Sunday, August 22, 2004
Prophetic Article on Cipel-McGreevey
Can you believe this was written in 2002?
Why can't the rest of us get jobs as easily as Golan Cipel?
Home News Tribune 10/06/02 - Rick Malwitz
In today's job market, we should all be as marketable as Golan Cipel, the special friend of Gov. James E. McGreevey, who lands jobs as often as the seasons change.
Job One in 2002 was as McGreevey's $110,000 homeland security advisor. But because the 33-year-old Cipel is a citizen of Israel, federal law-enforcement officials would not share information with him.
The governor transferred Cipel to Job Two, as a "special counsel," at the same salary.
When the media continued to question his role, he left state government Aug. 27. He would have had to return to Israel, unless he got a work visa for a job he was uniquely qualified to fill.
He then got Job Three with MWW Group, a public relations firm in East Rutherford. His job was to oversee relationships with MWW's clients in Israel.
Among MWW's clients in New Jersey are the New Jersey Lottery; Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, the company which operates the auto inspection system, and the Mills Corp., one of six developers to submit plans to redevelop the Meadowlands with a mall and entertainment complex.
Not everyone in the McGreevey administration was comfortable with Cipel taking Job Three. It was feared it would taint the state's relationship with MWW, with the twisted media reported such items as, "The contract to rebuild the Meadowlands was awarded to the Mills Corp., represented by the MWW Group, the public relations firm which hired Golan Cipel in August."
On Sept. 12, a group from MWW people met with the governor and staff at a hotel in Woodbridge, and Cipel was a point of discussion. McGreevey aide Jo Astrid Gladding, who attended the meeting, said, "We do not discuss private meetings."
Cipel remained with MWW until last week, when he accepted Job Four of 2002.
Cipel was hired by State Street Partners, a lobbying firm in Trenton. The firm was founded by two Republicans, Rocco Iossa and Michael Torpey, the former chief of staff to Gov. Christie Whitman.
With a new party in power following the November election, it made sense for the firm to add a Democrat. In December, James Kennedy, the Democratic mayor of Rahway, became its third partner. It was a strategic choice. Kennedy was the best man at McGreevey's wedding, and is considered the governor's best friend.
With Job Four, Cipel becomes the problem of State Street Partners.
"You can bet the farm this will be a liability (to State Street Partners)," said one of McGreevey's close advisors. The best lobbyists operate under the radar screen. Overnight, Kennedy and State Street Partners became a major blip.
"We evaluated Cipel on his merits, on his resume," said Iossa. He said Cipel will work with clients in New Jersey and Washington, and the firm is looking to expand its list of international clients.
"We do not think he will be a liability," said Iossa.
He will remain a liability to McGreevey, however. He became an issue when McGreevey hired him for a job for which he was ill-suited, and then moved him to an amorphous job, also at $110,000, at a time when the state was having trouble making ends meet. When pressure grew too great, he was hired once, and then once again, by firms with a vested interest in gaining the governor's favor. Some people have all the luck.
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