Atlantic City Mayor Resigns Two Weeks After Going Missing

Atlantic City Mayor Robert Levy plans to resign as early as today amid a federal investigation into allegations he profited from embellishing his military service record, according to two people who have been briefed on his plans.

The people declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss Levy's plans.

The mayor's resignation would end one piece of the strange saga that has become Levy's administration. This week, he returned to the seaside resort after an abrupt disappearance Sept. 26 and subsequent questions about who was responsible for running Atlantic City in his absence.

A resignation, though, would do nothing to Levy's trouble with federal law-enforcement officials who suspect the mayor lied on government forms about suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and having received a Combat Infantryman's Badge, a medal given to soldiers who participate in active ground combat.

Well, he apparently checked himself into a mental health facility at about the time he went missing, which does nothing to protect him against the federal prosecution for embellishing his military record with medals he never received.

Also missing? His party affiliation. Why is it so damned difficult for a media outlet to provide that tiny detail? It is such a simple thing to do, and yet omitting the party affiliation seems to be a standard operating procedure when largely dealing with one party and not the other.