Jim McGettigan

In last year’s election for Atlantic County executive, Sheriff Jim McGettigan, a Democrat, lost to incumbent Republican Dennis Levinson by a margin of nearly 2-1. 

The race was largely seen as a disaster for McGettigan, who despite being well-funded by Democrats hoping to topple the state’s only Republican county executive, made one campaign misstep after another.  He wound up losing by a margin that he had won by in his five past sheriff’s races.

This year, Republicans are hoping that the unsuccessful county executive race took enough of a toll on McGettigan’s popularity to put his 15 year hold on the sheriff’s office to an end.  And they’ve fielded Pleasantville Administrative Captain Frank Balles, who’s never sought elected office before, to make it happen. 

“It definitely made him more vulnerable.  It exposed him,” said Balles, who started mulling the sheriff’s bid before McGettigan announced his county executive candidacy. “The problem is that the common citizen has no idea what the sheriff’s department actually does.”

In Atlantic County, the tangled web of friendships and political alliances has reared its ugly head again.

Today’s example is Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, whose good friend Frank Barbera, a real estate broker and former Atlantic County GOP treasurer, was arrested earlier this week for allegedly paying bribes to disgraced former city council president Craig Callaway. Talk about Barbera being under federal investigation had circulated for months, and his suicide attempt last month only heightened expectations that he would soon be arrested.

Democrats hit Levinson hard this afternoon on behalf of his opponent, Sheriff Jim McGettigan, with County Chairman Ron Ruff calling Barbera his “closest confidant and fundraiser.”

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 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.

Atlantic County Freeholder Alisa Beth Cooper says he will push the GOP-controlled Freeholder Board to adopt Egg Harbor Township Mayor Joe Kuehner's online public records initiative.

Yesterday, Kuehner, the Democratic candidate for State Assembly in the poltically competitive 2nd district, announced his plan to make budget and payroll information free and easily available online. Kuehner's plan would cover state and local government.