Gay former New
Jersey governor signs book deal

A tell-all book by the nation's first openly gay governor is in the works, a New York publisher announced Thursday. The as-yet-untitled memoir by former New Jersey governor James E. McGreevey will be published by ReganBooks, an imprint of publishing house HarperCollins.

McGreevey announced he is gay and resigned from his post as governor in the same stunning speech August 12, 2004, revealing that he had been involved in an adulterous affair with a man. The man was later identified by staff members as the governor's onetime homeland security adviser, Golan Cipel. Cipel, an Israeli citizen who was denied the security clearance needed for the antiterrorism job, denied being gay or having a consensual relationship with McGreevey.

ReganBooks president Judith Regan said in a news release that the book would "chronicle the span of McGreevey's political career." McGreevey, a Democrat, was governor from January 15, 2002, to November 15, 2004. The statement gave no indication when the book would be published or how much McGreevey is being paid to write it. "Jim McGreevey has a rare opportunity, and the courage, to tell the whole truth about his life," Regan wrote. "In this deeply honest and revealing book, he will describe how he wrestled with his sexuality and his faith--from the expectations he faced as a young man to the divided persona he created in order to meet them."

An after-hours call to ReganBooks in New York was not answered Thursday. An after-hours message left for Washington, D.C., attorney Robert B. Barnett, who represented McGreevey in the book deal, was not immediately returned. McGreevey has an unlisted number and could not be reached for comment. (AP)