McGettigan wants to get rid of ‘Wetbacks’ By VIRGINIA McCABE Atlantic County Sheriff Jim McGettigan said he wanted to get rid of “wetbacks,” Saturday referring to Mexicans who have crossed over the boarder illegally. The comment came at the Brigantine Taxpayer’s Association meeting where he and Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson were competing for votes in the November General Election for the county executive seat. “A elderly man in the audience asked the sheriff what he would do about “wetbacks,” said Levinson. After the sheriff used the word a few times I told him that he was using a pejorative term. McGettigan asked me if I thought this was Star Wars,” said Levinson. The Republicans in attendance said they taped the debate, it is unclear if they would be using the racist slur in the election. McGettigan did not immediately return a call placed to his cell phone on Saturday. The sheriff has had a choppy start in his bid for election. In a radio interview with a reporter, when pressed to say how much his departmental budget was, he said $3 million. His budget is $10 million prompting Levinson to say that he was unfit to run the county if he did not know his own budget. McGettigan also made a statement on the record that Levinson could “go f*ck himself and that he is a pathological liar,” prompting another bad week of publicity for the sheriff. McGettigan distributed a press release calling for the firing of a labor attorney who also represents legal pornographers. Levinson pointed out the attorney worked almost exclusively for McGettigan for years and was the lowest bidder in the request for proposal process. The attorney issued a press release stating that McGettigan has known for years that he represented people in the adult entertainment industry and he stated that McGettigan questioned him about porn star Jenna Jamison. On Saturday, Levinson said in a phone interview that he was stunned to hear McGettigan using that language. “He’s the gift that just keeps on giving,” said Levinson. |