A
much-anticipated memoir from the nation's first openly gay
governor is due out this fall. But excerpts from the
book by former New Jersey governor James McGreevey are
already causing a small storm of media hype.
In the book,
titled The Confession (ReganBooks), McGreevey
reveals that he once resorted to anonymous sex at
highway rest stops. McGreevey, who proclaimed himself "a gay
American" in 2004 while announcing his impending resignation
as governor, engaged in the secret encounters because
he feared having a relationship with a man would ruin
his chances of success as a politician.
"So instead I
settled for the detached anonymity of bookstores and
rest stops as a compromise, but one that was wholly
unfulfilling and morally unsatisfactory," McGreevey
writes in the book, according to the excerpts
published Sunday in The [Newark, N.J.]
Star-Ledger. The excerpts do not mention
whether the activities took place during his tenure as
governor.
According to the
Associated Press, McGreevey, 48, is being paid up to
$500,000 for the 384-page memoir. He made an appearance
Saturday at BookExpo America in Washington, D.C.,
where he told The Star-Ledger that his book is
"painfully honest.... A lot will resonate with
readers."
The excerpts do
not detail his two marriages or even the scandal, which
became public knowledge during an August 2004 televised news
conference in which McGreevey acknowledged a gay
affair and declared, "My truth is that I am a gay
American."
He resigned over
the affair, with a man identified as Golan Cipel, an
Israeli hired by the governor in 2002 to be state homeland
security adviser despite having little experience.
Cipel has steadfastly denied any involvement with
McGreevey.
According to the
excerpts, McGreevey said he also became "as avid a
womanizer as anybody else on the New Jersey political
scene." "I knew I would have to lie for the rest of my
life, and I knew I was capable of it," McGreevey
writes. "The knowledge gave me a feeling of terrible
power." (The Advocate)
