Turmoil rocks New Jersey’s Democratic political bosses just in time for an election

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Being a political boss in New Jersey ain’t what it used to be.

Monday’s indictment on racketeering charges of Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III by state Attorney General Matt Platkin caps a series of blows to influential figures in the state’s dominant political party and adds to a sense of turbulence in the blue-state stronghold.

There’s the ongoing federal bribery case against Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who’s pleaded not guilty in a New York trial that has consistently delivered glimpses of the tawdry underbelly of Garden State politics. There’s the fall this year of a century-old, unique-to-New Jersey primary ballot system that allowed party bosses to give preferred placement to endorsed candidates.

And now there’s the indictment of Norcross, who Platkin said stepped across legal lines in orchestrating tax benefits for entities he controlled. Norcross angrily denied doing anything wrong.

It all comes months before the November general election, as Democrats look to hold on to a U.S. Senate seat they didn’t expect to have to fight for in a year when their thin majority is already in jeopardy. Republicans, meanwhile, have found new reasons to be optimistic about their chances to win a seat they haven’t held in more than five decades.

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