Marty Small: New rider in Atlantic City’s mayor-go-round
ATLANTIC CITY >> Marty Small intends on bringing big changes to Atlantic City, where yet another political corruption scandal has propelled him to the office he has sought for so long.
Small, the City Council president, became acting mayor Friday, a day after Frank Gilliam Jr., a fellow Democrat, admitted stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball club he founded, and resigned.
It was the latest spin of the mayoral wheel in this seaside gambling resort, where political corruption has such a long, rich history that HBO created an award-winning TV series about it, “Boardwalk Empire.” Though the show, starring Steve Buscemi, dealt with Atlantic City’s turn-ofthe-century misconduct, the tradition has lived on for decades.
As recently as 2007, four of the city’s last eight mayors had been arrested on corruption charges and one-third of the nine-member City Council was either in prison or under house arrest.
And Small himself was indicted twice — and acquitted twice — of election fraud-related charges in prosecutions he maintains were politically motivated.
At his swearing-in ceremony Friday, Small said he comes to the job with clean hands and intends to keep them that way.
“I’m going to follow the law at all times,” he declared.
Small, the veteran City Council member, has long been considered a potential mayor in this solidly Democratic city. But several previous runs for office fell short, including his last one, a bitterly fought primary contest with Gilliam in 2017.
As council president, Small joined forces and worked hard with Gilliam’s Republican predecessor, Don Guardian, to try to fight off a state takeover that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, succeeded in imposing.
Ending that takeover is one of Small’s main goals — provided he survives the process of picking a medium-term replacement for Gilliam. The city Democratic committee must nominate three choices to the City Council, which will install one as mayor to serve until the general election of 2020.