Christie vetoes legal services contract for Norcross's brother

By Matt Friedman | March 9th, 2010 - 7:53pm

| More

The law firm whose contract with the Delaware River and Bay Authority Gov. Christopher Christie vetoed on Friday is run by the brother of political power broker George Norcross.

In a press release today, the Christie administration did not name the firm but said that it vetoed the minutes of the DRBA’s Feb. 16 meeting in which it authorized the contract because it “fails to specify any material terms of the contract – including the hourly rate of legal services, the term, or maximum annual compensation under the contract.”

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said that the firm was Parker McCay in response to an inquiry from PolitickerNJ.com.

Parker McCay is run by Philip Norcross, a prolific Democratic campaign donor who is the brother of George Norcross and state Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden). The firm lists him on its web site as its managing shareholder and chief executive officer.

Drewniak cautioned that Christie’s decision to veto the contract had nothing to do with the firm’s leadership.

“It doesn’t matter whatsoever what law firm it is or who is associated with it,” he said. “That’s not the point of our inquiry. The problem is that the DRBA approved an open-ended contract with no indication at all in its resolution or meeting minutes or what the cost of that contract would be.”

Added Drewniak: “Are there any limitations? Is it a $500 contract or a $5 million contract? I don’t know that, and neither would any member of the public who looks at this.”

Christie also vetoed blanket authorizations of more than $25,000 to four vendors. It was the second time he vetoed spending by the DRBA. On his first day in office, he vetoed its 2010 operating budget .

A statement posted on the DRBA’s Web site this evening said that the legal contract was fairly bid out with a Request For Proposal (RFP) -- the first time the agency has taken that action. The firms submitted their qualifications with the understanding that their hourly rate would be capped at $250 per hour, according to the statement.

“The Resolution in question does stipulate the term of the contract, which is three years with a one year option. The Board of Commissioners strictly followed Resolution 98-31, which governs procurement at this bi-state agency. Again, the information concerning process was provided to the Governor’s Authorities unit to support this Resolution,” read the statement. “The DRBA Commissioners have consistently and diligently worked to stress accountability throughout the organization to insure that the user fees generated at the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the Cape May – Lewes Ferry and all other operations are administered in the public's interest.”

The statement did not address whether Parker McCay was the lowest bidder.

DRBA spokesman James Salmon said he did not have a copy of the contract to immediately provide.

Parker McCay also counts John Gillespie as a shareholder, who is the brother of former Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and counsel to President George W. Bush. Barry Parker (R-Mt. Holly), a former assembly speaker and senate minority leader, is Of Counsel to the firm.

A message left for Philip Norcross on his law firm's voicemail system after business hours was not immediately returned.

Tags:

Here We Go...

Submitted by studmoose on March 9, 2010 - 9:01pm.

Let petty Republican politics enter the arena.

I was hoping that Gov. Christie was above that, but I guess not. Perhaps he should have consulted with Norcross about his ability to cancel state union contracts before shooting his mouth off?

professional services

Submitted by Captain Republican on March 9, 2010 - 10:39pm.

Should be uniform across the board. Fees for each profession should be determined by eliminating the top three and bottom three rates and then averaging the remaining hourly rates to arrive at a uniform public rate.

All public contractors should fully disclose all political contributions and political involvement with the proposals and before any award, the applicants and their proposals should be posted for a week on the public agency's web site

Our governor is doing the right thing. For the nay sayers, ask yourself if you'd hire a lawyer in your personal life without a rate hours or cap. What? You would not do it with your money, then damn it, don't do it with mine.

Nice pic

Submitted by Slim Richards on March 9, 2010 - 10:43pm.

I like that pic of Christie. He looks like he's in a message and Media commercial, except this time he paid for it.

petty...

Submitted by SDem on March 9, 2010 - 10:44pm.

Are you kidding me? This is what he was elected to do. By calling CC petty you are calling all who voted for him petty. Have you seen the recent polls? This guy has the public 100 percent behind him. We only wish he would use a chain saw instead of a hatchet to cut cut cut.

Divided We Fall

Submitted by realjoea3 on March 10, 2010 - 12:36am.

Shame on all the Republicans in Rutherford
who didn't do a damn thing to help Todd
Hennessey win in Rutherford. That is why
Bernie McPherson's puppet John "Frodo
Baggins" Parnofiello won.
Todd won the election in November but
because of illegal ballots, they had
to waste the taxpayers money in
Rutherford.

Shame on John Sasso, Rose Iguanti (sp.?)
Municipal Chairman Dowd who were no where
to be found. Todd called all these people
and other so-called Rutherford Republicans
and they just said NO to Todd.

John Hipp is the Republican Mayor of
Rutherford, and the GOP dominates the
Rutherford council 4-2; but since the GOP
is divided in that municipality, Bernie
McPherson's people can take over again.

I hope all you Rutherford Republicans
who didn't do a damn thing for Todd are
proud of yourselves for this. Maybe
you should become Democrats and let
"real" Republicans control Rutherford again.

BTW The Dems were working on Frodo's campaign
in Bergen County on the taxpayers dime!
Isn't that right Denise Ross and
Ms. McPherson???

Is DRBA the new DRPA?

Submitted by VeteransWife on March 10, 2010 - 7:22am.

There is no shortage of ethical, not-so-pricey, not politically connected lawyers that would serve DRBA. But it seems to be headed the way of Dela River Pork Authority which increased it's debt by over $1 Billion dollars.

Governor Christie must reign in these Authorities and stop the looting thru politically connected professional services contracts, like PMC, Salmon Ventures (Jim Salmon's daddy),Triad (Ed Salmons partner) and others etc.

Bravo for Christie

Submitted by digitup (not verified) on March 10, 2010 - 11:29am.

Jeff can't be happy, but it was the right thing to do and he knows it. Good for the Governor.

What did he veto?

Submitted by yellowcake on March 11, 2010 - 4:23pm.

Did he veto the minutes of the Authority's meeting or the contract itself? And is it minutes that “fails to specify any material terms of the contract,” or the contract itself? If it’s the former, and the minutes are revised to specify the terms, will Christie reconsider?

At any rate, too bad there wasn’t anybody around to veto John Ashcroft’s plum $50 million contract when the then-U.S. attorney awarded it to his former boss and political mentor/crony.

Dizi izle

Submitted by tvdizi on March 12, 2010 - 8:43am.

Thx for sharing

akciger kanseri tedavisi bel

Submitted by gundem on March 13, 2010 - 9:09am.

akciger kanseri tedavisi
bel soğukluğu tedavisi
prostat kanseri tedavisi
sedef tedavileri
erken bosalma tedavileri
kil donmesi tedavisi
rx 1 zayiflama ilaci
selulit tedavisi
penis buyutucu haplar
gastrit tedavisi
sivilce tedavisi
bagirsak tedavisi
ulser tedavisi
hemoroid tedavisi
diyabet tedavisi
kanser cesitleri
sinuzit tedavisi
saglik aktuel
saglik bilgisi
horlama tedavisi
varis tedavileri
kellik tedavisi
karin catlaklari
migren tedavisi
alzheimer tedavisi
yaz diyeti
18 sicak
paris hilton sicak
travel turkey guide
marmaris otelleri
cephe giydirme sistemleri
dis cephe kaplamalari
siirlerim ask
tarz oyunlar
tavla indirme
batak indirme
okey indirme
mmorpg indir
flatout 2 indir
bilardo indirme
poker indirme
rize ikinci el
rize haber
son mp3 indir

PolitickerNJ.com

Search