IT'S HAPPPPPENNNINNNNGGGG! George Norcross and @NJSenatePres cap off what has to be one of the worst weeks of either of their lives both politically and legally with the final EDA Task Force report coming out.

Just to recap, King George's hand picked candidate in CD-2 lost so badly the race was conceded 30 mins after polls closed. Before you think maybe he wasn't really all in, his PAC spent almost $500k, and George, not the candidate, was the first to concede. https://twitter.com/NYTnickc/status/1280661030906015747?s=20

And mere days before that he lost his appeal in the lawsuit trying to stop the Task Force investigation. So George and Steve have had a week. https://twitter.com/MattFriedmanNJ/status/1280142733500469255?s=20

They already recovered $11.5M in VOLUNTARILY returned awards. Imagine how sketchy your application would have to be to voluntarily give up the money rather than answer questions about it. But the big number: $578M in incentives referred to EDA, Law Enforcement, or both.

But what about George Norcross? 5 of the 12 Companies referred to EDA for "further investigation, potential termination, or otherwise" are George's, have George on the Board, or are friends of George. #TrentonMakesNorcrossTakes

<Intermission>

Report here for those who want to get ahead of me: https://twitter.com/MattFriedmanNJ/status/1281283537967202304?s=19

The Task Force reviewed 1.87M documents which highlighted the consultants' and real estate brokers' role in companies abilities to exploit the EDA program. They also got information from whistleblowers and other human sources that were critical to their ability to investigate.

There's nothing I can add to this: "Professional Consultants Played a Role in the EDA Awarding Tax Credits to Companies That Were Not Actually at Risk of Leaving New Jersey and Which, Therefore, Did Not Qualify for Incentives"

Rather than consultants turning companies away having learned they already decided to stay in or come to NJ, they worked with them to START the process of finding out-of-state locations to use in their applications.

Consultants even pushed companies to apply despite not really being qualified by dangling the likelihood of success, because the loopholes in the law and the EDA vetting process.

The Safilo/KPMG application has been referred to law enforcement.

Consultants were so aware of Blue Hill Plaza in NY being used as a fake alternate site they even commented to clients that everyone was using it or that they shouldn't use it because it might flag their application.

Blue Hill was a running joke in EDA staff meetings, but listing it as an alternate didn't cause the application to receive further vetting.

The EDA failed to provide staff with guidance and training as to what was actually required under the law. This led to even more opportunity for unqualified projects to get approved, even if the flawed law wasn't being actively exploited by companies and their consultants.

The law allowed for checks and reductions in awards based on actual, not estimated, costs, or changes in financing, but EDA did not review or adjust awards. Earlier report cited EDA staff were encouraged and incentivized to give out as many credits as possible, not to reduce.

<Intermission 2> (and we're only through page 7 of 110)

Even when projects were approved there is no clear trail of the documentation that went into justifying that decision. And in some cases the documents that should have been submitted and saved never existed and were never requested by EDA.

Four main groupings of consultants helping with incentives in NJ: incentive specialists, large consulting firms, lawyers ( @ParkerMcCay), and real estate brokers. Note only @ParkerMcCay was also "voluntarily" helping write the EDA law (Kevin Sheehan @NJSenatePres @GovChristie)

Some companies already considered moving, some did it good faith and "... in other cases, it is clear that the company did not consider the out-of-state site to be a real option in any real sense and, in fact, used it solely to qualify for tax incentives from the EDA."

"Some applicants, in the course of our investigation, blamed the EDA for this situation..." Ah, yes, the "It's not me it's you defense." Then there's the consultants, helping companies do exactly the right type of search that would yield a good fit for the EDA requirement.

<Intermission 3>