The McGreevey story is starting to sound like an episode from The Sopranos:
McGreevey’s new pose as a gutsy, brutally honest politician seems absurd. He was named repeatedly last month in a 47-page federal indictment charging one of the governor’s pals with extorting $40,000 in bribes and campaign contributions from a dairy farmer in Middlesex County, McGreevey’s home turf.
Charles Kushner, McGreevey’s largest contributor, was indicted last month on federal charges of fund-raising violations, as well as conspiracy and obstruction. William Watley, McGreevey’s commerce secretary, quit last month when it came to light that he steered state money to a company in which he had a stake.
Two of McGreevey’s top aides – his counsel, Paul Levinsohn, and his chief of staff, Gary Taffet – resigned last year under a cloud.
McGreevey’s undoing appears to have sprung from a sex-and-patronage deal gone bad: Apparently, a secret gay lover on the public payroll decided to sue and/or blackmail the governor.
Dirty politicians, sex, bribery, and blackmail: just another day in the life of the New Jersey Democratic Party machine.