Judge to weigh fate of tax incentive investigation – Politico

George Norcross is getting a day in court. As revelations and allegations continue to mount that raise serious questions about how New Jersey’s tax incentive program was designed and whether companies who qualified for them were truthful in their applications, Judge Mary Jacobson will soon decide whether the task force appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy gets to issue its report.

Norcross and several of the companies at the center of this controversy, including NFI — which says it didn’t have to disclose a subsidiary’s prior conviction for wire fraud on its EDA application because it dissolved that subsidiary — are suing to stop the task force from existing. Today, Jacobson will hear arguments about whether the task force should be allowed to meet and issue its reports while the lawsuit is decided.

At the same time, the SDA scandal just won’t go away, with a whistleblower saying the Murphy administration didn’t do enough — and certainly not quickly enough — when she approached them about Lizette Delgado-Polanco’s friends-and-family hiring spree. It’s left Murphy even more politically vulnerable, with Steve Sweeney pledging some kind of further investigation.

It’s a huge mess, and let’s face it, Murphy and the Legislature will probably never have a good relationship. But maybe they can at least find a way to pass a budget this year before the state shuts down.

DAYS SINCE MURPHY-ALIGNED GROUP INTENTIONALLY BLEW OFF SELF-IMPOSED DEADLINE TO DISCLOSE ITS DONORS: 167

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m thinking I’m going to help him. I’m going to call there, I’m going to alert them that this is happening, they’ll get right on it, they’ll fix it and avoid an issue.” — SDA ethics official Jane F. Kelly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY – Rowan University professor Ben Dworkin and his successor at Rider University, Micah Rasmussen. Rutgers Office of Federal Relations’ Alex Hermann, Vianovo’s Matt Miller

WHERE’S MURPHY? — No public schedule

ARE THERE LAW FIRMS WHOSE SOLE PURPOSE IS TO DELAY POLITICALLY DIFFICULT DECISIONS? — “Phil Murphy’s office was warned about improper hiring at SDA, ethics official says,” by The Record’s Dustin Racioppi: “Sensing that a newly formed legislative committee to investigate Gov. Phil Murphy’s hiring practices was coming at him like a “locomotive,” Jane F. Kelly called the governor’s office in November to warn of another potentially damaging matter. Kelly, a vice president in charge of ethics at the Schools Development Authority, told the governor’s top ethics official that the agency’s new chief executive, Lizette Delgado-Polanco, had hired many employees with personal and political connections outside of the normal process and against her advice. ‘I’m thinking I’m going to help him. I’m going to call there, I’m going to alert them that this is happening, they’ll get right on it, they’ll fix it and avoid an issue,’ Kelly said in an interview. ‘I thought it was a serious matter and that they would take it seriously.’ Instead, Murphy’s office told Kelly she could follow the process for handling personnel matters and file a written complaint … The only known action the administration took was to hire a law firm, at $200 an hour, to conduct an investigation that has taken all year and has no known end date. All the while, Delgado-Polanco continued to hire staff.” Read more here

—“Lawmakers promise SDA probe after NorthJersey.com report that Phil Murphy was warned” Read more here

GOOD NEWS FOR CRIMINALS: IF YOU CHANGE YOUR NAME, YOUR RECORD WON’T FOLLOW YOU — NFI: We didn’t lie about affiliate’s criminal conviction because affiliate no longer exists, by POLITICO’s Matt Friedman: Trucking company NFI said Friday it did not lie on its application for $79 million in tax credits because an affiliate whose criminal conviction it did not disclose was dissolved eight years ago. On Thursday, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters accused NFI of failing to inform the state Economic Development Authority that the affiliate, Interactive Logistics, had pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in 2005 regarding a contract with Anheuser-Busch. The union, which is involved in an ongoing dispute with NFI, called for the state Attorney General to prosecute the company … NFI said that because Interactive Logistics dissolved in 2011, it was not required to list the conviction on its October 2016 application to the EDA. Read more here

“What the Governors Feuding With Their Own Parties Have in Common,” by Governing’s Alan Greenblatt: “In New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is engaged in a feud with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney that has led to threats of a primary challenge. In Kentucky, Republican Lt. Gov. Jeanne Hampton warned recently about ‘dark forces’ operating within Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration. Craig Blair, who chairs the state Senate Finance Committee in West Virginia, called on Republican Gov. Jim Justice to resign on Monday … The three states do have something in common. In each case, the governor is a wealthy man who had never held elected office before. None rose up through the ranks in a way that would have allowed them to foster legislative relationships over the long haul and build up reservoirs of support.” Read more here

— “Why Murphy is right about millionaires. And how he’s blowing the politics,” by The Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran: “The myth is that New Jersey’s high taxes, especially those on the rich, are driving away the very people we need to make our economy hum, that we are making the state a poisonous place for rich people to settle. The poster child is David Tepper, the billionaire who left New Jersey in 2016 and moved to Florida, along with the headquarters of his hedge fund, Appaloosa Management … Here’s the problem with that argument: New Jersey has more millionaires today than it’s ever had before, by a long shot. And their ranks are growing fast. The latest data from the Treasury Department shows the number of tax filers reporting incomes of $1 million or more jumped by 75 percent between 2009 and 2017. That compares to an average of 6 percent among all income groups … So, if this is such a sensible plan, and the public is so firmly behind it, why is Murphy virtually certain to lose this fight? That’s a tale of political malpractice. First, legislators are nervous because Murphy has offered no plan to cover the explosive increases in pension and health costs that are baked in over the next four years without big changes.” Read more here

RAY LESNIAK WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU THAT HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS AND THAT CHRISTIE SHOULD GET ALL THE CREDIT — “N.J. legalized sports betting a year ago to help save Atlantic City and horse-racing. Has it paid off?” by NJ Advance Media’s Brent Johnson: “But a year and billions of dollars in bets later, elected officials, industry leaders, and gaming experts say the Garden State’s years-long gamble to fight pro sports leagues — all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — to legalize sports betting has paid off big time. On a national level, New Jersey’s successful court case opened the door for sports betting to become legal across the country. On a local level, leaders say, it has helped provide a jolt to the state’s casinos and horse-racing industries, created hundreds of new jobs, provided the state with a bit more in tax revenue, and given New Yorkers a new reason to cross the Hudson River. ‘I would characterize New Jersey as a success story and model for the rest of the country,’ said Daniel Wallach, founder of Wallach Legal LLC, the first law firm in the country with a focus on sports betting … Experts say a large reason for New Jersey’s success has been that it quickly approved mobile sports betting, allowing people to place wagers on their phones, as long as they’re inside state lines.” Read more here

THE OTHER TWO-THIRDS ARE POLITICO NEW JERSEY SUBSCRIBERS — Phil who? One in three can’t name New Jersey’s governor, by POLITICO’s Ryan Hutchins: One out of every three New Jersey residents can’t name New Jersey’s governor — or think Chris Christie is still at the helm — a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University has found. The survey shows 67 percent of all respondents could correctly identify Democrat Phil Murphy as the governor. Read more here

BY THE POWER OF GREYSTONE — “’Unsuitable for human beings.’ Doctors give chilling details about state psychiatric hospital, beg court for action,” by NJ Advance Media’s Susan Livio: “Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Parsippany is ‘more like a zoo than a hospital’ and ‘unsuitable for human beings,’ according to one of its psychiatrists. Another doctor said he saved the life of patient who would have bled to death after slashing her wrists. But to do so, he needed to push past an administrator who told him to “go away” and wait for the ambulance. A former safety official said he was instructed to falsify records to hide the rising number of assaults against patients and employees at the state-run facility.” Read more here

SHOCKINGLY, THEY’RE NOT PUTTING IN A MILLIONAIRES TAX — “N.J. Democrats scrap Murphy’s millionaires tax in budget, setting up showdown and possible shutdown,” by NJ Advance Media’s Samantha Marcus and Brent Johnson: “Democratic lawmakers planning to introduce their own state budget Monday are ditching Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed tax increases on millionaires and corporations in New Jersey, setting up a showdown with the progressive Democratic governor in the coming days, NJ Advance Media has learned. In their budget, the lawmakers have also scrapped Murphy’s plans to significantly raise permit fees and enact new taxes on guns and ammunition, as well as his call for a $150-per-head penalty paid by businesses that don’t provide health insurance and whose employees are therefore enrolled in Medicaid, according to two sources familiar with the budget proposal. Democratic lawmakers will instead put forward a more than $38 billion budget that increases the taxes paid by HMOs and dips into the governor’s rainy day fund. The Legislature’s budget cuts more than $300 million in spending from Murphy’s proposal in order to provide more dollars for NJ Transit and property tax relief, including the Senior Freeze program and the veterans’ property tax credit, sources said.” Read more here

—Treasury: May collections dipped, but revenues remain on track for the year Read more here

—Steinhardt interview: “The state of New Jersey’s Republican Party” Read more here

—“Bellwether group homes ask for state funds to avoid ‘health emergency’ for their residents” Read more here

—“Westfield gun scare could hurt Bramnick re-election” Read more here

—“NJ political insiders debate Murphy’s withering agenda, Trump’s census gambit, and Joe D’s crudbucket jail” Read more here

—“NJ’s poorest paying most for auto insurance” Read more here

—“Influential New Jersey Pastor Says He Can’t Morally Support the State Budget — Unless It Stops Paying for Youth Prisons” Read more here

—“Steve Sweeney plans to pass no-tax-hike budget by next Thursday despite Governor Murphy’s call for a tax hike | Mulshine” Read more here

—“Offshore wind development in New Jersey is taking off, advocacy group says” Read more here

CARTOON BREAK — “Won’t someone think of the millionaires!?” by Drew Sheneman See the cartoon

BOOKER DUE FOR ANOTHER VAGUELY SUPPORTIVE OP-ED — “George Norcross to host Cory Booker fundraiser,” by New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein: “George Norcross will host a high-dollar fundraiser for Cory Booker’s presidential campaign later this month. Norcross will join with Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo to raise money for Booker at a $2,800-per-person luncheon at Nanina’s in the park in Belleville on June 28.” Read more here

—“Democrats court black voters at South Carolina forum,” by CNN’s Dan Merica and Donald Judd: “Booker spent most of his time on stage in South Carolina describing — and, at times, defending — his baby bonds proposal, a policy that would open a $1,000 savings account for every child born in America, with additional money being deposited based on parents’ income. Booker said the plan would “virtually eliminate the racial wealth gap” in the United States for young people.” Read more here

—“New Hudson tunnel and Portal North Bridge not ready for Broadway” Read more here

—“Congressman [Pascrell] is ready to go to court after Justice Department said Trump can keep his tax returns hidden” Read more here

—“Menendez, Booker blast FCC for renewing WWOR broadcast license” Read more here

WHATEVER THEY CHOOSE SHALL HENCEFORTH BE KNOWN AS THE MOUNT LAUREL DECISION — “Democratic lawmakers race to stop Mount Laurel from switching to non-partisan elections,” by POLITICO’s Matt Friedman: Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Burlington), said the Republican majority on the Mount Laurel Township Council is pushing for the change to nonpartisan elections to hide their party affiliations, as the once reliably GOP town and its surrounding communities have become increasingly Democratic in the Trump era. Murphy, who represents Mount Laurel, said the council plans to vote June 24 on an ordinance to place a referendum on the November ballot to switch local elections to nonpartisan, where candidates wouldn’t be identified by political parties. However, her bill, NJ A5404 (18R), would make approving the ordinance more difficult, as it would require a two-thirds supermajority instead of a simple majority. Read more here

THIS IS WHY YOU FEAR WHERE WE’RE HEADED? — “Hackensack school board member under fire for emails targeting LGBT curriculum,” by The Record’s Rodrigo Torrejon and Terrence T. McDOnald: “The trustee, Frances Cogelja, made the remarks in emails to acting Superintendent Rosemary Marks on Feb. 5, days after New Jersey became the second state in the nation to say schools must create lessons about the contributions of individuals who are gay and transgender. ‘I find it repugnant that someone’s sexual preferences have anything to do with their contributions or achievements in society,’ Cogelja wrote. ‘Everywhere I turn, this alternate lifestyle narrative is being shoved (down) our children’s throats. Where does it end???’ She added: ‘I fear where we are headed as a nation.’ She also asked in that and subsequent emails whether she as a parent has a right to opt out of the LGBT curriculum. Marks told her she can request to opt out.” Read more here

RUTHERFORD — “14-year-old student attacks Rutherford principal with a knife,” by The Record’s Joshua Jongsma and Nicholas Katzban: “A 14-year-old student attacked a principal in Rutherford with a knife Friday morning, police said. Union School Principal Kurt Schweitzer was leading the eighth-grade graduation rehearsal at Washington School at about 9:30 a.m. when the student ran across the gym and attacked, police said. The eighth-grader stabbed the principal in the chest with the folding knife several times, but Schweitzer was not seriously injured, according to police.” Read more here

NORTH JERSEY TO FINALLY GET INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX —“Former EnCap site purchase is finally a done deal, will become industrial complex,” by The Record’s Joshua Jongsma, Melanie Anzidei and Scott Fallon: “Developers finalized a purchasing process four years in the making Friday to transform the former 718-acre EnCap site, once a landfill in southern Bergen County, into a six-building industrial complex for e-commerce. Russo Development and Forsgate Industrial Partners intend to upgrade the Kingsland Tract, newly dubbed Kingsland Meadowlands. The developers won the bid in 2015. The first building at Kingsland Meadowlands is expected to be finished in late 2021. The site spans parts of North Arlington, Lyndhurst and Rutherford.” Read more here

OH BABY BABY IT’S ONE WILDWOOD — “Does N.J. really need 4 Wildwoods? One of their mayors thinks they should merge,’ by NJ Advance Media’s Chris Franklin: “During a Borough Commissioners meeting earlier in June, West Wildwood Mayor Christopher Fox said he would be in favor of West Wildwood, along with the nearby municipalities of North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, merging with the city of Wildwood to create one municipality. ‘The state of New Jersey in the last couple of years is pushing for any town less than 5,000 people is supposed to merge with the nearest, closest town that has more than 5,000, which means this whole island should be merging with the city of Wildwood as we speak,’ Fox said. ‘That is what the state law says. Has that been discussed? Yes, it has been discussed. It comes down to do the other towns want to do it, and do they feel the need to merge. I am 100 percent for it.’” Read more here

—“Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson set to retire in August” Read more here

—“In Camden, there will be two Juneteenth festivals this year. Blame a rift between the city and a longtime activist” Read more here

THE PRODUCERS? — “Swastika found outside of Teaneck home was play prop, police say,” by The Record’s Megan Burrow: “A swastika found on the ground outside of a township home was a prop used in a school play, police said. The round three-inch piece of white cloth bearing the swastika was found lying near a tree outside a West Englewood Avenue house and reported to township police Wednesday morning.” Read more here

A SHOW ABOUT SOMETHING — “Larry David talks NJ river’s change from ‘place to dispose a body’ to ‘environmental gem’,” by The Record’s Rodrigo Torrejon: “As most New Jersey residents will tell you, the water quality in the Hackensack River is pretty, pretty, pretty… bad. But the river’s history and the story of Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, is actually pretty, pretty, pretty good. Especially when narrated by ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David.’” Read more here

— “Counting the Costs of Pipeline Projects for Delaware River Basin” Read more here