A big fish gets away (McGreevey)

EDITORIAL BY THE RECORD ^ | 01.27.06

[Coleus]

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie announced this week that he would not pursue corruption allegations against New Jersey's top political boss because of bungling by the state Attorney General's Office. But this scandal cannot end there. Just who is responsible for the botched investigation, and how will they be held accountable? Is this just another case of politics as usual in the Garden State?

Governor Corzine's choice for state attorney general, Zulima Farber, has said she'll make corruption her top priority. And Mr. Christie has pointed out the state still has two years to reexamine the Norcross case before the state statute of limitations runs out. Before her office can look into any new allegations of corruption, it has to determine who flubbed the earlier investigations.

Mr. Christie recently wrote to witnesses in the case: "The illogical approach taken by the Attorney General's Office lends itself to a number of damaging inferences, including the protection of political figures and the manipulation of evidence." Read that sentence again. "The protection of political figures": It goes to the core of every cynic's worst suspicion of state government. Ms. Farber must investigate this further, with her own team, and get to the bottom of it.

At this point, the A.G.'s Office will say only that it is making sure that "appropriate corrective action was implemented." When asked if anyone would be held accountable for this mess, a spokesman declined comment. That sure sounds like circling the wagons at a time when they ought to be on the attack.

Here's what the fuss is about. Five years ago, a South Jersey councilman named John Gural went to state prosecutors, claiming local power brokers were trying to get him fired from his job as project manager with a politically connected engineering firm. He agreed to wear a hidden device and record conversations he had with Democratic Camden County boss George Norcross and other politicos.

Over two years, he taped 330 hours of conversations, including 1½ hours with Mr. Norcross. Mr. Gural has claimed that the tapes include the county boss offering him bribes to vote against the reappointment of one of Mr. Norcross' political adversaries as a borough attorney. Mr. Gural has also claimed that after Democrat James McGreevey became governor in 2002, the investigation began to go nowhere. Indeed, the state Attorney General's Office not only closed the investigation two years ago, but it has tried to release as little of the damaging recordings as possible. According to Mr. Christie, both Democratic and Republican administrations were responsible for the foul-ups, with the most damaging missteps occurring early on, when Republicans were in charge.

For instance, the A.G's Office authorized Mr. Gural to record all his conversations all day, even though most of the exchanges were with people who had no involvement in the probe. But when he was attending a local Democratic political event where Mr. Norcross was expected, he was not allowed to secretly tape-record the conversations there. In other words, the A.G.'s Office got it exactly backward. All of this raises three big questions. Just who bungled the investigation? Do they still work in the Attorney General's Office? If so, why?

If the Senate confirms Ms. Farber next week, her top priority must be to resolve these questions and ensure that the integrity of the Attorney General's Office has been restored. Right now, that office at best looks like a bunch of political hacks.

[Calpernia]

Then what do we do?

[mississippi red-neck]

Both democrats and Republicans are involved in the bribes.

Move along nothing is going to happen , nobody is going to jail.

[mississippi red-neck]

I did not see one word that indicated that any of the people involved where union employees.

Even if they where what most people forget is it is not the unions who are receiving the bribes and kickbacks but the non-union politicians and the management people who are supposed to be looking out for the interest of the people or the company and it's stockholders.

There are lots of legitimate contractors who employee good hard working people both union and non-union who are told up front that unless they are willing to overcharge inflate cost, charge for goods and services not delivered, so they can kick back to management or politicians they will not get a contract to do business with the company or the government which ever the case.

It ain't the unions that are doing the big stealing in this country but the white collars on the inside where the money originates and who have access to and control the flow of it.

It is they who determine where the money ends up and it is they who scream the loudest about union corruption.

[Southack]

That's not the point.

The union vote is predictable...so long as rank and file union members are kept in the dark about "the big secret."

Should the rank and file learn "the big secret," however, then they won't go vote "the way that they are supposed to."

McGreevy threatens to expose that "big secret," so either McGreevy will meet with misfortune, or else he won't be investigated...

...Otherwise, the big secret might get out.

[from occupied ga]

Governor Corzine's choice for state attorney general, Zulima Farber, has said she'll make corruption her top priority.

Once they get elected/appointed they all make corruption their number one priority in NJ (NY, MD, CT and MA too for that matter). No news here.

[Liz]

There's a saying---watch out who you step on on the way up, because you're going to meet them on the way down.