p45fan

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Why isn't anybody angry about this whole McGreevey business?

For those of you who may not know, James McGreevey, 51st Governor of New Jersey, announced that he will resign his office on August 12th after publicly announcing that he is a "gay American" and had "engaged in adult consensual affairs with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony". A Roman Catholic himself, he did admit that while being gay was not the purpose of his resignation, the "rumors" and "false allegations" that would inevitably plague the Governorship.

Now this brings up wuite a few interesting points.

First of all, the most famous quote taken away from all this mess was "I am a gay American". Now most Americans would probably not take the time to read the real reasons of his resignation. Nor would that really matter. What he has essentially done is Martyr himself as a victim of what inevitably is the stereotypical Republican homophobe, forcing himself out of office just for his sexual preference.

Secondly, McGreevey, while announcing his resignation almost TWO WEEKS ago, will not formerly relinquish his office until November 15th, after the Presidential election. Again, he is martyring himself, implying that he will "stay the course" until the partisan politics (which also are implied to be demonizing to specifically Republicans) of the Presidential elections boil over. Now, please correct me if I am wrong, but if he does indeed wait until November 15th, the people of New Jersey will have as their new governor NOT a man elected by the people, but a replacement Democratic governor for the remainder of the term, as stated in New Jersey law.

I've spoken way too much. I would like to hear what other people have to say about this.

BackdoorJesus

I don't see a problem with him hanging in there till Nov 15th - his constituents voted in his (Democratic Party) administration...let his replacement be of the same administration - that's what they voted in originally, ostensibly for a full term.

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p45fan

But wait, I wasn't aware that people were voting in parties so much as they were voting in people (well, at least in a nice optimistic theory).

The point I'm trying to make is that the people of New Jersey should at the very least be allowed to voice their opinion on who will be the next governor, which (again, unless I'm mistaken - and that's very possible) can happen under New Jersey state law if he were to resign today. All I'm trying to say is that New Jerseyans should have the right to say who the exact person is that they want as their next governor, not the person that the Democratic Party wants as their next governor.

KwikiMart

While that sounds right, if some sort of even like this happened to the Republican party (not a gay governor heh) but some sort of even that would threaten holding hte office, they would do the same as the dems are doing now, no way, no how would they be the noble party.

As a side note even if that did happen, there would be nearly no chance for a republican to take the seat, most likely the current leader of the senatorial election committe(or whatever) a real popular guy would win.

p45fan

Wait wait wait, just because the Republican Party wouldn't do the right thing either, which I agree would probably not happen, that in no way excuses McGreevey from not making the democratic decision to let the people of New Jersey choose their governor. And yes, the people of New Jersey would most likely choose a Democrat as their next governor as well (as they have for quite some time I believe).

What we're talking about here is DEMOCRACY. How many concessions can you give to the Democratic process before it's so corrupt (and New Jersey is pretty damn corrupt) that God knows what the consequences will be? Do you get a sense of what I'm saying here? You can't just not allow there to be a democratic process, one that in this case should by all means be going on, only because we all have a good idea of how it's going to play out!

kgilly

The only problem I have witht his whole thing is that he is forcing his "sexual preference" into the spotlight instead of the sexual harrasment allegations. Maybe this is the fault of the media, but sexual preference I do not see has any play any politics. He should've kept his preference to himself to begin with and stated simply that there were allegations of sexual harrasment. The "Gay" part of this would've come out by itself. There was no reason to state he was a "Gay American", except to try to add a spin off of his allegations.

Also I see your point about letting the people vote for who they want, but isn't that what they just got done doing? He was elected and has an administration. According to New Jersey law that is the way things will be done. Why should tax payers spend more money for another election? Another will come soon enough, if they do not like who is in office he will be voted out, otherwise he's still there.

mxpxbigd285

remember, that we're talking about the "democracy" here that gave the presidency to the man that lost the popular vote by over 500,000 votes.

Dawlface

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I dont understand why being a "gay American" has anything to do with keeping a political office. Is there some law that says that a politician cannot be gay? I dont see how sexual preference affects governing or why he felt he had to make a public announcement that he is gay...personally, I think he might have just been looking for an easy way out and figured this was the best way to do it for some reason. I wonder what is going to happen to his marriage though...

p45fan

Everything you all have said essentially explains why I'm so angry, and why I think everybody else should be so angry. By admitting he was gay, McGreevey put a slant on the real reasons he is leaving office, and will leave and be remembered rather as a champion for gay rights rather than the abuser that really is fueling his resignation.

As for your comment, mxpxbigd285, think of the benefit the Democratic Party might have if they took the high road and, as I'm sure you believe, showed the Republicans how to conduct a fair and democratic election.

And I'm still not convinced that just because a party was elected, they can have at their discretion the ability to put whoever they want in office because of the circumstances of the previous governor's resignation.

Jimi

When JFK was assassinated, he was replaced. When Lincoln was assassinated, he was replaced. When someone is voted into office, and they leave office, for whatever reason, they are replaced with someone of the administration. Whether a person is voted into office or not, for their ideas, which is hardly the case, the party that said person is affiliated with is voted into office, therefore, the person is replaced with someone in that party. However, it's not the person who is generally voted into office, but the party.

p45fan

True, true, true.

But you miss my point. Here's a quote taken from a CNN article on the matter:

"His resignation will take effect November 15, and State Senate President Richard Codey, a fellow Democrat, will serve the the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2006.

If McGreevey's resignation had taken effect before September 15, state law would have required a special gubernatorial election on November 2."
- "New Jersey governor quits, comes out as gay" (August 12, 2004)


So you see, in THIS case there SHOULD be an election, there SHOULD be a Democratic process. But by waiting until November 15th, the Democratic party gets to avoid all of that.

And THAT makes me angry.

kgilly

Dude do you have plans on assasinating McGreevey? jk

p45fan

Ha my apologies for getting so worked up

mxpxbigd285

would've, could've, should've

welcome to the two party system of american politics. if a member of a party has the chance to keep his party in office, serving his best interests, then of course hes going to take that chance.

the day either democrats or republicans put fairness ahead of party affiliation is the day that the entire united states political system collapses.