Whelan team calls for resignation of indicted officials
By EditorThe Democratic legislative candidates in the second district today called for the immediate resignations of the elected officials accused today in the Pleasantville, Essex, and Passaic corruption scandal.
"The elected officials named in today's indictment should resign immediately" said Assemblyman James Whelan, who is running for the State Senate. "This type of deplorable behavior cannot be tolerated. We need to send a clear message that these actions will not be accepted. The officials involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law. If convicted, their pensions should be seized, and any money illegally obtained should be returned to the taxpayers."
Among the group of public officials accused of accepting bribes in exchange for public contracts include five past and present members of the Pleasantville Board of Education, including Maurice "Pete" Callaway, the brother of former Atlantic City Councilman Craig Callaway.
Whelan, who desribes himself as a fervant opponent of the Callaway political machine while serving as Mayor of Atlantic City, said he led the effort to block a close Callaway ally -- former Pleasantville school board president Jayson Adams -- as a candidate for Atlantic County Freeholder. Whelan said he opposed Adams because of his association with Callaway and reports of questionable deals on the Pleasantville Board of Education. Adams was also indicted today.
"One of the main reasons I'm running for the Assembly is to help eliminate this conduct which breeds public distrust in our government," said Assembly candidate Joe Wilkins. "As an Assemblyman, I will fight for ethics reforms that will eliminate this kind of activity."
"I join with Assemblyman Whelan in demanding that anyone accused of these unacceptable activities immediately resign their office," said Wilkins' running mate, Blondell Spellman. "Elected officials must understand that even the appearance of impropriety is a legitimate cause for public concern. While presumed innocent, elected officials must hold themselves to a higher standard. The public deserves nothing less."
Whelan becomes the first Democratic legislator to seek the ouster of two of his colleagues, Assembly Deputy Speaker Alfred Steele and Assembly State Government Committee Chairman Mims Hackett.
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Bravo
Glad to see someone stand up to their own party, especially crooks like this.
"I find it shocking...shocking"
...that there is gambling going on at Rick's Cafe American" "Here are your winnings, sir." "Thank you"
Your kidding right
Jim Whelan has stood on the sidelines while the city he was once mayor of (AC) has had city councilman indicted and convicted. Never said a thing. And when the same people were hitting the streets, campaigning for him, Whelan acted more like Helen Keller than a sitting assemblyman. Now because we are in an election cycle, he has found his voice? One of the ones arrested today, is the brother of a sitting AC councilman who is currently sitting in prison for similar convictions. Give me a break. Do some research, look at what has been going on in pleasantville and ac, and if you can find one comment about it by Whelan, let me know. But make sure the article hasn't been post-dated. Whelan must go.
Jim's an idiot!!!
an arrest is not an indictment... maybe he would know the difference but for his NJ education.
Whelan didn't mind
Whelan didn't mind getting elected last time around to the Assembly with thousands of absentee/messenger ballots garnered by the Calloway gangsters. Yes, there was a time when Craig Calloway followed Whelan around and accused him of all sorts of wrongdoing. That"s ancient history. Just last year Whelan announced that he and Craig Calloway had put that in the past and were working together for the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Now, all of a sudden, Whelan has develope a case of Callowayphobia. Don"t worry Jim, you'll still have the millions of dollars that other political gang - Norcross and the Camden County Democrats - will provide. Hopefully, for the voters of Atlantic County who want to clean up the sewer of Calloway/Whelan politics, that won't be enough.
Whelan Can't Out Run His Connection to Callaway
The following statement was issued today by Atlantic County Republican chairman Keith A. Davis on the arrests of five current or former members of the Pleasantville Board of Education on corruption charges: Assemblyman Jim Whelan has become a long distance runner in trying to separate himself from the Callaway organization associates arrested today on public corruption charges, even though this same crew helped him get elected just two years ago. Whelan sought and accepted their support in his campaign for the Assembly then and today’s events have sent him on a desperate mission to re-write history and pretend he had nothing to do with any of them in order to salvage his Senate campaign. In 2005, the Whelan’s hand-picked Democrat County Chairman sent more than $75,000 to the Callaway group to work on Whelan’s behalf, securing support and operating get out the vote programs and their highly questionable messenger ballot schemes. The record is there for all to see and it’s indisputable. Whelan won his office with the help of these individuals and the truth is the truth no matter how hard he struggles to convince people otherwise. This year, we need wholesale reform in Trenton. We need to throw out politicians like Whelan who continue to play old Democrat city politics with the likes of the Callaway organization.