{"id":3240,"date":"2019-05-23T17:22:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T21:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=3240"},"modified":"2019-05-23T17:22:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T21:22:01","slug":"george-norcross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/george-norcross\/","title":{"rendered":"George Norcross"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It seems even those who have are politically naive can do something that accidentally will help the New Jersey taxpayer. Governor Murphy has George Norcross and company in his sights about the misuse of tax credits by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

Per the Observer<\/a>, \u201cGeorge Norcross has filed suit against Gov. Phil Murphy over the state\u2019s investigation into how economic development tax breaks were awarded.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

NJ.com reports<\/a> that in his suit, Norcross contends Murphy didn\u2019t have the authority to create the special task force investigating the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The suit filed Tuesday claims Murphy approved \u201cthe retention and payment of New York lawyers who proceeded to commence and conduct an investigation in violation of multiple provisions of New Jersey law,\u201d according to the report.<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The investigation has brought to a boil the long-simmering conflict between Murphy and Senate President Steve Sweeney, a longtime ally of Norcross\u2019. Critics of the governor say the investigation is an attempt at political payback against his foes. Murphy claims he\u2019s merely investigating the awarding of tax credits following a highly critical report by the state comptroller into the NJEDA program.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The task force is investigating the awarding of millions of dollars in incentives to Norcross\u2019 company and to projects and companies with links to Norcross\u2019 friends or family members.\u00a0Norcross has said the incentives were used as the state intended in efforts to revitalize Camden, one of the poorest cities in the United States.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

OK, so now that you have some background on what is going on I will now make my comments. My first being that George Norcross is the Democratic Party boss for South New Jersey and he put Steve Sweeney, the Senate President in office. By back office politicking Norcross has had taxpayer money funneled to his political cronies and himself. And for some reason he and the governor have come to butting heads, which is good for us the taxpayers of New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n

From Politico.com<\/a>, \u201cWNYC<\/a> published another major story about Parker McCay\u2019s role in the tax incentive program. According to the story, emails it obtained \u201cprovide a rare look at how the Norcross family machine leveraged its access to top state officials to advance the interests of clients and friends allied with the political leader. The lawyers pushed officials at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority for client concessions, pressed staffers for expedited reviews and went over their heads to appeal objections.<\/i>\u201d So Norcross and friends have been strong arming their way through the system to obtain monies that should have never been issued to them at all. Murphy is then quite right to have them investigated and the lawsuit that Norcross has brought is just a stalling tactic. I am presuming that some very shading political maneuvering is going on as this is being written and hopefully the investigation will uncover the true level of corruption that is going on in the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am applauding what Governor Murphy has done, having the (pardon the wordage) balls to investigate anything that Norcross has his hands in will hurt Murphy. He may be committing political suicide, but even if the door is opened publicly just a small crack there may be hope that Norcross and company can be brought down.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n