The mayoral primary June 3 will choose a Republican and Democratic nominee to run against at least two independents (Joseph Polillo and Willie Norwood) in November. The winner serves the remaining year of Bob Levy’s unexpired four-year term. Here are the primary candidates.

REPUBLICAN

John McQueen, Jr.

McQueen, who runs unopposed, operates a bio-diesel fuel business. The former Special Improvement District director will implement “flexible employment opportunity programs” (FEOPs) with a database of part-time workers to replace full-timers. He supports a casino smoking ban and believes casino employees should be able to hold elected office if they meet a two-year residency requirement. He is against employing lobbyists.

McQueen’s major issue is implementing an alternative energy station and hybrid vehicle plan. It’s unclear where he stands on the needle exchange program, but he supports enforcing all laws, including immigration status, at the local level. “We must work together to stop the illegal intrusion into our government and municipalities,” he says. “We must continually enforce our ordinances on single-family units to maintain the integrity of our neighborhoods.”

DEMOCRATS

Atlantic City is the only New Jersey town to have more registered Democrats than independents and Republicans combined. There are three candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Dominic Cappella (www.cappellaformayor.com) “Straight talk, real change” is the slogan from the assistant business administrator. Cappella believes that casino employees should be allowed to run for office and wants smoking bans to come from Trenton or Washington. “To have any city council, not just Atlantic City, feel as though they have the right to regulate the daily operations of a private business is a dangerous precedent to set,” he says.

Cappella says a permanent legal department eliminates the corruption that comes with rewarding contracts on an as-needed basis. He is against employing lobbyists and promotes home ownership over public housing.

Cappella wants to improve roads, upgrade and reprogram the traffic control system and combine empty lots into larger tracts of land. He supports the needle exchange program and wants local law enforcement to stop the “silent invasion” of illegal immigration.

Cappella maintains there are too many employees and cell phones and says take-home vehicles should only be allowed for emergency personnel. He says, “I was accused of being an ‘obstacle’ by City Council for questioning everything I felt was unnecessarily costing the taxpayers… In this case, I’m happy to be an obstacle.”

Lorenzo T. Langford

Langford is the only candidate with both legislative and executive experience. He says he will erase “the stigma of ineptitude and corruption in government.” Casino employees who live here “should be afforded the same rights and privileges of every other citizen,” including the right to hold office, he says.

Langford does not believe the city should be responsible for enforcing immigration laws. He favors the needle exchange program and supports “compromise legislation” permitting smoking in designated areas.

Langford is in favor of the city employing lobbyists if they generate more money than they cost. He likes the way the taxicab and jitney franchises are regulated and stresses the need for an “overall management program” with regard to city infrastructure. He says he will re-implement a program from his previous term where one third of the streets are repaved each year.

Langford says his administration will restore integrity and improve the city’s reputation.

Scott Evans (www.scottevansmayor2008.com)

Evans recently said at a property tax phase-in meeting, “If I were mayor a year ago, we would not be in this mess.”

The Fire Department battalion chief, former Board of Education member and leader of the city’s Democratic Club is implementing a taxpayer trust fund and five-year phase-in of newly revaluated property taxes, two projects that are the first of their kind in New Jersey. (Independent Joseph Polillo first proposed the phase-in.)

Evans wants to improve and add to public housing and enforce stricter landlord regulations. He favors a casino smoking ban and the needle exchange program and wants to have low-level casino employees (but not management) stand for elected office. He is in favor of eminent domain.

Though he is reneging on his initial pledge not to run for mayor, Evans says, “I’m just getting the hang of the (relationship between) Council and the mayor’s office.” He says he wants to bring transparency to government and tax relief to citizens.

By Jesse Kurtz

Jesse O. Kurtz is managing editor of The Atlantic City Scoop (http://cityofatlantic.wordpress.com), a blog dedicated to politics in the big city. He can be reached at JesseOKurtz@gmail.com