NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption has been breathtaking— the worst of the New York City anti-reformist bad old days. And last night he was indicted on unspecified federal charges, although it looks like he'll be charged with "acting as an unregistered foreign agent for taking actions in his official capacity after receiving donations from foreign sources" (Turkey— both the country and Adams). Adams, last night, not Trump: “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be targeted. And a target I became.”
Similarly, corruption is baked into New Jersey politics— and in a very bipartisan way, although the corrupt Democrats have been way ahead of the corrupt Republicans in most recent elections. Later today, in a discussion of corrupt conservative labor unions, endorsing corrupt conservative Republicans, we have more to say about the worst of the party bosses, George Norcross, and how he runs the building trades unions and how the building trades unions dominate the state AFL-CIO.
Fortunately— and unexpectedly— Norcross is being prosecuted and may soon be in prison. Nancy Solomon told the story for Gothamist on Sunday, emphasizing “how he wielded political power in Camden, creating a patronage pipeline that placed his allies in well-paying, influential jobs. George Norcross, his brother Philip, former Camden Mayor Dana Redd, and three others are charged with running a criminal enterprise that used political power to steal property and development rights along the Camden waterfront from the rightful owners.” So far, his other crooked brother, Donald, has skated. No one even dared offer him a primary cha;;edge this cycle.
“Prosecutors,” wrote Solomon, “say Norcross’ scheme, which earned him tens of millions of dollars, began in 2012. He allegedly pulled it off by shuffling his allies among an assortment of leadership roles in nonprofits, development corporations, universities and hospitals— all to the party boss’s benefit. Taken as a whole, the allegations in the indictment show how Norcross’ closest confidants were rewarded with lucrative jobs as he tightened his stranglehold on Camden’s development… Many of those allies remained in their jobs when the indictment was unsealed in June, with responsibilities that include the country's largest public works project, running a major Camden hospital and the expansion of Rutgers University’s Camden campus.”
Although Norcross boasts that he has improved Camden, the city’s residents “are still struggling despite the programs and buildings Norcross brought to the city, which has a median income of $37,075. Nearly a third of its residents live below the poverty line, according to census data. Many residents and community activists say Camden is made up of two cities: those who work with the Norcross machine and get jobs, political appointments and grants for their organizations, and everybody else… In a press release, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin alleges Norcross was the leader of ‘a group of unelected, private businessmen’ who ‘weaponized’ politics and government. Key episodes cited in the case show how Norcross allegedly controlled an elaborate system of employment that rewarded loyalty and furthered his interest in acquiring property along the Delaware River.
At the center of the indictment is Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, a nonprofit economic development organization that works closely with Camden city officials to recruit new businesses and fund improvement projects. In 2014, George Norcross and his brother, Philip Norcross, hijacked a deal to purchase a waterfront office complex, strong-arming the nonprofit’s leaders to hand development rights over to their preferred developers, according to the indictment.
“This is for our friends,” George Norcross allegedly declared in a private meeting, referring to tax incentives tied to the project.
Prosecutors detail how Norcross’ allies allegedly played a key role steering the deal to his advantage by squashing dissent.
Cooper’s Ferry Partnership CEO Anthony Perno and Cooper’s Ferry board chair John Sheridan were on the receiving end of much of that pressure. Perno and Sheridan had picked a developer for the project who they believed offered the best deal for the organization. Norcross had someone else in mind.
Norcross did not have an official role with Cooper’s Ferry at the time. But he had built New Jersey's most powerful political machine over 30 years. That political operation was highly effective at getting its candidates elected and then keeping them in line when voting on issues that Norcross and his brother cared about, such as economic development and the hospital and health insurance industries. The indictment alleges that Norcross’ dominance was not limited to politics and government, but also extended to nonprofits like Cooper’s Ferry.
…[Camden Mayor] Redd also allegedly warned Perno that his job was in jeopardy if he did not hand the deal over to the Norcross’ preferred developers, who prosecutors say had business ties to the South Jersey political boss and donated to his political action committee.
By May 2014, Sheridan and Perno were falling in line. Emails obtained by WNYC show Sheridan and Perno offering to sell the Cooper’s Ferry purchase agreement to the Norcross-allied developers.
In September 2014, three months before the deal closed, Sheridan and his wife were found stabbed to death in the bedroom of their home, which had been set on fire. The case, which has never been solved, was detailed in the WNYC podcast, "Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery."
After Sheridan’s death, Perno had lost a key ally on the board who supported him and the financial health of Cooper’s Ferry Partnership. Susan Bass Levin was appointed chair of the nonprofit, taking Sheridan’s position. The move proved critical to the development deal closing in Norcross’ favor, according to the indictment.
Bass Levin was CEO of the Cooper Foundation, a charity created by the Norcross family to support Cooper University Hospital. Bass Levin had also coordinated Norcross’ plans for the Camden City School District, according to emails obtained by Gothamist, despite neither of them holding an official position with the district. Bass Levin, who is referenced in the indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator, helped close the deal, fending off Perno’s complaints that the development deal was getting worse for Cooper’s Ferry.
In December 2014, the deal was sold to the Norcross-allied developers, Ira Lubert, a Philadelphia real estate investor and George Norcross' onetime business partner, and Howard Needleman, a South Jersey landlord who leased space to Cooper University Hospital.
The new owners obtained the property for $20 million less than its assessed value.
Cooper’s Ferry Partnership never recouped all of the $450,000 it had spent to acquire the property, according to the indictment.
…First, Perno resigned, giving in to Bass Levin’s threats, prosecutors say. Perno gave up a $241,500 annual salary and, because he resigned, a year’s salary in severance pay. He’s described in the indictment as a victim of an extortion scheme.
Perno’s resignation made way for Kris Kolluri to become the CEO of Cooper’s Ferry in January 2018. Kolluri had a background in transit, politics and deep ties to Norcross.
Before Kolluri took the new job at Cooper’s Ferry that paid him $424,323, according to public tax filings, he had to resign from his previous position as CEO of the Rowan University-Rutgers Camden Board of Governors.
Redd, the outgoing mayor, would take over that vacancy at the Board of Governors.
This executive suite game of musical chairs was the realization of a plan Norcross had apparently considered for years, according to an email obtained by WNYC. The party boss had been angry as far back as 2013 that Perno had gotten credit in a business magazine for the redevelopment of Camden.
“Can [Perno’s] head fit in City Hall?” Norcross wrote in an email from 2013. “I think Kris Kolluri would love to head Cooper's Ferry.”
Four years later, the plan came together. As CEO of the Rowan University Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors, Redd took over a relatively new organization funded with an annual $2.5 million grant from both Rowan and Rutgers universities as part of a state legislative deal that Norcross allies’ helped broker. The board has no actual governance authority, but did have eminent domain powers for property in Camden around the Rutgers campus and the Rowan medical school.
“The Norcross Enterprise did this, in part, to financially benefit Dana L. Redd, the defendant, who was nearing the end of her term as Camden Mayor,” the indictment says. As CEO of the Rowan-Rutgers board, Redd had a new salary of $275,000, along with her pension. Politico reported she was the only candidate interviewed for the job.
…“[Norcross] is a patron and he will expect some short term, maybe even long term, loyalty from people he provides resources and opportunities to,” said Domonic Bearfield, a public policy professor at George Washington University who grew up in New Jersey and has written about patronage jobs. “He's going to expect them to advance some of his ideals. Now unfortunately, this can be corrupted.”