Oversight & ethics enforcement

NJ State Comptroller found Newark's mayor, Cory Booker, attended no Newark Watershed board meetings as its ex officio chair during the period investigated and designated no replacement after May 2010, 2014; a federal bankruptcy court dismissed him from a related civil suit on immunity grounds, 2016

Confidence: Confirmed · 5 sourcesNew Jersey · Oct 12, 2026

Subject of this story

Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation

Linda Watkins-Brashear, Former Executive Director, Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation

Cory Booker, U.S. Senator for New Jersey

Also named

Oversight

New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey

What happened

An Office of the State Comptroller investigative report released Feb. 19, 2014 found that the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation, a city-created nonprofit that managed Newark's watershed under city contracts, operated without meaningful oversight, and that its executive director, Linda Watkins-Brashear, wrote unauthorized checks to herself, awarded no-bid contracts to associates and authorized risky trades that lost more than $500,000 in public funds. The report found that the mayor is the board's ex officio chair and that then-Mayor Cory Booker attended no board meetings during the period investigated (the report's financial review covers 2008 through 2011). It says he told investigators he sits ex officio on numerous boards, could not attend all of them because of time constraints, and relied on the city's business administrator to attend for him; that official left in May 2010 and Booker never designated a replacement, which the report notes he could do without City Council approval. Booker also told investigators he had difficulty moving board nominees through the Council. The report said oversight failures by the board, its hired professionals and the City all contributed, and the report was referred to law enforcement and regulators, including the state Division of Criminal Justice. Booker was not charged. Watkins-Brashear pleaded guilty in 2015 and was sentenced in September 2017 to 102 months in prison and $1.3 million in restitution. In a 2015 civil suit by the corporation's bankruptcy estate that named Booker among the defendants (negligence and breach of fiduciary duty), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Jersey dismissed the claims against him on June 21, 2016, ruling that New Jersey's Tort Claims Act public-employee immunity applied; the ruling did not decide whether the allegations were true.

Sources (5)

New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, Investigative Report: Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation (Feb. 19, 2014)Notwithstanding that role, we found that during the time period covered by this investigation then-Mayor Cory Booker did not attend any Board meetings. ... that individual resigned from the City's employment and the Board in May 2010 and the Mayor never designated a replacement.

New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, press release (Feb. 19, 2014)The City's mayor, designated to serve as chairman of the NWCDC Board, had not sent a representative to a Board meeting since at least May 2010. ... The findings are being referred to the Attorney General's Office.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court, D.N.J., Opinion, Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. v. Watkins-Brashear, Adv. Pro. 15-2397 (June 21, 2016)For these reasons, Booker is entitled to public employee immunity and his motion to dismiss the claims against him will be granted.

Insurance Journal (AP)Linda Watkins Brashear pleaded guilty in 2015 ... she received a 102-month sentence and was ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution.

ABC NewsBooker was named among defendants in a 2015 civil suit and was dismissed from it in June 2016 on public-employee immunity grounds; he was not charged in the federal prosecutions.

Response

Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation

Not yet contacted

Not yet contacted for this story.

Linda Watkins-Brashear

Not yet contacted

Not yet contacted for this story.

Cory Booker

Statement given

Contacted and responded — exact wording not on record.

What happened next (0)

No outcome recorded yet.

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