TRENTON, New Jersey, August 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New Jersey Governor James McGreevey held a news conference Thursday to announce his resignation from office. In his speech, McGreevey attempted to blame an affair with another man as his reason for stepping down. However, the lawsuit by his so-called “consensual” partner, was filed on the same day as the resignation.

“I engaged in adult consensual affair with another man,” said McGreevey. “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.” ABC news reports that a former male aide is charging the Governor with sexual misconduct. Former homeland security advisor Golan Cipel, who launched the suit, is suspected of being the Governor’s secret liaison, according to several Governor’s aides. The FBI revealed that McGreevey’s office had been in contact regarding a threat from Cipel, that, unless paid millions of dollars, he would make the affair public.

In April, newly installed bishop of Camden announced that he would refuse communion to McGreevey because the governor is divorced and has remarried without receiving an annulment from the Church, and also, because the governor supports abortion and embryonic stem cell research, the latter item being a major part of the research industry in New Jersey.

In January, McGreevey signed into law a bill to allow human cloning. It was described by Daniel McConchie, Director of Public Relations and Public Policy with The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity as the world’s “most extreme and explicit.” Also in January, McGreevey signed in civil union legislation for same-sex couples, making homosexual couples in New Jersey almost on par with normal heterosexual married couples. The legislation required insurance companies to offer spousal health care benefits to same-sex “couples,” as well as allowing them to make critical medical decisions for each other. The legislation also extended pension and health coverage benefits to same-sex “couples” employed by the state. Read a transcript of McGreevey’s press conference: https://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/12/mcgreevey.transcript/index.html

Read related coverage: https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/13/MNGVK87HAE1.DTL&type=printable https://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/US/mcgreevey_040812.html?CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 tv