TRENTON, N.J., May 6, 2008
Gay Governor, Estranged Wife Face Off
Divorce Trial Of Former N.J. Gov. Jim McGreevey Will Start With Battle For Custody Of Daughter
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Till death do us part? Former N.J. Governor Jim McGreevey, right, and his estranged wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, will begin their much heralded divorce trial Tuesday May 6, 2008. (AP)
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Photo Essay Jim McGreevey Follow the political career of New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey.
"It's a beautiful day," former Gov. Jim McGreevey said as he entered alone through the back entrance of the courthouse.
Dina Matos McGreevey had no comment when she arrived with her lawyer through the front courthouse entrance.
The first three days of the trial will be closed to the media as Union County Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy considers custody issues surrounding the couple's 6-year-old daughter. The judge has sealed documents and testimony about the kindergartner, their only child.
McGreevey and his wife have been going at each other publicly for months about everything from his partner's financial assets to their daughter's birthday party.
The issues to be decided in the divorce settlement involve custody, alimony and child support, and whether McGreevey, now openly gay, committed fraud by marrying a woman.
Matos McGreevey, 41, is seeking $600,000 for time she would have spent at the governor's mansion had her husband not resigned in disgrace. McGreevey stepped down during his first term after a nationally televised speech in which he acknowledged being "a gay American" and having an affair with a male staffer. The staffer has denied the affair and said he was sexually harassed by McGreevey.
Since his resignation in the fall of 2004, both McGreevey and his soon-to-be-ex have written books about their time together, including their sex lives. She claims she never knew he was gay until just before he told the rest of the world. He claims their marriage was "a contrivance on both our parts," but that he fulfilled the marriage contract by providing companionship and a child.
The couple has continued to stay in the news through a series of public spats and catty comments. McGreevey once criticized an outfit his wife wore on television, and she forced him to remove a large photograph of a nude man that hung over his bed when their daughter was to visit.
Neither has heeded stern suggestions from the judge that they settle the case rather than expend the emotional energy and significant money for a divorce trial.
The most sensational witness could be Teddy Pedersen, a 29-year-old former aide who claims he had regular three-way sexual encounters with the McGreeveys beginning when they were dating in 1999 and ending two years later, after they were married and McGreevey had been elected governor.
John Post, a lawyer representing Matos McGreevey, is seeking to bar Pedersen's testimony. Matos McGreevey claims the encounters never happened. McGreevey says they did.
McGreevey, 50, now lives with a male partner and is studying to be an Episcopal priest. Matos McGreevey, who until recently worked at Columbus Hospital in Newark, can often be seen providing commentary on cable television shows, most recently providing analysis when New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal.
The former governor wants joint physical and legal custody of their daughter. He currently has the child one night a week and every other weekend.
Child support payments will depend on custody arrangements, lawyers have said.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- "hippychicky" I like that.
- Reply to this comment
- Another one bites the dust. Child custody battles...
Oh my. Let the games begin & the fur fly. Lawyers start rubbing their hands with glee & wonder what kind of private jet they''re gonna buy. All''s fair in love, war & child custody battles. D
Divorce. You gotta love it. When are y''all getting divorced? - Reply to this comment
- hey hippychicky chicky chikee !!
hey hippychicky chicky chikee !!!!
hey hippychicky chicky chikee !!!!!! - Reply to this comment
- this is so sad.
- Reply to this comment
- HEy chiky do u suk c.o.c.k?
Does lesbian suk c.o.c.k?
I love u if you are a pretty lisbian!!! - Reply to this comment
- Mahtai or Mazarati - I''''m sure she''''s a hot woman with a hot woman partner..........you are the kind of stupidity.
Posted by simonsez40
How did you ever guess?? That guy is dumb. - Reply to this comment
- I would rather have power of knowledge of knowing the cure for AIDS.... not HOW A MAN HAVE S E X WITH .. ANOTHER MAN.
YES A MAN HAVING S E X WITH ANOTHER MAN IS SAME AS BEASTIALITY :-)
BUT I LOVE LESBIANS !!! ONLY THE PRETY FEMININE TYPE LESBIAN... BUTCH TYPE LESBIANS ARE BIG TURN OFF... THAT IS ALSO SAME AS BEASTIALITY !!!
hippychicky .... R u a ''''butch'''' or ''''pretty feminine'''' lesbian ??
Posted by Maharishi1
General misconception again. Aids is not a "gay" disease. It affects all walks of life. The three main transmission routes of HIV are sexual contact, exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to fetus or child during perinatal period. It is possible to find HIV in the saliva, tears, and urine of infected individuals. So yep, thats right straight people are infected too.
Your classification of lesbians is also a turn off, lesbianism is not a disease that a straight stupid (might I add) male can cure. You want to know what I look like...ask my girlfriend. Get a clue dude! - Reply to this comment
- hippychicky .... R u a ''''butch'''' or ''''pretty feminine'''' lesbian ??
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Posted by Maharishi1
Mahtai or Mazarati - I''m sure she''s a hot woman with a hot woman partner..........you are the kind of stupidity. - Reply to this comment
- Knowledge is power, you are just afraid of something you have no knowledge of. Go learn! --------------------------------------------------
Posted by hippychicky at 01:13 PM : May 07, 2008
I would rather have power of knowledge of knowing the cure for AIDS.... not HOW A MAN HAVE S E X WITH .. ANOTHER MAN.
YES A MAN HAVING S E X WITH ANOTHER MAN IS SAME AS BEASTIALITY :-)
BUT I LOVE LESBIANS !!! ONLY THE PRETY FEMININE TYPE LESBIAN... BUTCH TYPE LESBIANS ARE BIG TURN OFF... THAT IS ALSO SAME AS BEASTIALITY !!!
hippychicky .... R u a ''butch'' or ''pretty feminine'' lesbian ?? - Reply to this comment
- Posted by libagenda
You''re full of it - and I think you are singinrick in disguise! Nobody trolls these message boards more than you and especially the **** articles - seems like you have a repressed fascination with them. - Reply to this comment
