| At least when the Democrats have sex scandals, there's real bona-fide sex involved. |
The aide, Theodore Pedersen, said he and the couple even had a nickname for the weekly romps, from 1999 to 2001, that typically began with dinner at T.G.I. Friday's and ended with a threesome at McGreevey's condo in Woodbridge. They called them "Friday Night Specials," according to Pedersen.
Pedersen described the encounters during an interview with The Star-Ledger. He said he wanted to refute the innocent image that Matos McGreevey has projected - both during the couple's ongoing divorce battle and in interviews she gave after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned last week in a sex scandal. He said he was also incensed by her portrayal of herself as an unsuspecting wife in her book: "Silent Partner: A Memoir of My Marriage."
"I wanted to get this out now because it was so offensive to me that she goes on television playing the victim," Pedersen said. "She's trying to make this a payday for herself. She should have told the truth about the three of us."
Pedersen did not say if he was gay or bisexual and only described having contact with Matos McGreevey during the trysts. He also said he never knew for sure if McGreevey was gay. "I had heard the rumors in circles outside of work," he said. "In hindsight, there might have been light interest (in me), but it didn't seem like he was gay. It did enhance their sexual relationship having me be a part of it."
| Oh I think we've got the picture, thanks. |
Pedersen, 29, served as a driver and traveling aide for McGreevey during his gubernatorial campaign and after he won office in 2001. McGreevey attended Pedersen's graduation from Rutgers University in 2003 and Pedersen accompanied the governor and others in a trip to China last year.
His assertions mark the latest broadside in a particularly public and searing divorce case that has brought back to life the seamy personal issues that erupted when McGreevey resigned almost four years ago.
Matos McGreevey claims the onetime Woodbridge mayor duped her into marriage in 2000 to further his political career, and that she had no clue about his sexual preference until just before he resigned in August 2004, when he announced he was gay and had an affair with an aide. She has demanded full custody of their only child, Jacqueline, plus alimony and more than $600,000 in damages.
McGreevey has denied any fraud and, in court filings, countered that he fulfilled his duties as husband because he gave his wife a child and companionship. He has demanded equal time with their daughter.
A trial before Union County Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy is scheduled to start in May. Pedersen could be among the first witnesses to testify.