State senator renews push for inspector general after Norcross dismissal

In the aftermath of the dismissal of corruption charges against South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross, state Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union) reiterated his calls for an independent oversight office for state prosecutors. 

Cryan first called for the creation of an Office of Inspector General for Prosecutorial Oversight in September. Cryan said the office would investigate allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and state Sen. Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood) has since come out in favor of the proposal.  The New Jersey NAACP has also endorsed the bill.

The Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, created in 2018 to battle corruption, has faced allegations of misconduct. The attorney of a Lakewood rabbi demanded investigations into the office after a botched prosecution, and the attorney of a former assemblyman prosecuted for corruption accused the office of not disclosing evidence.

“Today’s dismissals are just the latest embarrassing black eye for the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability,” Cryan said in a release. “The OPIA has been admonished time and again by judges across the state and repeatedly accused of impropriety and prosecutorial abuse bordering on misconduct by multiple respected attorneys and, yet, the Attorney General seems either unwilling or unable to fix these many problems.”

Cryan said the prosecutors haven’t used discretion and have unnecessarily instead put people’s livelihoods at risk.

“In fact, the people in charge of that office have turned a blind eye to the losses, accusations and admonishments while the prosecutors in their charge either get farmed out or transfer out of the office as quickly as possible,” Cryan said. “In some cases, these lawyers have inexplicably even tried to make positive advances further into the legal system after their quick exit. In the meantime, people’s lives are ruined.”

An attorney for Norcross criticized the state’s lack of an inspector general during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

“Unfortunately, in Jersey, we don’t have an inspector general’s office, but I think it’s long time that we take a look at it,” said Norcross attorney Michael Critchley.