Small said the state takeover is a reality — the state Legislature recently passed a bill to extend it another four years — and any mayor needs to partner with the state, which Forkin said he would not do.
“Now that it happened, we have to turn the page and be professional,” Small said. “The war’s over, and they won.”
“We need a change in Atlantic City. We need integrity, honor, we need somebody to lead with ethical principles,” Whitehead said, calling himself a Navy veteran who worked for the White House in the past and “knows how to do things legally, ethically and be a true leader, not a gangster leader.”
But Small said Whitehead has not delivered on promises to bring thousands of high-tech jobs to the city, or his October 2020 announcement to hire 300 workers within months for his planned combination call center, data and cybersecurity facility called the RX5 EnVision Center.
ATLANTIC CITY — James “Jimmy” Whitehead, director of the RX5 Cyber Center on Atlantic Avenue…
“Believe me, we’re going to create 300-plus jobs,” Whitehead responded.
Panah, a candidate who did not qualify to participate in the debate but was in the audience during it, when asked what he thought the most important issue facing the city was, answered, “corruption.”
Panah, who was born in Afghanistan and came to the United States and went to medical school as a young man, moved to Atlantic City more than 20 years ago and started a medical practice. He has said he is frustrated with city leaders’ failure to help the city reach its full potential.
