Don't Blame MAGA For Corruption in New Jersey
Democratic power broker George Norcross III joins Democratic Senator Robert Menendez as the latest in the state to be accused of enriching themselves at the public’s expense.
New Jersey politicians can’t blame MAGA for their legal troubles.
Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg
New Jersey is delivering a kind of rolling TED talk on the cornucopia of political corruption that the Soprano State has to offer. The hits just keep on coming.
The state’s senior US senator, Democrat Robert Menendez, is in the midst of a criminal trial in which he is accused of straight-up bribery, including allegedly having accepted cash and gold bars in return for providing assistance to a business crony. Meanwhile, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy is recovering from his failed effort to finagle his wife, Tammy Murphy, into the seat likely to be vacated by Menendez. Tammy Murphy, whose candidacy seemed to strike Democratic primary voters as more Murphy than any one state could reasonably desire, dropped out of the primary in the face of bad press, weak public support and stiff resistance from Representative Andy Kim, who appears poised to win the seat in November.