robert Yontef, a former Kushner accountant; and at least one state senator — have raised questions about Kushner's political donations over the years. In a February 2003 suit, for instance, Yontef alleged that Kushner asked him to conceal use of the firm's holdings to make campaign gifts. He also said Kushner gave money in partners' names without their knowledge.

At the time, Kushner's spokesman said Yontef was just a disgruntled ex-employee. But Christie's complaint last week says Kushner actually tried to have another prostitute entrap Yontef, who didn't take the bait. Theodore Moskowitz, Yontef's lawyer, says his client had no idea the woman's proposition had been orchestrated: "He thought it was funny. He called his wife on his way home." Yontef's suit against Kushner was dropped earlier this year as part of a settlement. But last month Kushner agreed to pay a $508,900 fine to the Federal Election Commission for various mistakes.

Despite his earlier troubles, Kushner's friends were stunned by last week's lurid charges. "I have only seen the righteous side of this man, the side that gives an enormous amount to charitable causes," says former Newark city council member Cory Booker, who accepted $15,000 from Kushner in his unsuccessful bid to become Newark mayor in 2002. Booker says he sat shivah with Kushner recently after the death of his mother Rae, a Holocaust survivor. Booker saw only a grieving son, not the venal plotter who would mail motel-room porn to his sister.

While Kushner awaits arraignment, New Jersey debates McGreevey's future. Besides the Kushner affair, the Governor is coping with the resignation of his commerce secretary amid charges of a sweetheart loan offer as well as the indictment of yet another of his fund raisers, David D'Amiano. (D'Amiano has pleaded not guilty to charges of influence peddling.) The Governor said of Kushner last week, "I just pray for him and his family." But if McGreevey doesn't begin to follow through on promises to clean up New Jersey politics, he may be praying for a new job.

— With reporting by Charlotte Faltermayer/Newark

Is Kushner McGreevey's secret boyfriend?