Jim McGreevey wants to be the Martha Stewart of politics: “She embodies second chances”

In 2004, perhaps the biggest scandal ever surrounding a gay politician in the United States unfolded. New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey (D) revealed he’d engaged in an extramarital affair with a male staffer whom he personally hired for a substantial salary. With his wife by his side, McGreevey declared himself “a gay American” and resigned from office, just two and half years into his first and only term.

Blared the New York Post: “NEW JERSEY GOV ADMITS GAY AFFAIR IN BOMBSHELL RESIGNATION.”

Related:

From prison to pageant queen — how Jim McGreevey is changing the future for marginalized queer people

“We all have the same needs: a safe home, food, a job of purpose, and the basic human need of love,” says former NJ governor Jim McGreevey.

Now the former governor, 66, is mounting an electoral comeback.

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After a twenty-year political hiatus — during which he swapped Catholicism for the Episcopal Church, earned a Master of Divinity, and served as executive director of Jersey City’s Employment & Training Program and the New Jersey Reentry Corporation — McGreevey is running to become mayor of his hometown, Jersey City.

He spoke with LGBTQ Nation on a chilly, late autumn afternoon from his Jersey City home, where the former governor was enthralled by the turning of the leaves. “The colors are brilliant,” he said.

LGBTQ NATION: Based on your campaign video, the slogan for your run for Jersey City mayor seems to be, “Everyone deserves a second chance.” Where do you draw inspiration for that sentiment?

JIM MCGREEVEY: I think it’s endemic to the human experience, the fact that we all make mistakes, myself as case in point, and that second chances are an opportunity to realize the lessons of life and to apply them thoughtfully in the steps and the journey before us.

I’m a great devotee of Joseph Campbell, and Campbell’s prototype was the hero’s journey, that we’re each on a hero’s journey to become better persons, to become better servants to the community. And after our travails and challenges, and what Campbell labels “crossing the Abyss” from trial, you’re to teach the lessons and embody the wisdom of that time.

So for me, second chances, it’s the folks I work with every day, the 20,000+ persons returning from war, combat veterans returning from prison, state prison and county jails, and returning from opioid or fentanyl addiction and searching and looking for the ability to build the structure and the fabric of their lives.

And it has a natural flow into Jersey City, because Jersey City’s very much the tale of two cities. You know, the tale of this incredible development downtown which has been wonderful. And yet there’s the part of town from which my parents come in Greenville and Lafayette, which is worn and hasn’t experienced that significant investment. So it’s a second chance for the entirety of the city.

You were executive director of New Jersey’s parole board before you were governor. What’s the toughest decision you made regarding giving a second chance to a convicted felon?

Well, as the executive director, I administered the board, as opposed to making decisions, but we instituted something called victim input. Families, who were either themselves or their loved ones victims of individuals under review by the board, could share their thoughts, their pains and their perspective, which added integrity to the process.

Did you find that folks wanted the perpetrators to get a second chance?

It was mixed. It was the most unpredictable response. It was very much based upon a person’s own individual conscience, their values structure, their religious beliefs. You know, their belief in second chances. But it was totally outside my ability to predict.

In 2004, you resigned the New Jersey governorship after declaring you were “a gay American,” that you had had an extramarital affair with a man, and that it was wrong. Did you resign because you were gay?

Oh, definitely not. Definitely not. In fact, I said that acknowledging my sexuality and being open and honest would not only make me a better person, but a better public servant. No, it was directly due to the circumstances of being in a relationship with a person on the state payroll while I was governor.

Bill Clinton didn’t resign the presidency because he had an extramarital affair. Why should you have?

Yeah, that’s a fair point, but I think America in 2004 was a very different type of America than in 2023. I think America’s viewpoints on the LGBTQ community have markedly evolved in the past 20 years, and for me personally it’s a wonderful development.

Do you ever regret your decision to leave office?

No, I think it was the appropriate one for me at that time. We were under threat from a lawsuit, and it was obviously a painful time for my family, and a difficult time for the state. It’s something I had worked for diligently for decades, but at that given moment in time, I thought it was the right thing to do.

In 2005, you started a long-term relationship with Australian-American executive Mark O’Donnell. What was the best thing about being out in your relationship?

Purchasing a Christmas tree together and taking it home for the holidays.

Are you seeing anyone now?

No. Recently my father passed away, and so that was difficult — 93 years of age, he led a good life — and then with my two daughters, one daughter is graduating from college this May, and another daughter is getting married in June. And so I have a pretty full life right now.

Jersey City has a reputation as one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly cities in the tri-state area. What are some of your favorite gay hangouts around town?

Well, the Pride Center is a wonderful place, which, you know, I’m particularly proud of and they do such good work. And then there’s Six26 on the Mall. It’s a rooftop bar, a wonderful place. Very friendly, very cool and easy.

Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy’s daughter, made a well-received documentary about you in 2013 called Fall to Grace. Has the Speaker Emeritus ever given you advice about a second coming in politics?

No, but I am the biggest Nancy Pelosi fan. She is smart, strategic, and studied. Her leadership was a gift to the Democratic Party, not only in terms of what she was able to accomplish, but she has arguably a record of legislative achievement on par with the greatest of speakers, all while defending her perspective to maintain a decency and a civility and a goodness that has seemingly passed from American discourse.

Like a lot of people in Jersey City, you grew up attending Catholic schools. Do you know any good nun jokes?

Not good nun jokes. Bad nun jokes.

Are Catholic school nuns as frightening as some people make them out to be?

No! I love the nuns, so I’m biased. I mean, I was blessed to have nuns whose theology was “God is love.” Sister Mary Lewis made me pistachio cake for fourth grade. It doesn’t get better than pistachio cake with filling.  

For many years in the early 19th century, Alexander Hamilton had a hand in Jersey City’s history, even claiming control over the town’s waterfront for a time for New York City. Is Hamilton the musical everything it’s cracked up to be?

I love the musical Hamilton, and in no small measure due to my daughter, who listened to it incessantly. The wit, the rhyme — you have to train the ear to more fully appreciate the scope and the intelligence of the language.

From 1917 to 1947, the mayor of Jersey City was Frank Hague.

Yes!

He lived like a millionaire on his $8,500 annual salary and was known as King Hanky Panky for his stylish wardrobe.

And he’s buried, Greg, in Holy Name Cemetery, where my grandmother is buried, in a fairly significant edifice.

What’s going to be your nickname if you’re elected mayor?

(laughing) Great question. I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to leave that to the voters.

Okay, you have to choose: Holland Tunnel versus Lincoln Tunnel.

Holland Tunnel, easily. It starts in Jersey City!

What’s the single most important thing the world should do to address the climate crisis?

Eliminate coal.

Nathan Lane, Martha Stewart, and Shaquille O’Neal are all natives of Jersey City. Who would you like to have dinner with and why?

I’ve actually met Nathan, and he was very entertaining. But probably Martha Stewart. I think her personal journey is fascinating. She embodies second chances. She’s tough in a good way.

Another Jersey City native is the actor Richard Conte, who appeared in The Godfather as Don Barzini. Are you a fan of the movie, and are there any lessons to be drawn from it about the exercise of politics and power in America?

From The Godfather? Yeah. “Keep your back to the wall.”