NEW YORK -- Gov. James E. McGreevey made repeated sexual advances toward a former state employee and has now made him the victim of a "smear campaign," a lawyer for the man said Friday.
"While employed by one of the most powerful politicians in the country, New Jersey Gov. McGreevey, I was the victim of repeated sexual advances by him," said attorney Allen M. Lowy, reading a prepared statement from client Golan Cipel.
Cipel did not attend the news conference, held late Friday in New York.
McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday in a dramatic, nationally televised news conference in which he revealed he had an adulterous affair with another man.
He named Cipel as New Jersey's $110,000-a-year director of homeland security in 2002. But Cipel was transferred to a different position later that year after a storm of opposition from lawmakers who questioned his qualifications and later left state government.
His name emerged Thursday after McGreevey's shocking announcement, which never mentioned Cipel's name.
On Friday, Lowy said his Cipel was offered money by representatives of McGreevey after the governor was informed of a possible lawsuit.
"It was Mr. McGreevey's representatives who, without provocation, offered a sum of money to make my client go away," Lowy said.
"Our only goal is to attain justice," he said. "Money was never the ultimate goal in my client's search for justice."
He said "only time will tell" whether a lawsuit is filed. No lawsuit was filed, according to court officials in Mercer and Middlesex county.
Lowy did not mention his client's sexuality.
McGreevey did not immediately respond to Cipel's allegations. Calls to his Statehouse office were not returned.
Two sources close to McGreevey, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Cipel was the unnamed man the governor acknowledged having an affair with in a resignation speech Thursday.
One of the sources, a high-ranking member of the McGreevey administration, said Cipel threatened McGreevey with a sexual harassment lawsuit unless he was paid millions of dollars.
In his first public comments about McGreevey, Cipel -- through his attorney -- said abuse and intimidation by McGreevey representatives cowed him into keeping quiet until now.
"When I finally dared to reject Gov. McGreevey's advances, the retaliatory actions taken by him and members of his administration were nothing short of abuse and intimidation.
"After a long period of pain and introspection, I realized that in order to live my life, to move forward with my life, I needed to put this behind me. But the only way to do this was to have Gov. McGreevey take responsibility publicly for his horrible actions, which he did by resigning from public office," said Cipel, who said he felt vindicated by McGreevey's announcement.
A native of Rishon Lezion, Israel, Cipel was one of three children. He joined the Israeli navy shortly after graduating from high school and reached the rank of lieutenant during a five-year stint.
He studied communications at New York Institute of Technology and worked as a public information officer in the Israeli consulate in New York.
He returned to his homeland, where he worked as a press liaison to Rishon Lezion Mayor Meir Nitzan.
That was where McGreevey met him. Touring Israel in 2000, while he was running for governor, McGreevey was introduced to Cipel at a reception organized by Nitzan.
The married American politician and the young Israeli were introduced and hit it off immediately.
Soon, McGreevey paved the way for Cipel to return to the United States. Six months later, Cipel was working on McGreevey's campaign, having obtained a visa in which he listed McGreevey donor Charles Kushner as a sponsor on his visa application and then taking up residence in an apartment less than a mile from McGreevey in Woodbridge.
Working first in a $30,000-a-year job public relations job arranged by Kushner, Cipel was named to head the state Office of Homeland Security in February 2002.
McGreevey said he didn't think a background check was necessary for Cipel, who also had worked as a television news reporter and a poet.
"Golan is smart, incisive, hard-working and trustworthy, and he has brought a unique point of view to the work he does," McGreevey said at the time.
But nagging questions about his qualifications and the reason for his appointment trailed Cipel, who was told by McGreevey not to grant media interviews in the meantime.
The heat was turned up after The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI had both refused to share information with Cipel because he was a foreigner with no security clearance.
Buckling to pressure, McGreevey reassigned him as a "special counsel" in the governor's office.
"The rumor mill, even back then, was rampant with rumors about some relationship with him and the governor, but that wasn't our issue," said Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano, R-Passaic.
"The issue was here's a guy being put forward for one of the most sensitive positions in the state, with little or no experience, little or no credentials. The whole activity was very suspicious," said DiGaetano, who has filed to run for governor next year.
Cipel left state government in August 2002 and was recommended by McGreevey for -- and hired to -- a public relations job before fading from public view.
Until Thursday.
McGreevey never mentioned him during the news conference in which he announced his resignation.
Nitzan, contacted by the AP in Israel, described him as a "straight-laced" man who was, by all appearances, heterosexual.
"He is not married. He presented at least two women as his girlfriend ... what surprises me is the blackmail allegation," Nitzan said.
Kushner has had no contact with Cipel for at least two years, his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said Friday.
Kushner did sponsor Cipel's visa application and Cipel did marketing work for Kushner, Brafman said.
"Beyond that, he has had no involvement with Mr. Cipel and knew nothing about this interaction with the governor, until we heard the announcement," Brafman said.
A woman who was on the March 2000 mission to Israel and attended the wine-and-cheese reception at which McGreevey and Cipel first met spoke highly of Cipel.
Lori Price Abrams, director of community relations for United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey, later worked alongside Cipel when he worked on McGreevey's campaign as a liaison to the Jewish community.
"He was certainly agreeable, nice enough, professional. He was efficient, just fine to work with," said Price Abrams.
She would not comment on Cipel's alleged involvement with McGreevey, however.
© 2004 by WNBC.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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