I’m through with the past / Ain’t no point in looking back
Fan-fricking-tastic. Jim McGreevey, no longer governor of New Jersey, is being courted by gay advocacy groups. And why not? All that alleged bad behavior was months ago:
Michael Adams, spokesman for the gay civil rights group Lambda Legal, said McGreevey’s tarnished 35-month tenure would not taint his star power within the gay populace or among other special interest groups. “The reality is, we’re a country that believes in rebirth and people moving beyond prior mistakes,” Adams said. “Any community would look to ‘What kind of contribution are you willing and able to make moving forward?’ not ‘What have you done previously?'”
The writer of the Advocate piece is only too happy to let bygones be bygones, too:
Some personal concerns are on McGreevey’s upcoming short list: tending to his ill parents, helping his wife and daughter move into their new house in Springfield while he takes up residence in Rahway, and taking a little time off. “A lot of healing has to go on in that family,” said Lesniak. “They want to use this to get closer as a family, not farther apart. There was a barrier before because of the governor’s denial of his sexuality.”
As a Georgetown-educated lawyer with a master’s in education from Harvard, McGreevey has an enviable educational pedigree. But he also comes from a modest background–his father was a Marine drill sergeant, and his mother a nurse–so whatever he winds up doing, “he has to earn a living,” said Lesniak. “The governor has never thought much of his economic welfare and he’s not a flashy guy, so it’s not high on his priority list. But it has to be a consideration.”
Mom was in one of the caring professions! Dad was a man in uniform! Jim and Dina are moving into separate houses to draw closer as a family! And Sean is about to ram chopsticks into his ears and swirl them around to take the edge off the pain of reading this crap.
I mean, am I just imagining this, or is McGreevey accused of corruption? Did he or did he not have some guy he thought was a hottie in charge of anti-terrorist policy for a state with a population of 10 million, when the man wasn’t a citizen and didn’t have any security clearance? I’m glad McGreevey’s finally being honest with himself, and if his family’s willing to stick by him and make an arrangement that accommodates everyone as much as is possible, I think that’s great. But gay advocacy is a public responsibility. Not as weighty as a governorship, no, but a duty to serve the interests of others nonetheless. It does not need another self-serving blame-shifter.
BTW, every link to “First Person” commentary on the front page of the Advocate site goes to some wanker piece about post-election depression. Has to be seen to be believed, but you can be excused for not bothering.
I’m diagnosing you with clinical Masochism. Why are you even reading the Advocate? I’m motivated to find their figures on circulation. It can’t be that high.
That website’s not worth the HTML that generated it. (I’m still searching for a web-analog for ‘not worth the paper it’s printed on.’)
Oh, and can I borrow those chopsticks when you’re done?
They’re a little messy. Maybe the sig oth can find some forks with nice, narrow handles in your kitchen.
I swing through the Out and Advocate sites every few weeks when I think of it just because there’s often an opinion piece that sneaks in with a little bit of dissent from the party line, and that’s nice to see. I wasn’t going to comment on the McGreevey article–hell, I wasn’t going to read beyond the first few paragraphs. But something about the complete and utter amorality of it sucked me in.
Well. Just so long as he doesn’t take ALL of the best furniture from the house he shared with his wife.
Sounds like one of the lamer Will & Grace laugh lines, huh? (“Where do you think you’re taking that Eames chair, bitch?”
“Just because you’re the mother of my child, that doesn’t mean you can talk to me that way!”)
Seriously, the thing that’s so icky to me isn’t McGreevey himself–I mean, News flash! Joisey politician accused of corruption! I hold him accountable for his own conduct, but I can empathize with his feeling trapped.
The thing that gives me hives is the way the gay press and PAC’s can do that cynical populist number about how they identify politically with the poor and minority groups and we’re all oppressed and we need to mobilize together and blah blah blah…and then some social-climby A-list type with conventional political status comes along, and they just fall uncritically in love–forget the fact that his ethical conduct is questionable. It’s really stomach-churning.
He certainly is a sympathetic character.
He cheated on his wife, committed fraud against the people he took an oath to protect and represent, lied about the lover because he was going to blow the whistle on him (making him the scapegoat for his fraud), and I’m supposed to be happy for the guy because he “came out”?
He didn’t come out. He was thrown out. And, when he resigned he chose to resign at a time when he could make sure the Democrats had a better chance of filling his seat.
What about his wife in all of this?
It seems that “coming out” is being used to cover a lifetime of corruption, dishonor, and selfishness.
This scumbag needs to see the inside of a jail cell, for about 20 years.