The group, Take Back NJ, is asking Booker (D-N.J.) to cancel a $2,800-per-head fundraiser he has planned for next Friday with two New Jersey political heavyweights. | AP Photo/Cliff Owen Progressive groups ask Booker to disavow New Jersey power brokers

As U.S. Sen. Cory Booker continues to criticize the Trump administration’s immigration and economic policies on the campaign trail, a coalition progressive groups wants the Democratic presidential candidate to speak out about issues in his home state — and even his home county.

The group, Take Back NJ, is asking Booker (D-N.J.) to cancel a $2,800-per-head fundraiser he has planned for next Friday with two New Jersey political heavyweights: Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross.


“We are concerned with a recent inconsistency between your national posture and your relationship with your constituents in New Jersey,” reads the letter to Booker, which is signed by representatives from 21 groups. “We admire your stance on ICE, your pledge not to take PAC money, and your advocacy for the underserved, and yet we feel that these convictions are undermined by your acceptance of a fundraiser hosted by George Norcross and Joe DiVincenzo.“

A spokesperson for Booker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Essex County Correctional Facility, in Booker’s hometown of Newark, has a contract to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees that earns the county more than $40 million a year. The jail has been cited for poor conditions by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, which in a report earlier this month noted “unreported security incidents, food safety issues, and facility conditions that endanger detainee health” as well as inmate strip searches “with no justification documented.”

While Booker has criticized ICE on the campaign trail and has introduced legislation seeking to curb local law enforcement cooperation with it, he has not addressed the Essex County jail contract or commented on other New Jersey counties that house ICE inmates.

“No one who is sympathetic to the plight of immigrants in our country under the Trump administration can turn a blind eye to the conditions at this center. It is wrong to normalize cruelty toward the detainees— and yet your continued association with him does just that,” the letter from the progressive groups states.

Anthony Puglisi, a spokesperson for Essex County, said the issues the inspector general found were immediately addressed. The DiVincenzo administration, he said, is taking steps to further improve conditions for inmates, including spending almost $600,000 on facility repairs, more than $300,000 on new food service positions, training and testing, and $50,000 on “to create an enhanced in-house inspection team to routinely review facility conditions and operations.”

Norcross, meanwhile, is at the center of a controversy involving New Jersey’s tax incentive programs, which have awarded more than $7 billion in tax breaks since 2013.

A task force appointed by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has examined how a lawyer at a firm controlled by one of Norcross’ brothers wrote key sections of the 2013 law that expanded the programs, passages that appeared designed specifically for several Norcross-linked companies. Another Norcross brother, Donald, who is now a U.S. congressman, was a co-sponsor of that bill while as a member of the New Jersey Legislature and boasted at the time that he “led the charge” for it.

The Murphy-appointed task force has also accused the Norcross-linked firms of getting “sham” quotes for out-of-state office space to boost their incentives when they allegedly had no intention of moving jobs out of New Jersey.

“The Economic Development Task Force has made one criminal referral so far, yet most believe this story is far from over, and that more corruption and wrongdoing will be revealed,” the letter to Booker reads.

Dan Fee, a spokesperon for George Norcross, said in a statement that if the groups “cared about facts, they'd know that the Governor's Task Force and the [Economic Development Authority] confirmed that Conner Strong & Buckelew's tax incentive award wouldn't have changed even under a different review.” The EDA is the state agency that administers the tax incentive programs.

Conner Strong & Buckelew is George Norcross’ insurance firm. While task force’s review found that the company’s award was the same under a different review, it also found that two companies Conner Strong partnered with to build a new headquarters in Camden would have received tens of millions of dollars less in incentives.

“Maybe they should go home, read Roosevelt’s ‘Man in the Arena‘ speech and reconsider the choices they’ve made,” Fee said of the groups targeting Booker. ”Change doesn’t come from being a critic, change comes from ideas and action. They should try it, but until they do, they not only will be ignored by decision makers — they deserve to be.”