Dennis Levinson

In the ever-nasty Atlantic County Executive Race, both candidates think their opponent needs to issue an apology.

In a press release today, Democratic Sheriff and County Executive candidate Jim McGettigan joined Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Ron Ruff in calling on Republican incumbent Dennis Levinson to apologize for “injecting racism” into the County Executive campaign.

Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson today expressed his strong disappointment over Sheriff Jim McGettigan’s refusal to apologize for repeating an ethnic slur during a candidate’s forum in Brigantine last Saturday. McGettigan used the term “wetback” in response to a question on illegal immigration.

In Atlantic County, Democrats are trying to pry the only Republican county executive seat in the state out of GOP hands.

That seat belongs to Dennis Levinson, a former history teacher in Atlantic City who’s facing Democrat Sheriff Jim McGettigan in a race that might be the best show of the summer if you’re into political mudslinging. With over three months to go before the next election, the race has already seen its fair share of volatile exchanges, including Dick Cheneyesque moment and a Nazi comparison.

South Jersey Democrats see taking Levinson’s seat as a natural progression. They’ve been encouraged by a number of party defections and by coming within a few hundred votes of winning a majority on the freeholder board. Levinson, who’s served since 2000, went unchallenged in the last election.

“In a way there’s been a change in the last four years in Atlantic County,” said Ron Ruff, the county’s Democratic Chairman. “We’ve become more energized.”

But Republicans insist that their woes in the last election were mainly due to an anti-Bush backlash, and imply that McGettigan is a tool of the South Jersey Democratic machine.

Atlantic County Republican chairman Keith A. Davis said today that the refusal of County Sheriff and Democrat candidate for county executive Jim McGettigan to talk to reporters “is an unmistakable signal that his political handlers are fearful that he will continue to utter outrageous and ill-informed comments which demonstrate his failure to understand government and its functions.”

Atlantic County Sheriff and Democratic County Executive candidate James McGettigan took a more subtle approach in his race against Republican incumbent Dennis Levinson today, criticizing him without once mentioning his name.

In a press release, McGettigan pledged his support for pay-to-play reforms under consideration by the Atlantic County Freeholders – reforms that were introduced to the board by Levinson in January. McGettigan had a few to add, however.

The “porn lawyer” that James McGettigan criticized Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson for hiring is actually McGettigan’s labor counsel.

Yesterday, Atlantic County Sheriff James McGettigan, who is Levinson’s Democratic challenger this fall, said he was “outraged” that the county hired a lawyer who advises the adult entertainment industry. But the lawyer, Eric Bernstein, said he was hired by the county to work primarily on McGettigan’s behalf.

"I cannot understand the Sheriffs issues with me as I have, and still serve him as his labor counsel. I personally advised him of my involvement in the adult entertainment industry years ago", said Bernstein.

McGettigan’s press release, which stated that “the public has a right to know why and how the Levinson Administration hired this porn lawyer, and whether he’s representing us on our dime, not pornographers” was just the latest salvo in what has become an especially nasty race.

Atlantic County Sheriff James McGettigan says GOP County Executive Dennis Levinson showed poor judgment when he used taxpayer funds to hire a lawyer for works for harcore pornography websites to serve as a labor attorney.

McGettigan, the Democratic candidate for County Executive, said that lawyer Eric Bernstein "moderates chat.ynotmasters.com, a website dispensing free legal advice to pornographers. Chat.ynotmasters.com is billed as the ultimate adult webmaster resource site, and is a one-stop-shop for peddlers of the online hardcore pornography industry."

The key battleground of the 2007 general election will be in Atlantic County, where two-term GOP County Executive Dennis Levinson faces a strong challenge from Democrat James McGettigan, the three-term Sheriff.

In the second legislative district, which includes nearly all of Atlantic County, State Senator James “Sonny” McCullough, a Republican who won a Special Election Convention to replace Bill Gormley in February, faces Democratic Assemblyman James Whelan, the former Mayor of Atlantic City.

There are two open Assembly seats in the second, where seven-term Republican Frank Blee, who lost the Senate race to McCullough and is now backing Whelan, is not seeking re-election. Republicans are running former Linwood City Councilman John Amodeo and Vincent Polistina, who runs an Egg Harbor Township engineering firm. The Democrats are Egg Harbor City Mayor Joseph Kuehner and former Claridge casino counsel Blondell Spellman.

Also at stake is control of the Atlantic County Board of Freeholders, where Republicans currently have a 5-4 majority. Two Democratic seats and one GOP seat are up this fall.

Atlantic County Executive candidate Jim McGettigan fired off the latest volley in his battle against incumbent Dennis Levinson.

McGettigan, the Atlantic County Sheriff, assailed Levinson for accepting donations from county auditors, arguing that they had done nothing to alleviate county taxes and were only hired because they gave campaign donations to Republicans. He cited that the firm Ford Scott Seidenburg & Kennedy donated $11,000 to Levinson and other county Republicans since 2000.

While South Jersey Democrats don't often worry about fundraising, the incumbent GOP Atlantic County Executive has a substantially larger warchest than his Democratic rival. Dennis Levinson has more than $400,000 cash-on-hand, while challenger James McGettigan, the Atlantic County Sheriff, has raised less than $1,000.

Republicans have held the Atlantic County Executive post since Richard Squires ousted Charles Worthington in 1983. The race to defend the sole surviving Republican County Executive (just five years ago, there were GOP County Executives in Bergen, Essex and Mercer counties) is expected to be one of the premier races of 2007.