Developers Bribes Should be a Cost of Doing Business.

Although I generally believe it is bad public policy and unethical to bribe politicians I can't help but wonder that resorting to bribery on the part of developers is sometimes the only way to make progress. I would guess that on occasion, a developer will have no other choice but to pay up to a crooked government, or else risk losing a significant investment. Although I don't know much about the Marlboro case it does remind me of Joe Barry's bribery of a Hudson County politician.

To make a long story short, Joe Barry and his company Applied Development wanted to put condos on Hoboken's decrepit northern waterfront in the late '90s. (The only imaginable reason why this piece of prime real estate not developed in the past was because some in the Hudson County machine had their hands out looking to be paid.)Apparently, Joe could only turn this prime piece of water-front real estate, that was going to waste, if he opened his wallet, which he did. Needless to say, Joe got caught and so did the politician Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski, but the north part of Hoboken is now a much nicer place to live thanks to Joe Barry's money.