Alas and alack, of propriety that is, the New Jersey Governor (McGreevy) has resigned. Though breaking your marriage vows, albeit with another man, is not enough reason to cause any public official to resign. (I only have two words: Bill Clinton.) The reason is more likely because he has held the highest rank in an incredibly corrupt state government. I mean what do you expect from the homeland of John Gotti, and the Sopranos? Okay, so the Sopranos is fake and Zack Braff, Bruce Willis, and Anne Hathaway are all from there too, but so is Danny Devito... and he scares me, though not as much as that short guy from the Lethal Weapon series. I think those two just fell short of the height requirement to become a mobster...
Anyway, the reason he resigned is likely due to the fact that the 'object of his affection', (Cipel: who is now claiming he was harassed and not in an affair with the Governor) was installed as the Advisor on Homeland Security. A $90,000 per year job, and was given a raise of $20,000 after three months in that position. Because Cipel is not a US National, instead he is a Israeli national, he could not be given the clearance needed to hold the position. (It can take 3-6 months to run a thorough background check, in case you were wondering about the time discrepancy, and McGreevy likely tried to pull strings after Cipel was denied the clearance.)
Now I understand giving people you know jobs: I had given plenty of jobs at ITS due to nepotism. But have I given out manager positions? Have I given out jobs that have to do with HOMELAND SECURITY IN NEW JERSEY? Seriously, I can't believe McGreevy gave that job away; it's an incredibly important position which has to do with protecting people's lives. Whatever his reasons for wanting to give his boy-toy a good job, please give him one that has less responsibility than that...
McGreevy is stepping down, and not because he had a gay affair, but because he gave away an important job. He is also stepping down in such a way that it blocks the New Jersey citizenry from electing their own official; providing Richard Codey (Senator, D, New Jersey) the governorship. Let me just say this doesn't reflect well on the Democratic Party, especially since they probably wouldn't have any problems holding onto the state. The Republican Party doesn't have a strong hold over the populace and is fractured in said state. What it could cause is a spillage into the Presidential election; the populace, since it couldn't vote for its own choice of a new governor, would vote for the opposing party in the Presidential election thereby driving the electoral votes to GW instead of Kerry. Granted: this is only one possibility and not at all guaranteed. But I hope the Democratic Party carefully considers this decision before they go forward, especially since there is enough time to organize a gubernatorial election. By the way, why is it gubernatorial instead of governitorial? Seriously.
I hope you all learned something, even if it is just that it’s called a gubernatorial election… here, here, here, and here are links.