George Norcross III, the Democratic power broker who has found himself at the center of a special governor’s task force looking into abuses of New Jersey’s economic development program, wants his say before the state Legislature.
In a letter Tuesday to legislative leaders, Norcross asked to testify during the state Senate and Assembly’s upcoming hearings on the controversial tax incentive programs.
“I hope that testifying before your committee(s) will allow me to correct the factual inaccuracies, gross misstatements and misleading information released by the governor’s task force about applications submitted by my firm, Conner Strong & Buckelew, and a handful of other Camden firms,” he wrote.
Norcross said he also wanted to correct the “largely erroneous and factually incorrect and misleading report” issued by the task force on Monday.
In that report, the task force — appointed in January by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy after the state comptroller raised rad flags about how billions in tax incentives had been handed out by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority — concluded that legislation that created the incentive programs had been corrupted by special interests with a financial stake in those programs.
It also found that the EDA “did not have adequate procedures in place” to vet applications, including misstatements that would have led to the rejection of some applications or “a significant reduction in the amount of certain awards.”
Much of the report examined business entities tied to Norcross, who went to court in an unsuccessful attempt to get a restraining order to keep it from being released to the public.
Among the exhibits included in the report was an email from Andrew Bush, the vice president of real estate and facilities for Cooper University Hospital — where Norcross serves as chairman —seeking information on the cost of office space in Pennsylvania as part of an application seeking tax incentives meant to encourage companies from moving out of state. The email suggested there was no real expectation the hospital would move.
“As part of our EDA application we need a term sheet for a potential location outside of NJ,” Bush wrote, naming a building known as Center Square in Philadelphia. “Can you get me a term sheet for 120k sf? Quietly? No probability of us moving to Center Sq, so I don’t want to make too much noise.”
Cooper officials, responding on Tuesday, said Bush was seeking ‘comp’ cost data at the request of the EDA and wanted it quiet because the hospital did not want realtors in the city to believe it was actively looking for property because it was not.
But the governor’s task force said the request for a term sheet, describing the terms of a proposed rental deal, was an example of how the system was being rigged.
In his letter to the Legislature, Norcross said “we have been, and continue to be, willing and ready to publicly discuss our application for tax incentives and our decision to move to Camden in any fair and appropriate forum, including the inquiry by the New Jersey Attorney General.”
The state Attorney General’s office has publicly announced it is investigating the program.
Norcross said the task force has unfairly maligned him and others, even as his insurance company, Conner Strong & Buckelew, along with two other companies with ties to him — NFI and The Michaels Organization — have into a new building in Camden.
“Collectively, we have invested close to $250 million of private capital in the new building and our relocation will be the single largest influx of new employees to the City of Camden in at least 50 years, with over 110 of the Conner Strong jobs being relocated to New Jersey from out of state,” he wrote.
Norcross added that the state tax incentives “were a material factor in our decision to proceed with a consolidated national headquarters in Camden.”
But he complained that he was never permitted to tell his side of the story. Norcross said only after the most recent task force hearing, “where we were subject to insinuations, inaccuracies and direct accusations of impropriety,” was he offered 5 minutes to respond.
Stat Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, a close ally of Norcross, said the committee will invite businesses from Camden and from other areas of the state to testify, “so that we are able to conduct full and fair hearings that get a true picture of how the incentive programs have worked and how they can be improved.”
In a statement, Sweeney said “you need to hear from the firms that have made use of the incentives or you wind up with incomplete and potentially biased conclusions. It’s the fair way to conduct hearings and it’s the only way to get at the facts.”
Meanwhile, Murphy at a press briefing earlier in the day said he was horrified by what he read in the task force report.
“This is worse than what we thought," the governor said in Trenton. "This is the taxpayers’ money going to who knows what. It feels like the ultimate inside game being played out where a select few win out and the rest pay the price.”
NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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