Marsh pledges to restore faith in A.C.
The new acting mayor, who was sworn in yesterday to replace Bob Levy, is familiar with hardball politics.
In Atlantic City's second fluky transition of power in two years, William "Speedy" Marsh was sworn in at midafternoon yesterday as the city's acting mayor, pledging that "every spirit of mind and body that I possess will be directed into restoring a faith and confidence in administrative government."
He takes on one of the most demanding jobs in New Jersey politics.
"He's going to have a tough charge," said Damon Tyner, an Atlantic City lawyer and friend.
Marsh knows hardball politics. Once an ally of the political machine of now-jailed Craig Callaway, Marsh broke with it and was subjected to heckling at public events - "bogus charges and slanderous flyers," Tyner recalled.
Marsh's friends say his demeanor will help him take on his new challenge. He has a ready smile and is widely viewed as a mild-mannered leader with a strong hand when necessary.
"One thing that will set him aside is he likes to bring in everyone," said Delois Campbell, a former acting Atlantic City schools superintendent who worked with Marsh.
Elected to the Atlantic City Council in 2002, Marsh rallied the body and became its president in 2006.
Born in rural Washington, N.C., Marsh, 54, moved into Atlantic City's tough Northeast Inlet neighborhood when he was a teenager. He graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham and earned a master's degree in education from Cheyney University.
He gets his nickname, "Speedy," from his basketball days, and he remains active in youth athletics. He was a longtime civic leader and president of the local NAACP.
Marsh coordinated adult and community education for the public schools for nearly 20 years. Both he and Lorenzo Langford, who later would become mayor, lost their school jobs in what the City Council said were budget cuts. They sued the city, and received an $850,000 settlement in 2002. The state Supreme Court reversed it and ordered them to pay the money back.
Marsh and his wife, Bennyé, have one son, Christopher.
Marsh succeeds Mayor Bob Levy, who resigned yesterday after disappearing for two weeks and checking himself in to the Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead.
Levy is reportedly under federal investigation after radio personality Harry Hurley first reported that he had pumped up his military resume to increase his pension.
Like Marsh, Levy arrived in the mayor's office via an unusual route. When Callaway, the former Atlantic City Council president now jailed on corruption charges, quit the 2005 mayor's race after learning he was under federal scrutiny, he put up Levy for the office.
Yesterday, Marsh began his administration quietly. After his brief statement, he slipped through a back door in the council chamber. He declined to answer questions, saying: "There's so much to do . . . give me 24 hours."