US governor quits over gay affair 'blackmail' threat

A US state governor was forced to resign after having an adulterous gay love affair with a former adviser who threatened to blackmail him, it emerged today.

Democrat Jim McGreevey made the bombshell announcement late yesterday that he was a “gay American” and tended his resignation.

Flanked by his wife, the New Jersey governor said his illicit affair with Israeli Golan Cipel made it impossible for him to remain in office.

Political sources claimed Mr Cipel threatened to launch a sexual harassment lawsuit against Mr McGreevey, a devout Catholic.

Aides to the stricken governor told New York newspapers Mr Cipel had asked for nearly £3m (€4.4m) for his silence.

Amid the brewing storm, 47-year-old father-of-two Mr McGreevey appeared at a hastily arranged news conference in Trenton, New Jersey, where he announced his resignation from the state’s highest office.

“At a point in every person’s life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one’s soul and decide one’s unique truth in the world, not as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is,” Mr McGreevey said.

“And so, my truth is that I am a gay American.”

He confessed to having an extra-marital affair, saying: “I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony.”

He said his behaviour had left him “vulnerable to rumours, false allegations and threats of disclosure”.

He went on: “It was wrong. It was foolish. It was inexcusable.

“Given the circumstances surrounding the affair and its likely impact upon my family and my ability to govern, I have decided the right course of action is to resign.”

His blonde wife, Dina, and his parents were by his side as he gave the speech. His wife has vowed to stand by him.

Mr McGreevey’s resignation will take effect on November 15. He has served two and a half years as the state’s governor.

The Harvard-educated former altar boy appointed 35-year-old Mr Cipel, a poet and former Israeli Navy officer, as his homeland security adviser in 2002, prompting much criticism. Mr Cipel later left the state administration to work in the private sector.

Mr Cipel spent five years in the Israeli Navy. Between 1995 and 1999 he served as assistant to the press officer of the Israeli Consulate office in New York.

He returned to Israel to become a local government press officer but met Mr McGreevey when the governor visited Israel.

Mr McGreevey offered him the £60,000 job as his homeland security adviser, but the move prompted criticism as Mr Cipel could not get federal security clearance because he is a foreign national.

Mr McGreevey admitted he had struggled with his identify and sexuality for many years.

“From my early days in school, until the present day, I acknowledged some feelings, a certain sense that separated me from others,” he said.

A law enforcement official told the New York Times Mr McGreevey’s office had called the FBI to complain that Mr Cipel had requested $5m (€4.05m) to halt the lawsuit.

Within hours, news of the affair and resignation prompted snipes from America’s merciless chat show hosts.

Remembering former President Bill Clinton’s words after claims he had an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, Tonight Show host Jay Leno said of Mr McGreevey: “Finally, a Democrat who can honestly say, ’I did not have sex with that woman’.”