Governor McGreevey of my fine state of New Jersey resigned today and announced (with his wife at his side) that he was a gay American.
Well, that’s not why he really resigned. Rumor has it, that his lover got paid by the hour, and government money was used to cover up the affair from the public and his wife.
What are other bloggers saying about this? Drudge? Not much. Wonkette? This should be her thing. Bingo. Three posts: here, here, and here.
This is why I like state politics. It’s small, it’s quirky, it’s full of scandal. State politics makes Washington look like a church social. I like the states where the legislature only meets every other year, and most decisions are made over bourbon in the local pub. Too bad my copy of V.O. Key’s State Politics is still in a box somewhere, because it would be fun to read over the chapter on Lousiana’s upstanding governors.
Apt. 11d 
The absurdity of our state’s governance could be described as follows: former Governor Edwards currently resides in a federal pen, yet he was still very clearly the correct “choice” in 1991.
Never boring here in the Kingfish’s “gret stet”.
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Yeah, during Edwards’ third run for Governor, I saw (quite a few) bumper stickers say, “Well, he’s a crook, but at least he’s *our* crook.” I still haven’t figured out why that’s better.
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Oh, but there’s still the best Edwards story of them all: when running for re-election one year, he told a reporter that he could only lose if he were found in bed with a live boy or a dead girl. And all around the state, folks just laughed and nodded.
Perhaps that’s because our few respites from Edwards since 1972 were Dave Treen (repeatedly compared to Jimmy Carter for his general level of ineffectuality — i.e., honesty, which amounts to the same thing in Louisiana), Buddy Roemer (son of a former state administrator who had been convicted on bribery charges, and who himself wound up near the end of his administration with a “guru” who advised him to snap a rubber band he wore around his wrist in order to banish negative thoughts), and Mike Foster (the redneck answer to Jesse Ventura). Sigh.
On the other hand, while my new home state was busily kicking a perfectly legally elected governor out of office and replacing him with the Governator, my former state was busy selecting between its first female governor and its first non-white governor. So we out here have no room for scoffing.
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I thought it was just me–I was all excited about the scandal. Nothing like a little state politics scandal to get me excited about politics. (I guess that’s what happens if you study state politics, right Laura?) I suspect that sex scandals will be discussed with greater candor, post-Lewinsky. You feel badly for McGreevey, whereas Clinton’s denial seemed disingenuous. Regardless of whether McGreevey is unethical you still feel like, “Gee this poor guy, has been grappling with his identity for x number of years.” This was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I’m only sorry he chose to resign.
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Texas has been a lot of fun lately, in a train wreck kind of way. The Republicans managed to drive the Democrats out of state. Twice. A Republican dropped out of a state race because there were drag pictures of himself out and about.
Tom Delay and the Speaker of the Texas House Tom Craddick are under investigation for campaign finance shenanigans.
Nothing to equal New Jersey, though.
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