How Insurance Brokers Reap Public Funds Without Disclosure

“Money. U.S.” by Adrienne Jenkins is licensed under CC BY 2.0

After reviewing dozens of public documents, I revealed a loophole in New Jersey’s pay-to-play law that makes it difficult or impossible to know how much money is going back and forth between insurance brokerages and the public entities. Here is my special report.

The Politician Pension-Padding Bill

“Old New Jersey Statehouse Genuine Golden Dome” by Tony Fischer is licensed under CC BY 2.0

New Jersey lawmakers quietly introduced a bill during a lame-duck session to let certain elected officials re-enroll in New Jersey’s cash-starved pension system. I discovered the bill after it was added to a Senate committee agenda one night, and quickly found out it was specifically cooked up for the outgoing Camden mayor. I broke the story the next morning and followed up with a report later that day on a Senate committee quickly advancing the bill.

CRDA Mission Creep

“Atlantic City Skyline – August 2006” by Charlie Anzman is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Casino gambling was legalized in part to help revive Atlantic City. The state agency tasked with this mission is the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which was created in 1984 to spend casino tax funds on urban revitalization. But as my exhaustive examination of more than 450 CRDA resolutions shows, roughly a quarter of the authority’s investments went back to the casino properties.

Other Highlights

The first detailed report on Gov. Phil Murphy’s plan to raise taxes.

A look at how much the state takeover of Atlantic City cost taxpayers.

A buzzy story on a NJ election law loophole.

How Atlantic City could become Atlantis City if it doesn’t figure out flooding.