New Jersey has been through a series of political upheavals.
The Garden State is known for its government corruption, but it is also home to America’s last political establishment, and no one embodies this institutional control more than George Norcross, an insurance broker and former chairman of the Camden County Democratic Party, who has wielded outsized power over New Jersey politics and policy for nearly three decades.
Last week, the state’s attorney general 13-count indictment against Norcrosshis brother Phil, and four associates. According to the indictment, over a decade, Norcross and his co-conspirators used coercion, extortion and other criminal activities to obtain property and ownership interests on Camden’s waterfront and collect millions of dollars in government-issued tax credits. Camden is one of the poorest cities in the United States, but its waterfront is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia’s vibrant downtown.
Norcross’s indictment came just two months after a federal judge invalidated New Jersey’s unique “county line” primary voting in June’s Democratic primary, depriving political organizations of their most powerful tool for maintaining power. And just months after that, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.Y.) was the subject of federal indictments for allegedly using his office as part of a years-long bribery scheme. Menendez was appointed to the Senate after rising through the House of Representatives. Hudson County Democratic Organization; One of the state’s strongest and longest-running political organizations.
New Jersey Political Organizations The boss accumulated power. Through campaign contributions and preferential voting in township primaries, they control state, county, and local elected officials, many of whom have day jobs and therefore must rely on election machines.
George Norcross’s political power comes from the many state legislators he controls. North Jersey political boss Joe DiVincenzo explanation In 2014, “I have two [state] There are seven senators and about a dozen representatives.”
Norcross was at the height of his power when his childhood friend, Steve Sweeney, was state Senate president and Republican Chris Christie was governor. Power-sharing arrangements The plan was finalized several months before Christie was first elected. In September 2009, Norcross and Sweeney met with DiVincenzo, the two state senators, and the state Democratic Party to decide how to divide control of the state. By the end of the meeting, the six agreed to use their influence to elect Sweeney as Senate President and a member of DiVincenzo’s North Jersey political organization as Speaker of the State Assembly. The group also decided who would sit on key legislative committees and lead the state Democratic Party.
One way Norcross exercised his power was Controlling the City of CamdenNorcross played a key role in both the state’s takeover of the city in 2002 (which stripped its residents of their democratically elected governance) and the 2013 takeover of Camden Public Schools, the only school district in New Jersey under state control. In 2012, Norcross’s brother, Donald, then a state senator and now a representative, led the effort to pass a bill that would have created a state representative system. A new type of charter school Only in Camden, and forced Eleven Camden Area Public Schools will be closed.
And Camden was at the center of the tax credit scheme that was the focus of last week’s indictment. Approximately $7 billion The state tax credit was allocated only to Camden, and George Norcross and his allies $1.1 billion Of that, $86 million went to the insurance company that Norcross has led since 1979.
Norcross never held political office, but in his heyday is treated as He was “the second most powerful political leader in the state of New Jersey after the Governor,” a position he maintained throughout various elections. State Power Rankings.
New Jersey’s political boss culture dates back more than 100 years. It has managed to outlast the good government reforms of the early 20th century. There is hope now, but the political machine does not give up power easily. Only time will tell if Norcross and the other machine bosses will be able to maintain their grip on the state, or if New Jersey will become a true democracy.
Julia Sass Rubin is a faculty member in the Edward J. Blaustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where she also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Director of the Public Policy Program.
