Politics

McGreevey Peppered On Stand Over Finances

Ex-N.J. Governor Claims He Only Makes $50,000 Per Year And Cannot Give His Estranged Wife A Lavish Lifestyle

ELIZABETH, N.J. (CBS) ― Thursday was day two of the divorce drama between the McGreeveys. New Jersey's former governor took the stand to talk about finances and personal relationships.

Jim McGreevey, 50, stepped down 13 months before his first term as governor was to end, announcing in a nationally televised speech that he was "a gay American." He said he had an affair with a male staffer, identified as Golan Cipel, while married to wife Dina Matos McGreevey.

Cipel denied the affair in an exclusive interview with CBS 2 HD and has maintained that position. He insists he was sexually harassed by the governor.

On Thursday, the former governor was grilled on the stand about the male friends he put on the state payroll.

He was asked if he put Theodore Pederson on the payroll. McGreevey said, yes, he did.

Pederson is the former aide who reportedly had three-way sexual liaisons with the couple before McGreevey became governor. It's an allegation Matos McGreevey has denied.

But on Thursday, there was no denying that the former first lady of the Garden State enjoyed a lavish lifestyle.

McGreevey said, among other things, his wife wore a Vera Wang gown to a political ball.

Matos McGreevey wants alimony and more child support for their daughter, Jacqueline, based on the lifestyle she led as the first lady of New Jersey.

"She is no more entitled today to have a state trooper drive her to work and her child to day care than I am," said Haller. "It is a greedy claim, and it's illicit," said Stephen Haller, McGreevey's attorney.

Since their split, McGreevey and his wife have each written their own tell-all book about their life together and the fallout from the sex scandal.

But McGreevey, a law school graduate who wants to be an Episcopalian priest, claims he is heavily in debt and that his partner, Mark O'Donnell, has been paying his legal bills. McGreevey said he owes a prior divorce lawyer at least $116,000 and has not paid his first ex-wife any child support this year. One employment expert told CBS 2 HD McGreevey is unemployable.

"He is radioactive," Donna Kolsky said.

However, Kolsky testified Thursday that McGreevey could earn a maximum of $118,000 from teaching and consulting.

However, McGreevey says not only is he financially crippled, but has always been frugal, buying clothes at stores like JC Penny and relying on his wife for other things.

He even said on the stand that his wife paid for their wedding.

"Dina handled the wedding arrangements, and the wedding trip, and to a large extent she handled the honeymoon," McGreevey testified.

McGreevey claims he earns no more than $50,000 per year, and his estranged wife stands to lose her $82,000-per-year job when the hospital she works for closes this year.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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