Posted on Thu, Aug. 25, 2011
Democrat James Whelan, an Atlantic City official for nearly two decades, is running for reelection against Vince Polistina, a two-term Republican Assemblyman who contends his opponent has failed the resort.
Whelan describes himself as a leader in helping to bring non-gaming attractions to Atlantic City and boosting the struggling casino industry.
Polistina has an unusual ally in Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford, a bitter rival of Whelan's who lost two mayoral races to him before winning in 2001.
After initially speaking in support of Polistina, the Democratic mayor has filed to run for the Senate as an independent, which is sure to siphon votes from Whelan in a heavily Democratic town where voters are unlikely to pay much attention to a GOP candidate.
Langford did not return calls from The Inquirer, but he has said that he will decide whether to run at the end of the summer. He sent out invitations this week to a $250-a-head fund-raiser in mid-September at the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel.
Langford is in the race "solely to help Polistina . . . because he doesn't like me," Whelan said last week.
The Senate seat is in the Second Legislative District, which covers most of Atlantic County. It became more competitive after a commission redrew its boundaries in the spring based on population figures in the 2010 census.
The new political map favored Democrats, who control the Legislature, and no one expects November's election for all 120 seats in the statehouse to change the party's dominance. But Gov. Christie, a Republican, considers the district important and plans to help the Polistina campaign, according to one GOP source.
The governor has taken a significant interest in revitalizing Atlantic City since he announced a plan last summer to create a tourism district run by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, loosen certain casino regulations, and make other changes.
Whelan, who chairs the Senate gaming committee, and Polistina both voted to enact those plans, and Christie would have an eager partner in carrying out his proposals to improve the resort whichever of them won.
"Both of them recognize [gaming] is the most important industry in the district. . . . So when we're talking about their differences, we're not seeing huge ideological differences," said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University.
Polistina, 40, who owns an engineering firm, has accused Whelan of lacking leadership and initiative to address the resort's problems.
During a recent walk along South Georgia Avenue, he gestured at a blighted stretch of deteriorated buildings, cracked sidewalks, and vacant land between Boardwalk Hall and the Ducktown Tavern.
Thirty-five years after casinos were approved "and billions of dollars later, this is what you've got in the center of town," said Polistina, who lives in Egg Harbor Township. "It's atrocious."
He says he wants demolition of blighted buildings, increased marketing of Atlantic City as a family destination, greater focus on non-gaming attractions, and stronger police presence.
"With all the years [Whelan] had as councilman, mayor, and [legislator], he is the person the most responsible for not getting this stuff done," Polistina said. "Out of anybody you could think of, he has been in positions where he could have gotten change under way."
He also had sharp words for Langford, a city councilman for most of the 1990s and mayor from 2002 to 2005 before beginning a second term in 2008. All city officials share in the blame for the resort's problems, Polistina said.
Langford has criticized the Christie administration for practicing "modern-day apartheid" because the tourism district excludes black neighborhoods. He called Whelan a traitor for supporting it, yet he supported Polistina before he began to consider his own Senate candidacy.
Whelan, 62, entered politics in 1982 as an Atlantic City councilman and served as mayor from 1990 to 2001. The high school swimming teacher entered the Assembly in 2006 and the Senate in 2008.
He is such a familiar name locally that when he knocked on doors in Egg Harbor Township and introduced himself to residents one recent evening, many enthusiastically replied, "I know who you are."
Whelan says he has been instrumental in some of Atlantic City's biggest successes, such as the Walk - a stretch of outlet stores that is a major attraction - and the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, whose opening in 2003 has drawn richer tourists.
Whelan has worked closely with the Christie administration on the tourism district, and he said he was in regular contact with developers about Atlantic City.
In an interview last week, Whelan said he had talked that day with the chief executive of Revel Entertainment to ensure that its casino project was on track. State approval in February of $261 million in tax breaks for Revel revived the stalled project and put union members back to work.
He said he had also spoken that day with people from Hard Rock International. The company is looking to open a boutique casino made possible with legislation Whelan sponsored that would allow hotels with gambling to have fewer than 500 guest rooms, a requirement under the original gaming law in the 1970s.
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