Ronald Ruff

Atlantic County Democrats say they plan to ammend their party bylaws so that County Committee members convicted of a crime would automatically be removed from office. Ronald Ruff, the Democratic County Chairman, said today that he has sent certified letters to Craig Callaway, Ramon Rosario and Gibb Jones -- three former Atlantic City Councilmen who had been convicted on federal corruption charges this year -- requesting that they resign their party posts. "You are not welcome in our party," Ruff wrote. "This party has no place for those who violate the public trust."

In 1982, Trenton steakhouse owner Joseph "Jo-Jo" Giorgianni was convicted of molesting a fourteen year-old girl and almost avoided prison when his lawyers argued that at 565 pounds and suffering from asthma, he couldn't handle prison. A Judge actually bough the argument and Giorgianni remained free until he was videotaped in Atlantic City with a ringside seat at a boxing match -- surrounded what the Trentonian called "a cloud of cigar smoke." He eventually served three years in prison.

Now the convicted sex offender fancies himself as a political player. Three years ago he won election to the Republican County Committee in Trenton's North Ward. GOP Assemblyman Bill Baroni has called for his resignation, but local Republicans have declined to press the matter -- and interestingly, several key Mercer Democratic legislators and party officials have passed on making comment. Giorgianni apparently played a key role in the recent Trenton mayoral campaign, backing Mercer County Freeholder Tony Mack over incumbent Douglas Palmer, both Democrats.

Atlantic County Democrats have still not picked a new candidate for County Clerk. Incumbent Michael Garvin dropped his bid for a third term in July and the new County Chairman, Ronald Ruff, had promised a replacement by August 20. But divisions within the party -- Ruff ousted County Chairman James Carroll by just a handful of votes in June -- have made it more difficult for party leaders to settle on a candidate.

Sources say that four candidates are under consideration: Blondell Spellman, a former Assistant General Counsel and the Director of Human Resources for the Claridge Hotel Casino and an Adjuncy Profssor at The Richard Stockton College; former Atlantic City Council President Edward McGettigan; Northfield Mayor Frank Perri; and former Atlantic County Board of Elections Chairman Mark Stein.

McGettigan was the Republican candidate for Atlantic County Surrogate in 2005, but lost by 2,389 votes to James Carney, a Freeholder who had switched parties earlier that year. McGettigan is now a Democrat, joining his brother, Atlantic County Sheriff James McGettigan, who won re-election by 13,071 votes in the same election.

The Republican candidate is Sonya Harris, the Deputy Clerk of the Atlantic County Board of Freeholders.

Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Ronald Ruff promises that his party will select a new candidate for County Clerk by August 20. His candidate, two-term incumbent Michael Garvin, announced last week that he was dropping his bid for re-election. Three years ago, the Democrats picked Ruff's wife, Patricia Wild, a former deputy attorney general and legal counsel for Bally's casino, as their candidate for County Executive against incumbent Dennis Levinson. But Wild, citing a lack of financial support from the state party, dropped out of the race in May. Democrats, including Ruff, who was the party's Executive Director in 2003, spent three months promising to find another candidate, but in the end Levinson wound up running without opposition.