My preliminary knowledge of the Governor James E. McGreevey situation leads me to think that he has behaved honorably. Obviously the actions that led to the resignation weren't good, but he appears to be doing the best he can to make things right, and that's what honor is about (once a wrong as been committed).
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - In a stunning declaration, Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday and acknowledged that he had an extramarital affair with another man. "My truth is that I am a gay American," he said.Naturally the article focuses on his homosexuality rather than his affair and doesn't mention his party affiliation."Shamefully, I engaged in adult consensual affairs with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony," the married father of two said. "It was wrong, it was foolish, it was inexecusable."
Update:
Looks like I was a bit too optimistic, and that this resignation was basically timed to pre-empt a lawsuit and position McGreevey to affect the election in November.
Yeah, he could have stood up there and wagged his finger saying "I did not have sexual relations with that man."
Yes, and resigning 90 days hence is most honorable. It means the new Gov is the current Assembly Speaker for the next two years. If he did happen to resign prior to the 15th of September, then the new Gov would be elected by the people...on Nov. 2.
As you can see by my name, I live in NJ and I can tell you that in no way is McGreevey doing the honorable thing. The man has been corrupt since his years as the mayor of Woodbridge township and the only reason he was elected is because most of NJ is blindly liberal. People here do not demand accountability of their politicians, so all we get are crooks and scoundrels. The man has been under investigation by the FBI for illegal land sales and it appears he is also under investigation for trying to come up with money to bribe his "companion".
He also gave this companion a position of leadership on our homeland security council when the man had no qualifications to deserve such a position and due to his status as a non-citizen wasn't even cleared to read the top secret documents needed to effectively perform his job.
Then there are the scandals his top advisors/contributors are involved in, and the high disapproval ratings he has due to his constant increases in property taxes and "sin" taxes as well as a disasterous school system that has been flooded with monies and seen scores decrease.
The man has been a disaster as a governor. Now he wants to do the right thing? Please, who is he kidding. He is doing just what Torricelli did when he stepped down as senator and the liberal courts here allowed Lautenberg to step into his place. The man has no respect for the state or the law. Resigning now is the only option. That will allow the people to choose his successor instead of having one appointed for them. Then again, knowing my fellow New Jersey citizens, I don't have much faith in them learning their lessons from this situation.