Secret Dec.10th Meeting at Gov's Mansion Charted Future of Atlantic City

Excerpts from article

 On Dec. 10, Frank Formica and Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson drove together to Drumthwacket, outside Princeton.

There, they met with state Senate President Steve Sweeney and the 2nd District legislative team, Sen. Jim Whelan and Assemblymen Chris Brown and Vince Mazzeo. Egea and Christie Chief Counsel Tom Scrivo were also there, along with Camden County insurance executive George Norcross and Morris County real estate developer Jon Hanson.

Christie wasn’t there. Neither was Atlantic City mayor Don Guardian, or anyone else representing Atlantic City government.

For three hours, the group discussed Atlantic City’s issues, its problems, possible solutions and assets.

It’s quite possible the word “takeover” was never used that day. And Whelan and Mazzeo have since said they were surprised when, a month later, a draft takeover bill was circulated in Trenton. But Sweeney, who ran the Dec. 10 meeting, scoffed at the suggestion that everyone didn’t know what was being discussed, and what would happen next.

“Think about who was in the room. How dramatic and how serious we were about the problem,” Sweeney said. “So anybody thinking this was a surprise as everyone acted, everyone knew about this. They might not have seen the bill. But we all had a conversation about it.”

Parsing the guest list

A lot has happened in the nearly two months since the meeting at Drumthwacket.

Sweeney introduced legislation to take over Atlantic City’s governmental functions. Emergency Manager Kevin Lavin issued his final report on the city’s fiscal crisis and identified what he said would be a $303 million budget shortfall over the next five years if no state rescue occurs.

Angry at being excluded from discussions about the city’s future, Guardian and City Council threatened to take the city into bankruptcy.

Eventually, after the fingerpointing and posturing, city officials and state lawmakers started talking about what needs to be done. But resentment and distrust linger over how the city’s fate is being decided.

 “How the hell is it that all white folks can go to Drumthwacket to decide what is good and bad for Atlantic City?” asked Atlantic County Freeholder Ernest Coursey, who is black. Coursey, a lifelong city resident and former councilman, said he found most galling the fact that power brokers and businessmen such as Norcross and Hanson were there at the table.

It’s common for elected officials of both parties and representatives from the executive branch to meet when developing policy for complex issues, said Montclair State University political science and law professor Brigid Harrison, of Longport. Such meetings can be healthy and productive.

But she sees problems with the Drumthwacket meeting. The invitation of Norcross, a non-elected official with no relationship to the resort, and the exclusion of the city’s elected officials were bound to raise suspicions, she said.

“I think that when you look at how this takeover is occurring and how there are vested interests participating in the meeting in which this is planned, we know we’re in for another dose of the kind of corrupt and patronage-oriented development that tends to benefit a few vested interests but in the long term doesn’t bring broad economic rewards,” Harrison said.

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