CORRECTED - Secaucus mayor in New Jersey graft probe resigns

By Joan Gralla and Ciara Linnane

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dennis Elwell, the Democratic mayor of Secaucus, New Jersey, has resigned following his arrest last week as part of a corruption probe that netted 44 people, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

The resignation is effective immediately, said Jeffrey Garrigan of Jersey City-based law firm Cammarata, Nulty & Garrigan LLC.

Elwell is the first elected New Jersey official to resign after federal investigators on July 23 announced the arrests of public officials, including three mayors, two state legislators and a group of prominent rabbis.

The arrests came after a 10-year investigation into political corruption, money laundering and human organ sales that stretched from New York to Israel.

Democratic Governor Jon Corzine called for the resignation of all local and state officials swept up in the probe, which he said had uncovered a "deep vein" of corruption in the state.

Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria, a former Bayonne mayor whose home was searched, tendered his resignation from his appointed position at Corzine's request. Doria, who has not been charged, helped municipalities handle their finances, including tax exempt bond sales.

Other officials are resisting the call to step down. Peter Cammarano, the Democratic mayor of Hoboken, has defied calls from community organizations to resign, saying he has not done anything wrong.

David Drumeler, the administrator for Secaucus, said the government would continue to operate as usual.

"We want to reassure the residents of the town of Secaucus that the government will continue to be here on a daily basis," the administrator said.

New Jersey has long been bedevilled by political corruption, and the latest scandal has undermined Corzine's campaign for re-election in November as it plays to the strength of the Republican challenger, Chris Christie, a former graft-fighting federal prosecutor.

The latest poll from Raleigh, North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, released on Tuesday, shows Christie has pulled further ahead of Corzine since news of the probe.

A survey of 552 New Jersey voters conducted between July 24 and July 27 gave Christie a 14 point lead over Corzine, up from a 10 point lead at the end of June.

The margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percent, the polling group said.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)