Vol. 4, No. 10, October 2007
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Politics and Bread Pudding
October in Atlantic City means cool air. It also means hot air.
Yes, that’s right, the political season is upon us. It’s time to get down and dirty and partisan, and to examine our choices among a dying breed: those local politicians who meet all of our normal high standards. In other words, those not in jail, and, as a possible bonus, never indicted.
The biggest race this fall is a novel one, in that the vacancy was not created after someone resigned in disgrace. It is the state Senate vacancy created when Bill Gormley, long a friend to the casino industry, retired earlier this year. It pits James “Sonny” McCullough, the Egg Harbor Township mayor and familiar political figure who now fills Gormley’s seat as acting senator; and Assemblyman James Whelan, the former Democratic mayor of Atlantic City who is in his second year as a state lawmaker.
This is the most-watched race, if you happen to be a race-watcher. As Roger Gros mentions in his analysis beginning on page 24, the state Senate seat from this district has exercised much influence over the years in Trenton, where Gormley was known as a champion of Atlantic City’s interests.
Because of that, we sat down with each of the candidates for a question-and-answer session involving some of the hot-button issues facing Atlantic City. You’ll find their answers starting on page 20.
The race for two state Assembly seats from District 2 involves four relative unknowns in state politics. Don’t worry, though—
Casino Connection has you covered. In the feature beginning on page 24, you will find a synopsis of who each candidate is, followed by each candidate’s answers to several questions concerning issues impacting Atlantic City, like VLTs at racetracks (we hate them), the partial smoking ban (does it really ban partial smoking?) and the job cuts causing controversy at a certain casino, which is expected to announce soon that all its gambling will be self-serve.
Speaking of self-serve, we’ve got a buffet feature in this issue. (I live for segues like that, by the way.) Yes, politics are not the only thing we think about in October. We also think about paying one low price for the privilege of cramming as much food down our gullet as will possibly fit.
We used to do these every year at the old
Atlantic City Insider newsletter. We did the buffet tour in November, right before the holidays, and by January, I looked like Sydney Greenstreet in
The Maltese Falcon.
Joseph Harrison gets combat pay for this issue, for his exemplary service in visiting each and every buffet establishment in the city and sampling the food. His gastric adventures are outlined in the form of buffet reviews beginning on page 42.
Finally, we get artsy this issue. Felicia Lowenstein Niven gives us a rundown beginning on page 34 of everything South Jersey has to offer in the way of theater, ballet, museums, fine music, dance, and biker bars. (OK, I made the last one up.)
Yes, we have culture for all in this area, from high-society stuff like the ballet all the way to Ripley’s, a place where you can see a film of a man smoking a cigarette through his eye-hole.
Even our other feature, on this month’s opening of the new trauma center and patient tower at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (page 28), gets artsy. The region’s newest medical facility almost impersonates a museum by itself, with hundreds of works, mostly from New Jersey artists, adorning the walls and public spaces throughout a new facility that itself is a model of the state of the medical arts.
So, for October, use this issue as your guide to getting down and dirty and political, and then getting artsy. And then, if you have any time left, go wolf down a buffet.
