{"id":128019,"date":"2020-02-25T08:28:12","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T16:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=128019"},"modified":"2020-02-25T10:21:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T18:21:23","slug":"new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey Has No Powers to Reject Casino-Backed Referendum to Remodel Atlantic City Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state of New Jersey would not have the powers to ignore Atlantic City voters should they approve a casino-backed initiative<\/a> to radically remodel city government at a public referendum next month.<\/p>\n

\"Atlantic
Under the proposed municipal manager model of city government, the role and powers of Mayor Marty Small (pictured) and those who follow him would be curtailed. (Image: 660 News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Previously, officials at the state\u2019s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) suggested the result of the March 31 citywide ballot could be rejected under 2016 takeover legislation known as the Municipal Stabilization and Recovery Act (MSRA). This gave the department powers over the city\u2019s affairs, including advisory authority over initiative and referendum efforts.<\/p>\n

But according to The Press of Atlantic City<\/em>, the state\u2019s powers do not extend to rejecting the referendum result because the initiative to change the nature of government was introduced under a completely different state statute.<\/p>\n

City Council President George Tibbitt told POAC<\/em> he had been informed by DCA Deputy Commissioner Rob Long that the department could not treat the referendum result as purely advisory.<\/p>\n

Mayoral Role Reduced<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The campaign, known as \u201cAtlantic City Residents for Good Government,\u201d (ACRGG)\u00a0is backed by Unite Here Local 54 casino workers union, Resorts Casino owner Morris Bailey, and Ray Lesniak, the former state senator who spearheaded New Jersey\u2019s years-long legal battle for sports betting.<\/p>\n

ACRGG argues that the adoption of a \u201cmunicipal-manager\u201d form of government would dramatically reduce corruption among city officials.<\/p>\n

Under the municipal-manager model, the mayor is largely a figurehead selected by the council, rather than a directly elected head of government. The council serves as the elected legislative body, while the municipal manager is the governing body\u2019s chief adviser. The municipal manager can be fired by a majority of elected council members.<\/p>\n

\n

Atlantic City\u2019s last mayor, Frank Gilliam Jr., pleaded guilty to wire fraud last year after admitting to stealing money from a youth basketball team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He upholds a longstanding tradition: in 2007, when Mayor Robert Levy admitted to defrauding the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs, the Associated Press<\/em> reported that four of the city\u2019s previous eight mayors had been booked on corruption charges, and one third of the city\u2019s council members were either in prison or under house arrest.<\/p>\n

\u2018Malfeasance\u2019 Claim<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The signature-gathering campaign to get the issue on the ballot was controversial. It was initially rejected by the City Clerk\u2019s Office on the grounds that only 699 of the 3,000 signatures submitted were valid.<\/p>\n

ACRGG claimed this \u201creeks of malfeasance\u201d and threatened legal action.<\/p>\n

A week later, the city backtracked on the petition. On January 16, Mayor Marty Small conceded that the campaign \u201cappeared\u201d to have enough signatures to force the March referendum.<\/p>\n

But a lawsuit<\/a> filed by the Atlantic City Democratic Committee (ACDC) in New Jersey\u2019s Super Court on February 10 seeks to halt the referendum \u2013 and it returns to the question of the validity of those signatures<\/p>\n

Among the lawsuit\u2019s claims are that Red Cloud Strategies, the company hired to organize the signature-gathering campaign, paid staff based on the number of signatures obtained, rather than by the hour.<\/p>\n

It also complains that signature-gatherers wore badges suggesting they represented the Democratic Party and not Red Cloud, and that some \u201clied or misrepresented their identities.\u201d<\/p>\n

A court hearing has been scheduled for March 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The state of New Jersey would not have the powers to ignore Atlantic City voters should they approve a casino-backed initiative to radically remodel city government at a public referendum next month. Previously, officials at the state\u2019s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) suggested the result of the March 31 citywide ballot could be rejected under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":128024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Jersey Has No Powers to Reject Casino-Backed Referendum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Atlantic City Residents for Good Government initiative to adopt municipal manager form of Atlantic City government cannot be ignored if successful at ballot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Jersey Has No Powers to Reject Casino-Backed Referendum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atlantic City Residents for Good Government initiative to adopt municipal manager form of Atlantic City government cannot be ignored if successful at ballot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-25T16:28:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-25T18:21:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/marty-small.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/\",\"name\":\"New Jersey Has No Powers to Reject Casino-Backed Referendum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/marty-small.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-25T16:28:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-25T18:21:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Atlantic City Residents for Good Government initiative to adopt municipal manager form of Atlantic City government cannot be ignored if successful at ballot\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-jersey-has-no-powers-to-reject-casino-backed-referendum\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/marty-small.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/marty-small.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Under the proposed municipal manager model of city government, the role and powers of Mayor Marty Small (pictured) and those who follow him would be curtailed. 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