Dem Powerbrokers Love Big Government
Big Government fuels Big Corruption.
Exhibit 749b for the prosecution comes out of Camden, New Jersey, where George Norcross, III, went from serving as a local Democratic Party committeeman decades ago to one of the richest men in the Garden State.
How, exactly, does that happen?
Targeted tax breaks, as well as more direct subsidies, similarly benefit rule-benders and breakers.
Support for one theory comes from the indictment of Norcross and several confederates released Monday by Matthew Platkin, attorney general of New Jersey. In one-party states, charges often come if at all from the feds. But Platkin put his allegiance to the law above his allegiance to his party in charging Norcross, whose brother Donald represents the area in the U.S. House of Representatives and who, until three years ago, served as a member of the Democratic National Committee. A Monday New York Times headline referred to him as “one of the most powerful political figures in New Jersey.” (READ MORE from Daniel J. Flynn: Joe Behaving More Strangely Than Hunter on Yeyo)
Platkin says without saying: you are not too big to jail.
The indictment essentially depicts Norcross as shaking-down developers. If they did not include him and his associates in their deals, then he allegedly used his political connections to hamstring the projects. His co-defendants include Dana Redd, the mayor of Camden from 2010 to 2018.
“When the developer would not relinquish his rights on terms preferred by GEORGE E. NORCROSS, III,” one part of the indictments reads, “he threatened the developer that he would, in substance and in part, ‘f**k you up like you’ve never been f**ked up before,’ and told the developer he would make sure the developer never did business in Camden again. In a recorded phone call, GEORGE E. NORCROSS, III later admitted to threatening the developer: ‘I said, `this is unacceptable. If you do this, it will have enormous consequences.’ [The developer] said, ‘Are you threatening me?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Specifically, the indictment claims Norcross and associates tailored tax law to their benefit, and then sold the tax credits they obtained through their schemes. “The tax credits approved for the three entities totaled over $240 million,” the indictment says of one project. “In 2022, the entities began receiving these tax credits and selling them.”
In other words, the money involved amounted to something more than nickels and dimes. The number of zeroes explains how a Rutgers-Camden grad active in local Democratic politics can become one of the wealthiest people in one of the wealthiest states within the course of a few decades.
The indictment includes allegations of skullduggery concerning a local nonprofit and also developers. One passage illustrated his alleged shakedown methods:
“(1) conspired to have the City of Camden condemn the developer’s rights through legal action to gain leverage in their negotiations; (2) plotted for Camden City officials to publicly ‘accus[e]’ the developer of being ‘not a reputable person’; (3) caused certain Camden City officials, including the Mayor, to stop communicating with the developer; and (4) plotted to use the Camden government to damage an unrelated project of the developer’s. In a recorded call planning this scheme, GEORGE E. NORCROSS, III explained that ‘you can never trust [this developer] until you got a bat over his head,’ stated that he wanted the developer to ‘cry uncle,’ and identified the developer’s unrelated project as ‘another point of attack on this putz.’”
More licenses, permits, and regulations do not provide more protection to citizens. They hassle them and enrich the politically-connected by way of bribes and extortion. In this way does government, in certain locales, become organized crime.
Targeted tax breaks, as well as more direct subsidies, similarly benefit rule-benders and breakers. The less power government wields over you, and the less money government takes from you, the more difficult it becomes to corrupt the system. (READ MORE: The Doppio Standard on the Alito and Pelosi Recordings)
Matthew Platkin putting away malefactors helps. But to minimize public corruption one must minimize its rewards. That means shrinking the power and purse of government.
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