Pressure On NJ Gov To Quit Now

New Jersey Republicans and some Democrats want James McGreevey, the nation's first openly gay governor, to resign immediately rather than waiting until November.

McGreevey's stunning admission about his sexuality has roiled the state's political waters. His real political predicament stems not so much from his sexual preference as the apparently tawdry affair the governor has with Golan Cipel, a 35-year-old Israeli who received a highly paid state post and other favors from McGreevey.

New Jersey Republicans say it will be impossible for McGreevey to focus and be effective. GOP lawyers are considering legal options that would force McGreevey to resign earlier, but leaders say they would prefer it if he left voluntarily.

"The people of this state should decide who is governor of New Jersey," said Senate Republican Leader Leonard Lance.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that some senior New Jersey Democrats spent the weekend working on a plan to quickly push McGreevey out of the governor's office and have Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine run for the post in a special election in November.

Corzine is "absolutely not" interested in running for governor this November, his spokesman, David Wald, said Sunday.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a Democrat, one of the governor's closest advisers, said party members should remain confident that McGreevey is not leaving and that he will not damage the party.

"McGreevey's not going anywhere," Lesniak said.

McGreevey's standing with the voters has apparently not suffered, a new poll showed Sunday. The governor's approval rating was 45 percent, 2 points higher than in a similar poll conducted two weeks earlier, according to the Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll.

By remaining in office until Nov. 15, McGreevey assures that a Democrat will remain as governor until the next year's election.

As long as he stays until Sept. 3, the deadline for a special election to replace him will expire. Senate President Richard J. Codey — the state's second highest-ranking Democrat — is set to takeover and become acting governor until the end of McGreevey's term in January 2006.

McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday in a dramatic, nationally televised news conference in which he revealed he had an affair with another man he did name.

McGreevey aides have accused the governor's former lover of what amounts to blackmail by allegedly demanding millions of dollars to drop a threatened sexual harassment suit,

In response, Cipel described himself as the victim of McGreevey's unwanted attention.

"While employed by one of the most powerful politicians in the country, New Jersey Governor McGreevey, I was the victim of repeated sexual advances by him," Golan Cipel said in a