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The New York Times
McGreevey Ordered to
Pay More to Wife
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, September 21, 2007
ELIZABETH, N.J. -- Former Gov.
James E. McGreevey was ordered Friday to more than double the amount of support
he pays to his estranged wife.
The nation's first openly gay governor should pay Dina Matos McGreevey $2,500 a
month, Superior Court Judge Karen M. Cassidy ruled. Matos McGreevey had
been receiving $1,129 a month, but maintained that was insufficient to meet the
needs of herself and the couple's 5-year-old daughter.
Cassidy rejected Matos McGreevey's request for $4,000 a month, noting that Matos
McGreevey said she needed to spend $2,200 a month on clothing. ''It seemed
a little high,'' the judge said.
A lawyer for the former governor, Matthew D. Piermatti, argued that his client's
income was decreasing now that he'd entered an Episcopal seminary. They
had offered to increase support to $1,691 a month.
Cassidy said the $2,500 a month for Matos McGreevey would help preserve the
status quo until a full trial on the divorce, which is scheduled for May.
Matos McGreevey earns $82,000 at Columbus Hospital in Newark. The former
governor has earned an average of about $155,000 a year for the past five years.
McGreevey announced in August 2004 that he was gay and would resign. He
said he had been the target of a blackmail threat from a former lover.
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