George Norcross indictment is the latest sign: NJ's political old guard is dying | Stile

George E. Norcross III seethed in the afternoon heat as he watched his lawyers launch a fierce pushback against an indictment that depicted the insurance executive — impeccably dressed as ever in a navy blue suit, red tie but without socks — as the foul-mouthed boss of an alleged criminal enterprise.

“I want Matt Platkin to come down and try this case himself because he’s a coward," the pugnacious Democratic Party leader from Camden County barked outside the front of the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, referring to his new nemesis, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.

Tough talk but hardly surprising, given the Norcross' flame throwing style heard in interviews and taped recordings in a past corruption investigation. Minutes earlier, Platkin dropped a political bombshell on Norcross and five others, including his brother, Philip, a lawyer, Dana Redd, the former Camden mayor, and three others in a 13-count indictment.

The entire spectacle in Trenton on Monday — Norcross sitting in the front row, glowering at Platkin at a Trenton press conference in a brazen show of intimidation only to lash out later on the front steps of the building — sounded at times like a weigh-in for a heavyweight bout.

It was the smart, stubborn tenacity of the Stanford Law School-trained Platkin versus the street-brawling bravado of the son of a South Jersey labor leader.

“I want to go to trial in two weeks," Norcross asserted afterward.

Platkin outlines allegations: George Norcross III, South Jersey’s Democratic power broker, faces racketeering charges

New Jersey's political establishment is collapsing

It was nothing short of riveting political theater.

New Jersey's most powerful unelected Democrat — with ties to the upper echelons of the national Democratic Party and a membership at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, a millionaire known to helicopter into political fundraisers — was reduced in the unsealed indictment as a political Tony Soprano in a well-tailored suit. Norcross wielded power and enormous personal profit through threats, extortion and political influence, Platkin alleged.

But Monday’s drama couldn’t eclipse the other political narrative that has been steadily unfolding over the past year: The political old guard in New Jersey is in full retreat. Change is coming swiftly. Light is streaming through cracks in the clubhouse windows.

Norcross may have hoped to scare off Platkin by glaring in the front row — and maybe send a signal to potential witnesses — but the fact is, the era of unchecked Norcross power has been broken. The man who once bragged that eventually all governors had to come groveling to him because, in the end, they had no choice, was simply standing alone and frustrated, flanked by lawyers. Among them was another co-defendant, Willaim Tambussi, the Camden County Democratic Party attorney.

The Norcross Era has now given way to the Age of Upheaval. Consider:

The Line: In just recent months, we have seen a federal court suspend the use of a ballot design that often gave Garden State party bosses a significant advantage in securing public office for those under their control. While a separate federal court case has yet to fully resolve the fate of the county line, many expect that it is on its way out for good in coming New Jersey election cycles.

Sen. Bob Menendez: Then we have the legally-troubled mandarins of New Jersey politics who set the agenda and operated politically as usual — with impunity. Menendez is facing his second federal corruption trial in a decade, this time inside a Manhattan courtroom, facing a sweeping set of bribery charges. Menendez asserts that he is innocent on all of the charges, says he will be vindicated and has filed enough petitions to appear on the November ballot as an independent candidate.

The Andy Kim insurgency: Meanwhile the, New Jersey Democratic Party has moved on from Menendez. In a grassroots revolt this spring, the party regulars selected a reformer newcomer from Burlington County, Rep. Andy Kim, to carry the Democratic standard in the fall race for the U.S. Senate. Menendez has little chance of winning and faces a narrow window to wreak revenge as a spoiler on all the Democratic Party leaders who cut him loose the moment his indictment was unsealed last September. His days as the hard-knuckled power broker from Hudson County appear to be at an end.

Tammy Murphy: Democrats also rejected the candidacy of first lady Tammy Murphy for the U.S. Senate as a nepotistic power play. Tammy Murphy had hoped to slide comfortably into the Senate with the help of her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy. But the old rules crumbled around her.

South Jersey's waning influence: Norcross’ own formidable machine, while still potent, has neither the statewide reach nor the veto power over Trenton that it did for decades. The mascot of the machine, former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, was routed in 2021 by a little known right-wing trucker driver, Ed Durr. Sweeney is hoping for a comeback next year in a long-shot bid for governor — a goal now complicated by Monday’s indictment. Norcross’s ability to raise money for Sweeney, a childhood friend, will likely be diminished.

Chris Christie ties: In his remarks Monday, Platkin also emphasized that the period of the alleged criminal conduct considered in the case against Norcross stretches back 12 years to 2012. That year, Norcross and Sweeney's frequent collaborations with then-Republican Gov. Chris Christie reached their apex. That alliance produced a lucrative tax incentive program that sent billions to Camden and, authorities said, Norcross-linked entities. It’s a sign that the entire period may be revisited, possibly in a courtroom.

Who is George Norcross?: NJ power broker charged with racketeering, criminal conspiracy

We should still expect Norcross' fury

This is not to say that Norcross is going to quietly retreat into the political graveyard or onto a golf course in Florida where he officially moved a couple of years ago. That move was a sign that he was possibly retiring, which few actually believed. He is expected to fight with a relentless fury, defending not only his innocence but what he describes as the resurrection of his hometown of Camden from rubble.

It’s the big picture, he asserted, that Platkin failed to see through the narrow focus of his obsession to take down Norcross and his machine. Outside the Justice Complex in Trenton, Norcross sought to muddy the day's narrative with this own personal indictment, of sorts, of Platkin — his role in controversies during his tenure as Murphy’s campaign counsel and chief counsel before moving into the Attorney General’s post. Norcross cited Platkin’s role in the case of Katie Breinnan, a 2017 campaign aide whose accusations of being raped by a colleague went unheeded until the episode was detailed in the Wall Street Journal.

And Norcross complained about planning sessions in which he claimed government, political and law enforcement officials strategized on how to “get us.”

It's shocking, shocking to hear that a prosecutor is ambitious and aggressive. History is filled with prosecutors who set their sites on public office. Christie, for one. Thomas E. Dewey was the corruption busting prosecutor from New York that almost became president. So what?

Yet, this 113-page indictment was not about Platkin's ambition or his tactics or his own political missteps and controversies.

This was about an "enterprise,'' an alleged, self-aggrandizing cabal that ran the table from Trenton to Camden.

The self-declared victim was also the menacing figure who, the indictment says, strong-armed a developer to relinquish property rights along the Camden waterfront so that the “Norcross enterprise” could build the tallest building along the strip. The developer’s resistance prompted a conference call with his Norcross and his brother and co-defendant, Philip Norcross, in the summer of 2016, according to the indictment. Norcross stated, in substance, “If you **** this up, I’ll **** you up like you’ve never been ****ed up before. I’ll make sure you never do business in this town again.

The developer took “this threat seriously," according to the indictment.

It is this kind of conduct — the old-school Jersey intimidation and the below-the-radar racketeering under the aegis of acceptable hard-ball Jersey style politics — that has left voters dispirited and disgusted. It is this disgust that has been on a slow burn in the Democratic Party rank-and-file for years as Norcross and his allies wielded unchecked power. It’s a disgust that has fueled the drive for change.

"It's often said that in New Jersey, politics is a blood sport, and what's meant by that is that if you don't go along with the demands of those in political power, you'll get hurt, you might lose your job, might lose your business, maybe you lose your reputation, or maybe government, the very government that you vote for, that you support with your tax dollars, that exists to serve you will instead be weaponized against you," Platkin said.

"All of these consequences are on full display in this indictment, but there is nothing inherent in our state's culture that requires us to accept politics and government that functions in this way, and as we show clearly in this indictment, there's nothing legal about it either," the attorney general added.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: George Norcross indictment shows NJ political establishment is dying