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"In a stunning announcement, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey announced that he had an extramarital affair with another man. Finally a Democrat who can honestly say, ‘I did not have sex with that woman!’" "The Tonight Show’s" Jay Leno said recently.
On CBS’ "Late Night," David Letterman wondered aloud whether it was "too early to hit on Mrs. McGreevey." Craig Kilborn cracked on CBS’ "Late Late Show" that the governor was chipping in to the relief effort for Hurricane Charley by sending throw pillows.
HBO’s Bill Maher mused, "Apparently he was having an affair with a homosexual Israeli poet, who he appointed the state’s homeland security adviser. Which partially explains why New Jersey’s terror alert colors were parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme."
The potshots can have a negative effect over time, according to Cliff Zukin, former director of The Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll. In a poll last year, 72 percent of New Jerseyans described their state as an "excellent" or a "good" place to live -- a seemingly healthy percentage until it was compared to the national average, which was 12 points higher. Only 38 percent of people living outside the state described New Jersey in those positive terms.
"The image of government and organized crime tends to be what goes outside the borders of the state, and it’s unhealthy and it’s inaccurate. I think this reinforces it," Zukin said.
The latest flap won’t affect efforts to market New Jersey, said Nancy Byrne executive director of the state’s Office of Travel and Tourism. Regarding stereotypes, Byrne pointed to a recent economic development initiative in Elizabeth that incorporates the city’s New Jersey Turnpike exit in its slogan: "13A, Shop, Play, Stay."
"They’ve just turned that into their selling point," she said. "They just figured, ‘We’re 13A and we’re going with it."’
Rutgers professor Michael Aaron Rockland, co-author of "Looking For America on the New Jersey Turnpike," said people he has talked to generally laud McGreevey for admitting he is gay but criticize him for reportedly hiring a person he was involved with.
"I see it as a tiny step forward," he said. "Maybe history is always made with three steps forward and two-and-a-half steps back. If there was no taint of corruption to this, I’d be very proud of having a gay governor. Then again, we didn’t elect a gay governor, because we didn’t know he was gay."
The only verbal missiles McGreevey’s office has responded to are the ones from former aide Golan Cipel, whom administration sources have identified as the man the governor had the affair with.
In what could be a sign of changing attitudes -- or merely a concession that people will poke fun anyway -- McGreevey on Thursday urged the Atlantic City Surf minor league baseball team to rehire an announcer it had fired earlier in the week after he made a joke about the governor’s sexual orientation during a game.
That gesture put McGreevey in contrast with the two previous residents of the governor’s mansion. In 1997, former Gov. Christie Whitman persuaded automaker Mitsubishi to pull an ad that referred to foul odors along the New Jersey Turnpike. In 2001, Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco publicly criticized a Mennen deodorant ad that made a similar reference.
According to Mark Moran, co-author of "Weird N.J.," a compendium of trivia and oddities about the state, public officials may be the only ones whose hackles are raised by the cheap shots.
"The thing about New Jersey people is it just rolls off their backs," Moran said. "Our feelings are never hurt by jokes like that. We don’t see ourselves as the butts of a punchline. It really doesn’t faze us at all."
