Not many people are portrayed in a positive light in the secretly
recorded conversations of George E. Norcross III, who is heard
boasting of his influence from town halls to the State House
and savaging ally and foe alike.
So the "do-gooders" stand out.
That is the term the Democratic power broker used to describe
three unnamed Voorhees politicians he said were trying to hire
the best possible engineer for their township, regardless of
politics - until he set them straight.
". . . the most qualified, the best, you know all that
stuff," Norcross is heard saying.
The tapes were recorded between December 2000 and February 2001
by Palmyra Mayor John Gural, then a councilman, as part of an
investigation by the state Attorney General's Office of alleged
political corruption in South Jersey. The attorney general did
not obtain any indictments in connection with the investigation.
The tape involving Norcross, including the reference to the
"do-gooders," was released March 31 by the Attorney
General's Office.
So who were these idealists championing merit in a state known
for pay-to-play?
It is impossible to say with certainty.
Norcross, who went on in the same conversation to describe how
he squashed the do-gooders' effort to appoint the Schoor DePalma
engineering firm and told them to appoint JCA of Moorestown
instead, now claims that the whole thing was a figment of his
imagination.
"He misspoke," Norcross' attorney, William Tambussi,
says of the meeting Norcross described on tape.
The meeting - at which Assemblyman Louis A. Greenwald and Camden
County Clerk Jim Beach joined him in telling Voorhees Committeeman
Harry Platt that "JCA was going to be the engineer of record.
I don't care about your f------ review process" - never
took place, Tambussi says.
Gural, a Democrat who went to the attorney general with allegations
that he was being threatened to do the bidding of Norcross and
other political leaders, said recently he doesn'
But, like a number of Republicans in recent days, Gural raised
a question.
"Which is more credible?," Gural asked. "What
he said then when he thought no one was listening? Or what he's
saying now when he knows everyone's listening?"
What is known is three Voorhees Democrats interviewed engineering
firms in November and December 2000 in preparation for appointing
an engineer in the first days of 2001.
And they did appoint JCA.
Those willing to talk about it say they picked JCA because it
was best qualified, not because of any outside pressure.
Two of the Democrats were incumbent members of township committee:
Platt, who would become mayor at the reorganization meeting
in 2001, and Gary Schlosser, who would become deputy mayor.
The third Democrat was committeeman-elect Joe Lovallo.
Platt, who runs his family's funeral home and still serves on
the committee, said he and the other two Democrats interviewed
at least three engineering firms.
Platt said the meeting with Greenwald and Beach described by
Norcross never took place and said he never spoke with Norcross
at any time about appointing an engineer.
"We had no reason to discuss it," he said, adding
that "politics played no role" in the appointment
of JCA.
Platt said he and the other Democrats interviewed engineering
firms in a conference room at the Hampton Inn.
"I think there were three firms," Platt recalled,
"Schoor DePalma, JCA and ARH (Adams, Rehman, Heggan)."
"JCA emerged as the best," he said, in part because
it "brought an in-house grant writer to the table,"
important for obtaining money from the state for various projects.
Howard Long, the solicitor for Voorhees now, but not in 2000,
said that selection of professionals such as engineers is up
to the five members of township committee and that "all
share equal authority and power under the law."
But he noted that an interview process, while a good practice,
is not required and said that a meeting of two committeemen
and a committeeman-elect would not constitute a violation of
the state's Open Public Meetings Act, since only two members
of the five member committee were present.
The law specifies that before a quorum of a governing body can
legally assemble, the meeting must be advertised and opened
to the public.
Platt said the contracting issue raised by the tapes "was
investigated four years ago" and no wrongdoing was found.
Lovallo said state investigators asked him about "the whole
JCA thing" sometime in 2001 and that he told them the same
thing he said last week.
"After the interview process, we pretty much agreed they
(JCA) would get the bid. I wasn't influenced by anybody. I just
made my decision based on the information at hand."
Lovallo said he was impressed with JCA's professionalism as
well as the presence of an in-house grant writer.
Schlosser, who works as a lending officer for Commerce Bank,
where Norcross heads the insurance division, failed to respond
to numerous requests for comment. He no longer serves on the
township committee.
Greenwald and Beach did not respond to numerous phone calls
seeking their recollection of whether the four-way meeting described
on the tape recording did or did not take place.
The recording on which Norcross boasts of steering the Voorhees
engineering contract to JCA was made on Jan. 3, 2001, in Norcross'
office at Commerce headquarters, with Gural and Gural's boss
at JCA, Mark Neisser, present.
That evening the Voorhees Township Committee met to reorganize
and appointed JCA its engineer.
Schlosser introduced the appointment, Platt seconded it and
Lovallo and Republican Frank Sansone voted "yes."
Republican Gary Finger, the outgoing mayor, abstained.
Finger said JCA turned out to be a qualified engineering firm
and said, "after 15 years in politics" he was not
surprised at not being included in the interviews that led up
to JCA's selection.
"The minority party is not generally included in those
discussions," he said.
Sansone, who, like Finger, no longer holds elected office, could
not be reached for comment.
