The McGreevey Democrats
EDITORIAL, Wall Street Journal Online, August 16, 2004
Though much of the media seem eager to pretend otherwise, the real scandal consuming New Jersey isn't Governor James McGreevey's sexual preference.
It's how Mr. McGreevey and fellow state Democrats are timing his resignation to cheat voters out of picking a replacement as soon as possible.
Obviously, being gay today isn't something that a politician need apologize for or be ashamed of.
What's shameful is the way Mr. McGreevey is manipulating the political calendar.
If there's a need to leave office at all, there's a need to leave immediately.
Delaying the Governor's resignation until November 15 is nothing short of a Democratic trifecta:
The party avoids a special election to replace Mr. McGreevey in the fall; it guarantees that another Democrat -- Senate President Richard Codey -- serves out Mr. McGreevey's term; and it uses its incumbent status to grease the wheels for U.S. Senator Jon Corzine's expected gubernatorial bid next year.
If Republicans behaved this way, John Rowland would still be Governor of Connecticut.
But Democrats in the Garden State believe the rules don't apply to them. They're not about to let some silly election law jeopardize the party's political power grip.
Two years ago, when ethically challenged former Senator Bob Torricelli was trailing in the polls during his re-election bid, the Democrats replaced him on the ticket even though the statutory date for doing so had passed.
Last year the party pulled the same post-deadline maneuver to keep Joseph Suliga's state Senate seat in Democratic hands after Mr. Suliga withdrew from the race in the wake of a well-publicized brush with authorities at an Atlantic City casino.
Which makes Mr. McGreevey's ploy just the latest example of the Democrats' indifference to how their methods corrupt the political process.
There's a pattern here, and if liberal journalists weren't so keen on turning the Governor into some sort of gay icon, they might notice it.
The McGreevey Administration's assertion that the November 15 date was chosen because "90 days allows for an orderly transition" doesn't even pass the laugh test.
Mr. Codey, who has held office since 1974, is one of Trenton's most experienced politicians.
He already knows how to find the men's room at the State House.
The Newark Star-Ledger reported Friday that national politics also played a role in the Governor's timing.
According to the paper, a campaign official for John Kerry told Mr. McGreevey's aides that the last thing the Democratic nominee needs in New Jersey, where Mr. Kerry now enjoys a double-digit lead in the polls, is an unpredictable special election in the fall "that could create a backlash against McGreevey and hurt the presidential ticket."
But the ultimate political casualties of the Democrats' tactics are the people of New Jersey.
It's hard to see how voters, who recently learned that al Qaeda terrorists were eyeing targets within the state, are best served by being shut out of the process for choosing the immediate successor of their Governor, whose alleged lover and homeland security adviser, Golan Cipel, quit amid questions about his qualifications for the position.
And every indication is that there's more muck to come. Mr. Cipel was also on the payroll of Mr. McGreevey's top political contributor and close friend, Charles Kushner, who was arrested in July and accused of hiring hookers to entrap federal witnesses.
Another McGreevey fund-raiser and friend, David D'Amiano, was indicted last month on charges of extorting $40,000 in cash and political donations.
The indictment revealed a secret recording by the FBI of the Governor, who wasn't charged, using the word "Machiavelli," which prosecutors said was a code word for the bribery scheme.
We'll stop here for space reasons, but you get the picture. Just as they pulled the switch to escape from the discovery of Mr. Torricelli's fund-raising schemes, now Democrats are using the cover of political correctness to disguise an old-fashioned patronage, and probable fund-raising, scam.
Meanwhile, for the next three months New Jersey is stuck in a holding pattern with a distracted, lame-duck Governor who has been less than forthcoming and has now decided to put partisan interests ahead of the state's.
The voters deserve better.
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