Some lukewarm over McGreevey book release
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE - Former Gov. and longtime Woodbridge Mayor James E. McGreevey probably won't be making too many book sales in town hall.

Several local officials said they had no plans to either read "The Confession" or buy it.

"They are putting more and more of it in the newspapers," said Councilwoman Patricia Osborne, who served on the council during the McGreevey reign. "You won't have to read it. I think I've gotten the flavor of it. I don't have to read it. The book is titled 'The Confession' and I guess he is confessing it all. That would be my take."

Township Clerk John Mitch, a longtime township employee and former councilman, declined to comment.

Ditto for John McCormac, the current Democratic candidate for the late Mayor Frank G. Pelzman's mayor seat.

McCormac was the township's acting business administrator for a year and the chief financial officer during McGreevey's tenure as mayor. He went on to become state treasurer in the McGreevey administration.

Carol Hila, president of the Woodbridge Chamber of Commerce, said she might read the book but probably would not buy it.

"I've seen some of the things," she said. "I don't really need to read about it. I may skim over parts of it that I really feel are none of my business.

Hila said she was hoping McGreevey's book would focus more on the political aspects of his life.

"I was looking forward to him writing a book about his rise in politics," she said. "I find that really interesting. That's what I really was hoping the book would be mainly about. I would be interested in his take on his rise to power."

Few visitors to the chamber offices are asking about the book, she said.

"One person mentioned the book when they came in," she said. "People really aren't talking about it."

Osborne said she often went to township functions with McGreevey, like ribbon-cuttings.

"I was not in the social swing of things," she said.

She described McGreevey as "absolutely warm and gentle" and very involved with his town.

"If you were up in the mayor's suite and a citizen came in, he would come out of the office and handle the problem. He was very much all over Woodbridge. He never missed an event."

Osborne said she had heard the rumors about McGreevey's sexual orientation over the years, but dismissed them as political.

"I was very surprised," she said. "I never saw anything out of the ordinary. To me, he was a regular guy."