Atlantic City casino union boss calls for Prieto’s resignation

The head of Atlantic City's main casino workers union says Vincent Prieto should resign as speaker of the New Jersey Assembly for being unable to deliver on an aid package for the struggling resort.

Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union, said Monday that Prieto can no longer lead the Assembly because he has been unable to muster votes in his own chamber for a bill he put forth to help Atlantic City.

"It's May, and we're almost in June, and he's held up the entire plan to save Atlantic City since January," McDevitt said. "He sat on his own bill, then the day he posted it, he backed down. It's a disgrace. He's destroying the future of my city."

Tom Hester, a spokesman for Assembly Democrats, said McDevitt "is way, way out of step with organized labor when it comes to that sentiment."

The Democrat-led Assembly and the Senate have been at odds for months over how best to help Atlantic City.

A bill from Senate President Steve Sweeney and backed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie would let the state take over Atlantic City's finances in under six months. Prieto's plan would give the city up to two years to right itself.

The Assembly Judiciary committee was scheduled to consider changes to the Assembly's Atlantic City bill Monday afternoon.

"The bottom line is Atlantic City can self-govern for 150 days and then they have to come up with a plan," said Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo, an Atlantic City-area Democrat.

The Assembly speaker objects to the Senate measure because it would let the state unilaterally cancel union contracts for public employees much more quickly than his bill.

On May 5, Prieto failed in an attempt to have his bill voted on in the Assembly when a handful of lawmakers did not show up to vote. He has said he will try for a new bill acceptable to both houses, but one has yet to be proposed.

Atlantic City is on the verge of going broke. Its finances have worsened over the past 10 years as its casino industry contracted; four of its 12 casinos shut down in 2014, and casino revenue plunged from $5.2 billion in 2006 to $2.56 billion last year.

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