Norcross says he’s stepping out of politics

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Good Monday morning!

No, the email subject line is not a prank. George Norcross, who’s never held elected office but was for more than two decades consistently among the most powerful people in this state, told POLITICO’s Dustin Racioppi that he’s stepping out of the game.

You’ve seen a lot of reporting from me and others on the decline of the South Jersey Democratic machine over the last several years. Norcross isn’t in denial about it. He admits the 2021 election was a “catastrophic” blow to the South Jersey Democratic political operation. And that he’s been “involuntarily pushed to a different place” ever since.

“We had a great run for almost 25 years,” Norcross told POLITICO. “And now it’s time for others to lead the party.”

So this helps us understand why Norcross’ super PAC, accustomed to spending millions on New Jersey elections, reported raising $0 last quarter. It coincides with news of subpoenas in Camden, Norcross fighting with Senate President Nick Scutari and comes a few years after Norcross officially domiciled in Florida.

But wait. Norcross said he still plans to help his friend Steve Sweeney should he run for governor, which we all expect to happen. He didn’t say he;s giving up his chairmanship of Cooper or his insurance brokerage, and both have extensive ties to government. So you can be excused for being a little skeptical about whether Norcross really will make his influence scarce. But look, if Norcross says he’s stepping back, we can only take him at his word and watch to see what he actually does.

Read more about it from Dustin Racioppi here.

TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at [email protected].

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “[S]ince Liberty National Golf Course and Liberty State Park seemingly cannot co-exist peacefully, Trenton should use its power of eminent domain to purchase Fireman’s golf course.” — Jersey City resident Eric Allen Conner in a Jersey Journal Op-Ed

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Chris Megerian, Matt Greller, Sabeen Masih, Yale Hauptman, Miranda Peterson

WHERE’S MURPHY? No public schedule

WHAT TRENTON MADE


RESIGN OR RESCIND? —“Two ELEC commissioners who quit look to rescind resignations,” by New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein: “Two former members of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission have pulled back their resignations and plan to hold a meeting to discuss plans to implement the Election Transparency Act that some say effectively gutted the agency. Stephen Holden and Marguerite Simon resigned in March in protest of the legislature’s passage of a controversial bill. … Holden told the New Jersey Globe that he was ‘concerned about the institution.’ ‘We’re concerned about the lack of a commission at the helm and our resignations have not been accepted,’ Holden said. ‘In light of the statute that says holdover commissioners serve until successors are appointed, our concern is that the institution has to be responsive. Somebody has to move forward.’ It’s not immediately clear if Holden and Simon can withdraw their resignations.’”

MEN ARE FROM MARS AND CAN BEAT VENUS — “Deep South Jersey has a rising political star in Mike Testa. How far will he go?” by The Press of Atlantic City’s Michelle Brunetti Post: “In his second term in office, state Sen. Mike Testa ... has been the object of statewide attention and is being talked about as a future gubernatorial or congressional candidate. … Newark Mayor Ras Baraka mentioned Testa by name in his state of the city speech, angry over a bill Testa had introduced that drew attention to Newark being duped into signing a sister-city agreement with the nonexistent United States of Kailasa. It set off a tiff between the two that only got Testa more statewide coverage. … Testa, the father of two young daughters, said he was a Division I tennis player for Villanova University and remembers seeing sisters Venus and Serena Williams defeated by male tennis player Karsten Braasch in exhibition matches at the 1998 Australian Open. Braasch was ranked 203rd in the world when the sisters were still teens but ranked 19th and 53rd of women players on their way to the top 10 by 2002. ‘They were already mega stars. They really got crushed by him,’ Testa said. ‘Not to take anything away from the accomplishments of the Williams sisters. It is the difference between the strength and speed of biological males vs. biological females.’”

TO CALL A PREDATOR — “NJ senator to support group that was sued for labeling Roxbury librarian ‘child predator’,” by The Daily Record’s William Westhoven: “State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio is pledging his support for four local residents who were sued by the Roxbury High School librarian for allegedly defaming her in public as a ‘child predator’ over the library’s inclusion of books they call inappropriate for children. Roxbury isn’t in Pennacchio’s 26th legislative district. But the Republican senator, a well-known conservative firebrand who’s facing a primary challenge, issued a news release on Friday saying, ‘these moms should have the right to raise concerns about their children being exposed to sexually explicit and highly offensive materials in their schools.’”

PREDICTION: THEY’LL DO IT JUST AS DANA REDD BEGINS COLLECTING — “This is why New Jersey’s public retirees need a cost-of-living adjustment,” by Vin Gopal for the USA Today Network: “It’s time to reinstate cost-of-living adjustments for New Jersey’s retired public sector workers, who have not gotten a cost-of-living adjustment since 2011 while watching inflation eat away at their buying power from year to year. Today’s prices are 1.34 times as high as average prices since 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 74.6 percent of what it could buy back then. … The state suspended regular cost-of-living adjustment, known as COLAs, to public employee retiree pension benefits with bipartisan legislation 12 years ago to address the fact that the pension fund was significantly unfunded.”

NOT TO MENTION THE WAREWOLVES — “Trucks, noise, odors: Here’s what it’s really like to live next to N.J. warehouses, residents say,” by NJ Advance Media’s Jackie Roman: “When James Kolpack started looking for a new home in New Jersey last year, he said he was searching for an area surrounded by farmland and ‘open space, where I would be able to relax a little.’ He settled on sprawling Mansfield Township in Burlington County, where the population of 8,897 is spread across 23 square miles. … Instead, it’s been ‘a complete nightmare’ all hours of the day and night, Kolpack said. ‘Literally, the windows shake, the house starts to shake,’ he said. ‘It’s the trucks.’ Mansfield — which includes Interstate 295 and several other major highways — has become a hotbed for warehouse development in recent years, like many other rural and suburban communities across New Jersey. … The rumble of trucks past Kolpack’s house is the soundtrack of warehouse development for many in New Jersey. And it’s something more residents will be hearing, seeing and feeling as the state continues to be the target of developers looking to build additional warehouses near New Jersey’s highways and ports.”

—“Women are now leaving N.J. Legislature after making historic gains in last election”

—“Smell of weed on N.J. and Philly roads spurs fears of unsafe driving”

—“We can’t let the GOP weaponize NJ’s dead whales | Opinion”

—“Experts, advocates weigh in on how NJ Transit could close predicted $957M budget shortfall”

—“NJ jail guard demoted for reporting superior choking inmate in mugshot”

—Snowflack: “The quest for the holy whale”

—“N.J. made it a year without plastic bags but straws continue to be hard to let go”

CARTOON BREAK — “The nine lives of George Norcross,” by Drew Sheneman

BIDEN TIME


‘THAT’S OUTRAGEOUS’ SAY COMMUTERS WHO PAY $15 DAILY TOLLS AND $600 A MONTH FOR PARKING INSTEAD OF TAKING PUBLIC TRANSIT — Biden administration green lights nation’s first congestion pricing plan for New York, by POLITICO’s Danielle Muoio Dunn: The Biden administration on Friday cleared New York’s congestion pricing plan to move forward, approving an environmental review that suffered such significant delays many doubted the first-in-the-nation tolling system would ever happen. The Federal Highway Administration issued a letter approving the New York Metropolitan Transportation’s Authority environmental assessment and issued a draft “Finding of No Significant Impact” that will now be up for public review for 30 days, according to a copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO. The news means the agency has been given the green light to start charging drivers entering central Manhattan at peak times in an effort to cut down on gridlock. MTA officials have said they would need almost a year to set up the new tolling infrastructure once it obtains federal approval, putting it on track to meet its current target of launching congestion pricing in the second quarter of 2024.

—“$23 to enter Manhattan? Murphy seeks legal options after ‘unfair’ congestion pricing OK’d”

—“‘Didn’t even tell me': NJ mom disgusted by Navy change after son’s SEAL training death”

—“Alexander running again in CD-2”

LOCAL


R.I.P. — “Deptford Township police officer dies from injuries sustained when he was shot in the line of duty,” by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeremy Roebuck: “A Deptford Township police officer died Sunday from a gunshot wound sustained in the line of duty earlier this year, authorities said. Officer Robert Shisler, 27, had been hospitalized at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania since March 10, when he was shot while attempting to stop a pedestrian in a residential neighborhood in the Gloucester County community. The man he was chasing — whom police have identified as Mitchell Negron Jr. — was also shot during the struggle and died.”

STORY SUDDENLY MUCH LESS FUNNY — “N.J. pasta dump: Son caught on camera ditching mom’s macaroni, neighbors say,” by NJ Advance Media’s Brianna Kudisch: “Neighbors say they may have solved the mystery of who dumped nearly 500 pounds of pasta next to a stream in Old Bridge. A Ring security camera caught a man in the neighborhood cleaning out uncooked pasta from his mother’s house after she died, said Nina Jochnowitz, the resident of the Middlesex County township who first posted photos of the pasta mess on social media last week. The man, who neighbors said is a military veteran, came across the hoard of dry pasta and likely dumped it in the woods because of the sheer quantity, she said. … Jochnowitz said she’s been in contact with his family. But, she declined to name the man. ‘I don’t want him to relive the trauma,’ she said, referring to his military career and the death of his mother. ‘I certainly don’t think that it’s fair that the media gets this story out of somebody else’s woes.’”

TESTA TO INTRODUCE BILL PROHIBITING RENT CONTROL IN CITIES WITH POPULATION OF AT LEAST 300K — “Hoping to stay affordable, Newark plans rent control on new apartments,” by NJ Advance Media’s Steve Strunsky: “A decade-long building boom in Newark has added thousands of new apartments to the city as development spreads west from Jersey City’s red-hot real estate market. Hoping to keep Newark as affordable as its boom continues, city officials are weighing a rent control ordinance that would apply to newly constructed apartments despite a state law exempting them from local rent control. On Wednesday, the City Council introduced an ordinance proposed by Mayor Ras Baraka that would limit rent increases to 5% for any two-year period.’

—“Nabisco implosion: Local residents stage town hall to demand answers on contamination risk”

—“Cirillo hits Murphy for saying SDA funds are ‘my money:’ ‘It’s the people’s money’”

—“Paterson residents call on AG to fire bad cops, reform police”

—“A look at New Jersey’s 2023 May municipal elections”

—“Biggest development since Commons mall unveiled in Bridgewater. Here are the details”

—“Year after deadly car meet, shore town moves to shut down Wildwood Beach Linkup”

—“Students behaving badly: Jersey City schools issued nearly 500 suspensions in March”

EVERYTHING ELSE


FRONTIER FLIGHTS MORE DEMOCRATIC THAN NJ DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRIMARIES — “The crowd decided: Passengers on this flight voted to remove fellow traveler, videos show,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Nathan Diller: “Travelers on a Frontier Airlines flight to Atlanta apparently took an unruly passenger incident into their own hands Monday, voting to remove a guest who had a confrontation with fellow flyers. A series of TikTok videos appear to show two women on a flight from Trenton-Mercer Airport in New Jersey to Atlanta shouting at one another before one of the women, and a man next to her, are escorted off the plane by what looks like ground crew members. Another traveler then calls for the other passengers to weigh in on whether the second woman who appeared to argue with the pair should be removed. ‘If you can hear me, raise your hand if you want her removed from the flight,’ he said in the clip, while hands nearby shoot up, before she was escorted off as well.”

KILLER NURSE — “For all our sakes, the media should be covering the institutional failures behind the sensational Charles Cullen case,” by David Calandro for The Jersey Journal: “The sensational, shallow aspects of the Cullen story have been covered. The focus was on Cullen, the serial killer nurse, while the story behind the story (the hospital human resources departments, CEOs, boards of directors, quality improvement and patient representative departments, nursing administrations) quietly slipped away as the story faded. There was no one to answer to, nothing to account for, no loss of reputation, profit, executive position, or public trust. There was no discipline, no reprimand, no sanction, no required in-depth explanation how an alleged nurse killer moved at will between 16 hospitals in two states.”

—“Nature Conservancy donates 3,100 acres of Pine Barrens to existing preserve”

—“Man who died in chokehold on NYC subway never recovered from mom’s 2007 Bayonne murder: family”

—“Lawsuit filed against scrapped Bamboozle Festival and promoter”

—“$980K insurance payment set for man whose wife, 6-year-old son were killed, lawyer says”

CORRECTION — I wrote Friday that it was hard to imagine Brian Stack running off the Hudson County line in 2025. That’s a “duh” moment for me. The Senate won’t be up that year. Stack’s Assembly running mates will be.