SECAUCUS – Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto has accepted work consulting with private clients, including major political donors, according to The Star-Ledger. Among his clients is All-Risk Property Damage Experts, a privately-owned disaster recovery business.
All-Risk’s owner, George Norcross, along with his wife, daughter, and the company itself have made nearly $85,000 in state and local political donations or loans to political organizations since 2000, the vast majority of them to South Jersey Democrats, the article states.
Prieto dismissed the suggestion that private consulting could make him susceptible to political pressure. The nature of Prieto’s consulting work was not specified, nor were the names of any other clients.
In addition to his role as Assembly speaker, Prieto serves as code inspector for Secaucus and construction official in Guttenberg. A former plumber, he told the paper that he began consulting in the private sector this year for plumbers and other companies. “I will of course disclose all the relevant information as required in upcoming financial disclosure reports, all while continuing to properly balance my public service with my private business,” he said.