McGreevey: I have no money for alimony

ELIZABETH, N.J. - As governor, Jim McGreevey lived in luxury. But, it was a life mostly paid for by others - chiefly taxpayers.

That was the picture McGreevey painted on the stand yesterday as he tried to convince the judge in his divorce case that he can't afford to pay his estranged wife alimony.

In fact, McGreevey said that it was his wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, who paid for their wedding and honeymoon.

Matos McGreevey, 41, claims that her time as New Jersey's first lady was cut short after her husband said he had had a gay affair. Now she wants him to pay for the lifestyle she would have enjoyed had he not resigned in disgrace in 2004. The McGreeveys split just months later.

The couple is fighting over alimony and child support. They have agreed on custody of their only child, Jacqueline, 6.

McGreevey - a former prosecutor - testified Wednesday that he is all but unemployable because of the sex scandal and ongoing publicity.

Now an Episcopal seminary student, McGreevey said he is in financial ruin. He said he owes a prior divorce lawyer at least $116,000, and has not paid his first ex-wife any child support this year.

He said he lives in a house owned by his lover, Mark O'Donnell, and relies on him to to pay legal bills and lifestyle expenses.

Matos McGreevey, a hospital executive who earns about $82,000 a year, is slated to lose her job next month when the hospital closes. *