gay US governor James E. McGreevey just resigned... what he left behind ?
N.J. Gov. Seeks Authority to Fire Poet, Newsday, October 6, 2002 "Gov. James E. McGreevey is seeking the power to fire the state's poet laureate, who has refused repeated calls to resign after writing a Sept. 11 memorial poem criticized as anti-Semitic. Legislation giving the governor the authority to end Amiri Baraka's two-year term could be introduced as early as Monday, McGreevey said Sunday. Last month, McGreevey demanded Baraka's resignation after the poet read 'Somebody Blew Up America' at an August festival. Then he tried to fire him, but the attorney general ruled he did not have the authority. The poem, written in October 2001, refers to an oft-repeated but long-discredited rumor, saying: 'Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers to stay home that day? Why did Sharon stay away?'"
N.J. Poet Strikes Back at Critics, By Michael Weissenstein, Newsday, October 17, 2002 "Stung by accusations of anti-Semitism, New Jersey poet laureate [and African-American] Amiri Baraka struck back at critics from the stage of a downtown poetry cafe, saying he wanted to know 'why the Anti-Defamation League is not registered as an agent of a foreign power.' The Jewish civil rights organization and the governor of New Jersey have called for Baraka's resignation over his poem, 'Somebody Blew Up America,' which implies that Israel had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks. In a nearly hour-long monologue and question-and-answer session Thursday at the Bowery Poetry Club, Baraka criticized Israeli and Jewish groups' involvement in U.S. politics and reiterated that he would not give up his post ... New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey has sought Baraka's resignation as official state poet. A pending bill in the state legislature would give the state Council for the Humanities authority to remove the laureate. The title cannot currently be rescinded. Baraka also blasted McGreevey for appointing Golan Cipel, an Israeli national, as his unpaid liaison to New Jersey Jews. 'In New Jersey, there is an Israeli national shaping the opinion of the state's Jewish community,' Baraka said."
