McGreevey Recalls His
Career as a Lie
Wrapped in Ambition
By DAVID W. CHEN,
NYTimes on the Web, May 24, 2006
TRENTON, May 22 — Former Gov.
James E. McGreevey was so determined to climb up New Jersey's political ladder
that he hid the fact that he was gay by masquerading as a womanizer, according
to an excerpt from his memoir, scheduled to be published in September.
Mr. McGreevey's political drive and ambition made it easy for him to recognize
and accept that he would have to lie the rest of his life, according to the
excerpt. Yet the secret of his homosexuality compelled him to engage in
anonymous gay sex at bookstores and highway rest stops, though the excerpt does
not say when or where those encounters took place.
Mr. McGreevey, a Democrat who was elected governor in 2001, disclosed his sexual
orientation in August 2004 when he announced that he was resigning from office
because of an extramarital affair with a man he did not identify. Aides to
Mr. McGreevey said the man was the governor's former homeland security adviser.
The excerpt from Mr. McGreevey's memoir, titled "The Confession," was released
in Washington over the weekend at BookExpo America, the publishing industry's
annual convention, and was first reported on Sunday by The Star-Ledger of
Newark.
But in interviews on Monday, the book's publisher, Judith Regan, and friends of
Mr. McGreevey who have read other chapters, said that the memoir goes well
beyond his struggles as a twice-married gay man who kept his sexuality secret.
They also say that the book serves as a kind of behind-the-scenes manual to the
levers of power, politics and money in New Jersey.
"The book is very frank about New Jersey politics, and he's going to name
names," Ms. Regan said in an interview on Monday. "He's very frank about
what politicians need to do about getting elected. And I think it takes a
lot of courage to say this is what happened."
Mr. McGreevey, 48, has generally kept a low profile since leaving office in
November 2004. But his official portrait as governor is scheduled to be
unveiled at the New Jersey State House in a private ceremony this summer.
And after his book is published on Sept. 19, he is scheduled to make an
appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show.
In a 16-page section released over the weekend, Mr. McGreevey talks about trying
desperately to reconcile his public ambition and his private reality through a
"metaphorical amputation." He writes achingly about other closeted gay
men, like Roy Cohn and Rock Hudson.
But he says that he learned how to pretend by watching how others acted in a
world in which "sex and politics are inexorably intermingled" in New Jersey
political life.
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