Who would be mayor if Milan is convicted?

By KIM MAIALETTI
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

As the federal corruption case against Mayor Milton Milan heads to a jury, the focus in City Hall is shifting to who would take over the top post should Milan be convicted.

However, there is debate within the legal community about exactly when the mayor would be required to forfeit his seat, if convicted.

An elected official convicted of a third-degree crime or higher, or of a crime that touches the official's office, does not have to relinquish the position until sentencing, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice.

Yet city attorney Dennis Kille and Superior Court Judge Francis J. Orlando said Milan could be required to give up his seat immediately following a jury's guilty verdict.

In either case, a court order would be necessary to remove the mayor.

"The judge has an option as to whether or not he would remove the mayor from office on the spot or wait until a later date," Kille said, adding he would expect a motion to be submitted immediately upon any judgment of guilt.

Such a motion likely would be filed with Orlando, who cited a state statute that mandates the court order a mayor to be removed immediately after a guilty verdict or guilty plea.

But Emily Hornaday, spokeswoman for the state Division of Criminal Justice, said a guilty verdict is not official until sentencing.

Nonetheless, Kille said, City Council President Gwendolyn Faison immediately would become the acting mayor if Milan is required to forfeit his seat.

City Council would then have 30 days to appoint someone to the position; otherwise, Faison would remain in the seat until the May 8 municipal election, when voters will select a new leader for the next four years.

To further complicate matters, the state Local Finance Board would have final say over who runs the city during the interim period because Camden is under state supervision, Hornaday said.

Milan is standing trial on 19 charges, including accepting favors, gifts and cash from vendors and associates of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia; laundering drug money; and attempting to extort a campaign contribution. The defense rested its case Friday and the jury is expected to begin deliberations Dec. 12.

Three of Camden's past five mayors, including Milan, during the last 20 years have faced corruption charges.

Former mayor and state Sen. Angelo Errichetti was convicted in September 1980 of bribery and conspiracy for his involvement in Abscam, a corruption sting in which FBI agents posed as wealthy Arabs offering bribes for legislative favors.

Errichetti had 10 months left in his second term as mayor when he was convicted. He was not sentenced until August 1981, so he was permitted to complete his mayoral term. He was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $40, 000.

In 1999, former mayor Arnold W. Webster was sentenced to six months of house arrest and ordered to repay more than $ 20,000 in salary that he illegally collected from the Board of Education while he was mayor.

Webster was mayor from 1994 to 1997 and school superintendent from 1986 to 1994.