A former aide who claims New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey sexually harassed him will not sue the governor, the man’s lawyer said Monday.
The governor’s resignation announcement was sufficient admission of his wrongdoing and the dispute was never about money, said lawyer Rachel Yosevitz, attorney for Golan Cipel.
McGreevey announced Aug. 12 that he is gay and would resign from office because he had an extramarital affair with a man. Administration sources identified the other man in the relationship as Cipel.
McGreevey has said the relationship was consensual.
But Cipel, McGreevey’s former homeland security adviser, denied that he is gay and insisted that he been sexually harassed and pressured by the governor from the time he first went to work for him.
Another Cipel lawyer, Allen Lowy, said that he had notified attorneys for the governor in July that he intended to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against McGreevey on behalf of Cipel.
A series of negotiations between Lowy and McGreevey’s attorneys took place over the following several weeks, but no settlement could be reached and the governor eventually made his resignation announcement.
Legal experts said Lowy had until Monday to file a sexual harassment lawsuit because the statute of limitations for such complaints is two years and Cipel left the state payroll at the end of August 2002.
