U.S.: Norcross probe botched

New Jersey's top federal prosecutor accused the state Attorney General's Office of severely bungling an investigation into the activities of the state's leading political boss. U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said the state agency had so badly mishandled the sensitive probe examining the actions of South Jersey political boss George Norcross III that federal investigators were unable to independently pursue the case. The extremely rare public rebuke came in a letter dissecting in detail the perceived missteps and incompetence of the state's leading law enforcement agency.

"The state investigation was materially hampered by poor oversight, inexplicable strategic decisions and a failure to fully develop potential evidence," Christie wrote in a letter to witnesses in the probe. Perhaps the most stunning point raised by Christie was a suggestion that the state investigation was so slipshod that it created the perception that it was protecting influential politicians during the probe instead of aggressively investigating them.

"The illogical approach taken by the Attorney General's Office ... lends itself to a number of damaging inferences," Christie wrote, "including the protection of political figures and the manipulation of evidence." Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, said Wednesday that the agency was "reviewing" Christie's letter, and declined further comment. The state investigation, begun in 2000, stems from a political feud between Norcross, an insurance executive with Commerce Bancorp who also is a South Jersey Democratic party leader, and Palmyra solicitor Ted Rosenberg, who unsuccessfully ran for the Burlington County Democratic Party chairmanship. During that race, Rosenberg repeatedly and publicly criticized Norcross, a behind-the-scenes power broker whose influence extends throughout the state. John Gural, an ally of Rosenberg's, claimed that Norcross wanted him to use his position as a borough councilman to fire Rosenberg, who was the town's attorney. To do this, Gural claimed, Norcross threatened to withhold lucrative contracts from the politically connected engineering firm in Moorestown where Gural worked.

Gural also claimed that the company, JCA Associates, would be rewarded with more contracts and that Gural, himself, would receive a salary bonus if he used his council seat to fire Rosenberg. Gural served as informant for state investigators and secretly recorded more than 300 hours of conversations for investigators, including some that had Norcross boasting, sometimes profanely, of his political influence. The state Attorney General's Office closed its four-year investigation in 2004. Norcross was not charged. He has claimed that Gural and Rosenberg were unstable and pursuing a political vendetta against him. Three JCA executives were indicted on conspiracy charges stemming from the probe. Later, however, they were convicted on unrelated tax evasion charges.

Christie, a Republican who is New Jersey's top federal law enforcement official, claimed the mismanagement spanned the tenure of three state attorneys general - John Farmer, a Republican appointed by former Gov. Christie Whitman and David Samson and Peter Harvey, both Democrats appointed by former Gov. James E. McGreevey. None of them was mentioned in his letter. The state agency has often been criticized in recent years for showing little zeal for pursuing political corruption cases against influential political figures. Instead, Christie's federal prosecutors have led the charge, indicting dozens statewide over the past four years.

In his letter, which was released by Rosenberg on Wednesday, Christie charged that the state probe was flawed from the onset, with the most damaging missteps coming in 2000 and 2001. The state agency authorized Gural to secretly record all of his conversations during the day, Christie said, despite the fact that many involved "countless" exchanges with people who had no connection to the probe. But when Gural was planning to attend a Camden County Democratic political event where Norcross was expected, state authorities denied him permission to secretly record conversations there, Christie charged. "When Mr. Gural had the opportunity at a political function to record individuals directly associated with the investigation, the state Attorney General's Office denied Mr. Gural permission to record these conversations on the grounds that he might have inadvertently recorded innocent third parties," Christie wrote.

That decision, Christie charged, gives rise to the perception that agency was protecting politicians and manipulating evidence, which "impairs the integrity of the state investigation." On Wednesday, Rosenberg said he still does not understand the state's decision not to allow taping at the political event, which was held at a county club in January 2001. Those attending the event were "numerous South Jersey politicos - all the Democratic South Jersey [state] senators and assemblymen - pretty much a who's who of South Jersey Democratic politics, including George Norcross," Rosenberg said. "It's very difficult to understand why you wouldn't want someone to tape that."

Other serious flaws included a decision by the Attorney General's Office to warn subjects of the probe in a 2001 letter that Gural's firing could open them to criminal and civil penalties, Christie wrote. The state also never sought a wiretap or telephone records that might have helped investigators assess the accuracy of Rosenberg's and Gural's accusations, Christie wrote. An unusual decision by state officials to secretly videotape a July 2001 meeting between Norcross, his lawyer and Anthony Zarrillo, who was then deputy director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, was also criticized by Christie. After the meeting, a senior state attorney made statements questioning Rosenberg's value as a witness, Christie said, noting that the comments were inadvertently recorded. Christie also sharply criticized state officials for allowing two JCA executives to plead guilty to charges that would not carry jail sentences, without trying to use them as witnesses in the state corruption probe by dangling stiffer penalties over their heads. After the case was closed, Christie's office was asked to review it after questions were raised by Rosenberg and Gural about the quality of the state investigation. In the letter to acting Attorney General Nancy Kaplen, he also chided state officials for not asking for federal assistance until 2005.

Zulima Farber, Governor Corzine's choice to be attorney general, was confirmed Monday by a Senate committee but awaits the full Senate's approval next week. Farber has vowed to make political corruption investigations her top priority. Christie pointed out that because of the serious investigative flaws and federal statutes of limitation, his prosecutors could not pursue a successful indictment. However, he noted that the state investigators still have two years to reexamine the case before the state statute of limitations expires.

2 posted on 02/27/2006 7:45:43 PM PST by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)

I don't think there is much hope for New Jersey. It may well eclipse California as the land of fruits and nuts. The New Jersey legislature recently introduced a few bills to force Wal-Mart to pay up to 8% of their labor costs in health benefits or pay the difference to the state. That'll show those greedy bastards at Wal-china-Mart.

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