34 United States The EconomistOctober 12th 2019
2F
rank gilliam, AtlanticCity’s mayor,
solicited donations to a non-profit
youthbasketballclubheco-founded.He
promisedthemoneywouldgotohelping
underprivilegedchildren.Insteadhede-
fraudedcontributorsof$87,000,whichhe
spentondesignerclothes,expensivemeals
andtrips.Hepledguiltyina federalcourt
onOctober3rdtofraudandresignedfrom
officehourslater.Hisdisgracebarelyregis-
teredamongthecity’sresidents.“Oh,we
have corrupt politicians,” said Matthew
Hale,a politicalscientistatSetonHallUni-
versityinSouthOrange,ofthecity’smind-
set.“ItmustbeTuesday.”
MrGilliamisthesixthmayorsincethe
1970stoleaveofficeindisgrace.Fourofthe
pastninemayorshavebeenarrestedfor
graft.In 2007 a thirdofthenine-member
CityCouncilpledguiltytoreceivingbribes.
Thisfollowsmorethana centuryofpoliti-
calbosses,manyofthemcorrupt,associat-
ingwithmobsters,shakingdownconstitu-
entsandbusinessesaswellascontrolling
everything,includingwhogetsa job.
Whenelectedin 2017 MrGilliamwas
doggedbyallegationsofcampaign-finance
fraud.A judgedismissedthatcomplaintin
2018.InNovemberhewasinvolvedina fist-
fight outside anightclub at theGolden
Nuggetcasino.Thestatedeclinedtopress
charges.InDecemberthefbiandtheirs
raidedhishome.Perhapsthemostsurpris-
ingthingaboutMrGilliam’sdownfallwas
thatit resultedfromplainoldtheft.RightfromAtlanticCity’sbeginnings
“corruption was organic,” says Nelson
Johnson, a former judge and author of
“BoardwalkEmpire:TheBirth,HighTimes
andCorruptionofAtlanticCity”,whichin-
spiredanhboseriesofthesamename. The
cityisina lovelyspotonNewJersey’sshore
wherethe Lenni-Lenapetribe spentthe
summermonthsforcenturies.Originally
conceivedbya localdoctortobea health
resort,theislandflourishedonthepro-mise of a “naughty good time at an afford-
able price,” says Mr Johnson.
Louis “the Commodore” Kuehnle, ran
the city from 1890 to 1910. Under his watch
brothels, gambling dens and speakeasies
operated openly. The only time the police
intervened was when someone was late
with a payment. He eventually went to jail
for election fraud. His successor Enoch
“Nucky” Johnson ran the city and every-
thing else. After three decades he was de-
throned for tax evasion.
Atlantic City’s fortunes declined after
the second world war, as widespread car
ownership opened up other possibilities.
Two mayors were arrested for extortion in
the early 1970s. Some of the city’s glamour
came back after gambling was legalised in
1976, bringing in millions of fast dollars.
“There was a mismatch between the money
in the city and the size of the city itself (the
population is 38,000),” says Bryant Simon,
author of “Boardwalk of Dreams.”
Despite promises to keep gambling
clean, politicians kept getting into trouble.
Mayor Mike Matthews was arrested in 1983
for extortion. “Frankly, greed got the better
of me,” he said during his sentencing. His
successor, James Usry, the city’s first black
mayor, took bribes and broke campaign-fi-
nance law. In 2007 Bob Levy resigned as
mayor after disappearing for a spell. He lat-
er plead guilty to lying about his military
record to inflate his veteran benefits.
Reformers have a hard time and do not
tend to stay in office for long. By the time
Don Guardian, a Republican and techno-
crat, became mayor in 2014, the city had
lost its gambling monopoly. Casinos were
closing and the city was running out of
money. Despite his best efforts, the state
took over the city. Mr Guardian lost his re-
election bid to Mr Gilliam. And city politics
settled back into old habits. 7ATLANTICCITY,NEWJERSEY
AcorruptcitybytheseadealsitselfanotherbadhandAtlanticCityFixyourhairuppretty
A rumble out on the promenadecific rules at work, such as those governing
the provision of single-sex bathrooms.
Transgender activists are often too
quick to dismiss such fears. Responding to
a question from Justice Sonia Sotomayor
about how the law should respond to wom-
en who do not want to share bathrooms
with people who look a lot like men, a law-
yer for the American Civil Liberties Union,
which is representing all three gay and
trans plaintiffs, said this was not the ques-
tion before the court. It could address it, he
added, when it arose in a future case.
He also said that the available evidence
so far showed “no upheaval”. Given that
several states have already passed laws pro-
tecting trans employees from being fired,
this is a more convincing response. The
fear about shared bathrooms in part re-
flects how popular acceptance of transgen-
der rights lags behind that of gay rights.That is not surprising. According to data
from the Williams Institute, a think-tank at
ucla, there are around ten times as many
gay, lesbian or bisexual Americans as there
are trans ones. Gay marriage has largely
been accepted because most Americans
know a gay person; fewer have a transgen-
der acquaintance.
Mr Gorsuch is right that such questions
would be better hammered out by lawmak-
ers who, unlike Supreme Court justices, are
elected by the people. There, much will de-
pend on the outcome of next year’s elec-
tions. If the Democrats flip the Senate they
may pass the Equality Act, which would
ban discrimination against gay and trans
Americans in public and commercial life.
This passed the House in May, but stands
no chance of becoming law before 2020. In
the meantime, gay and transgender Ameri-
cans await the justices’ decision. 7