By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com and Ted Sherman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The state’s ongoing probe into the New Jersey Economic Development Authority is a “one-sided investigation” that “smacks of political retribution.”
Attorneys for several entities tied to Camden power broker George E. Norcross III are charging that Gov. Phil Murphy overstepped his legal power when he created a task force to investigate companies that benefitted from the state’s controversial tax incentives.
In a letter Monday to the task force, attorneys representing Connor, Strong & Buckelew; Cooper University Health Care; Parker McCay, and Brown & Connery objected “to the unlawful process you are conducting,” and also said the task force had imposed arbitrary restrictions on their rights to respond to false accusations.
In addition, they asserted that the task force lacked statutory authority over the Economic Development Authority, which they said was not subject to the governor’s oversight powers.
They also demanded an opportunity to submit a public presentation to the task force at its next scheduled hearing. The letter was signed by four of the state’s top criminal defense attorneys on behalf of the companies, which were all associated with Norcross.
“We reserve all rights to seek full remedies to the extent any of these false and defamatory accusations were directed at our clients,” their letter said.
In a statement, Ronald Chen, chairman of the task force, responded, “The governor has full constitutional and statutory authority to investigate any entity within the executive branch, including the EDA, either by himself or through a delegate. If anyone wishes to challenge that authority, they should bring an appropriate action in court and we are ready to defend it vigorously.”
The letter marked the latest salvo in a growing political battle between Murphy and those allied with Norcross over the EDA, since the governor created a task force to investigate the besieged agency.
The task force was formed by Murphy earlier this year came after a highly critical audit by the state comptroller in January, which criticized the EDA’s management of a program that has given out tax credit incentivesworth $11 billion since its inception.
The comptroller concluded that the state agency, which is responsible for spearheading New Jersey’s economic development efforts, may have “improperly awarded, miscalculated, overstate and overpaid” tax credits to a number of companies that it could not verify had created the jobs that were promised. It also said the EDA could not evaluate whether its inventive programs generated any economic benefits to the state, and had certified projects and released tax credits even when projects did not meet the requirements, in violation of the law.
