"Meadowlands Scandal Sounds Familiar," Home News Tribune, March 9, 2008.
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20080309&Category=OPINION01&ArtNo=803090449...
"Anyone with a memory for disastrous public contracts read the Inspector General's report on the EnCap Meadowlands project last week with a drowning sense of deja vu. Wind the clock back several years and you might have replaced EnCap with Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, the company given nearly $600 MILLION to privatize and modernize the state's vehicle inspection system."
That's $600 MILLION of YOUR money, if you live in New Jersey. This massive fraud was greased by attorneys in government and private practice. An essay concerning the criminal and unethical conduct of a number of N.J. attorneys is forthcoming. Where are Trenton's notorious acronyms? OAE? DRB? AG? Xanadu will cost residents of New Jersey BILLIONS for an unfinished mall. To his credit, Richard J. Codey has suggested that this latest disaster should be brought under control, rather than throwing more money at an unfixable situation. Nobody's listening.
"The Parsons contract was eventually declared a 'mamoth boondoggle' by a state agency. [In other words, a scam.] What Parsons lacked in expertise and experience, it more than made up for with sizable campaign contributions, influential lobbyists and even a few jobs to some important folk. When the report was made public, there was a great deal of finger-pointing and angry denunciations of pay to play. And state lawmakers said it would not happen again. It has."
Xanadu?
"The story of EnCap is virtually identical to that of Parsons in every important way. According to the Inspector General the company had neither the expertise nor the experience to do the job it promised; neither did it have the investors or the financial backing it said it did. But it gave to candidates, hired one of the state's most politically connected law firms, [Did they also hire the OAE?] got access to the folks who mattered, and landed the project and plenty of public money that seems to have been relentlessly squandered."
It's all about who you know and whether you are willing to share the bucks when they come in from the government treasury. I heard a former partner of a prominent N.J. politician discussing their cynical grab for dollars in terms of Trenton's contracted legal services, services that were often redundant, unnecessary, or overbilled.
I heard chuckles from political lawyers discussing "phone calls" to politicians to "fix" little ethical messes, like theft of client funds. To discover that the same people "fixing" things become important officials and judges in the Garden State is to realize that the poison of corruption and mafia influence taints every decision by those tribunals, making a mockery of the state's so-called "ethics proceedings."
"And so, nine years, five administrations and HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS into a project that was going to turn some stinking old landfills into luxurious golf courses and high-rent residences, the project is knee-deep in garbage."
And the shit of legal corruption, deservedly, covers the Brennan Courthouse. None of the attorneys greasing these massive criminal frauds have been subjected to ethics charges. If they were, the situations would be "fixed," quietly and smoothly. Maybe public pressure can change that -- for a little while. (For a view of a typical New Jersey Superior Court judge, see "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
I am not interested in being nice after being subjected to a torture chamber. More judicial profiles are coming up. New "errors" inserted and corrected overnight. March 13, 2008 at 8:37 A.M. Keep it up fellas, you're helping to prove my point.
"The Inspector General has asked the state Attorney General's Office to look into possible criminal behavior."
Waste of time with Anne Milgram around. Don't bother to expect much from the A.G. I am sure that Ms. Milgram is a wonderful pastry chef, but this little situation is way over her head. No more "errors" inserted by hackers?
"In particular, the company seems to have wilfully misled [lied to?] public agencies in an attempt to get money from both state and local sources, and the law firm comes in for a good deal of censure and questionable tactics."
If any of these lawyers were minority solos, they'd be disbarred by the state, unceremoniously, with the eager assistance of minority frontpersons, the house slaves of the legal machinery. Lying that results in theft of public money in the millions is just fine -- for some people in New Jersey's legal practice. Who wants to talk to me about "ethics"?
"The Inspector General did not investigate public officials, even though the office's summation speaks to a political system that allowed it to happen: 'The project is a study in what can go wrong when a public body with high-minded public policy goals and compelled by its status to engage in fair dealing joins forces with a private entity whose primary goal is to maximize its profit and operates in a buyer beware atmosphere."
Never give a sucker an even break. Rumors of payoffs and political favors for OAE and DRB officials are unconfirmed, though highly likely to be true. Under existing federal criminal law (yes, there is such a thing), silent acquiescence in criminal conduct is grounds for equal liability and impositions of identical penalties. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
"The real question to be answered is how a 'public body with high-minded public policy goals' came to be duped for so long and so much."
They were sharing in the booty, in every sense, that's how they were "duped." OAE? How much did you steal from my office?
"The suspicion in this instance is that high-minded public policy played a poor second fiddle to the greed of public officials and the buddy system still at work in Trenton. The only one, in fact, who seems to have acted both competently and openly was Gov. Jon S. Corzine, when he refused to endorse yet more loans and instead ordered the Inspector General's investigation."
Nothing in N.J.'s legal establishment -- which is essentially coopted by the criminal culture of warped legal practice -- will bring about change. To have such people judge the ethics of anyone is a disgusting form of hypocrisy and farce. You are right to be appalled and furious if you live in the Garden State. The Soprano State, pp. 35-40. ("Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Several law makers and public policy groups have called for an investigation by Chris Christie, the federal prosecutor in New Jersey. It's a good idea. The public policy system has failed, yet again. An outsider is needed to find out how and when Trenton keeps going wrong."
