Platkin is NJ's most interesting Democrat

Wields wide influence in attorney general post

By: Mike Kelly
Columnist
USA Today Network

..... The most consequential Democrat in New Jersey right now is not one of the usual suspects.
..... It's definitely not Governor Phil Murphy. Or Senator Cory Booker, Or Representative Andy Kim. Or even other boldface Democratic names like Representative Josh Gottheimer and Milie Sherill.
..... It's Matthew Platkin.
..... Who?
..... Platkin, the state attorney general and self law enforcement officer, is not exactly a household name. But when you gaze across the weird, potholed landscape of New Jersey politics, you can't help but notice his influence.
..... Let's begin with two of Platkin's accomplishments that don't receive much statewide attention.
..... First, consider his decision last year [2023] to take over the understaffed and demoralized police department in Paterson.
..... Tasking over any police force is no small thing, especially here in New Jersey, where many communities proudly beat their civic chests over the fact that they have their own police departments - even if a small town force has only a dozen or so cops. Paterson, the state's third-larges city, where about 25% of the nearly 160,000 residents live in poverty, has trimmed its police department in recent years by 20% and now has only 400 officers on its force. Authorities say Paterson needs another 100 cops - maybe more. The city's crime rate is nearly eight times higher than the statewide average. Gangs are a fact of life in too many neighborhoods. So is a bustling drug trade.
..... But adding to this toxic soup of problems is the department itself. A string of officers were at the center of a federal investigation involving such charges as using excessive force or shaking down drug dealers for cash. Discipline seemed lax - at best.
..... After Platkin took over the force, the number of cops suspended without pay jumped from one in 2022 to 18 in 2023. In addition, credible complaints against officers increased from just two to 47. Violations filed by the department against its own members rose from 16 to 43.
..... More reforms are coming - not uneasy task in a state where police officers are hardly shy about telling politicians that they will pay at the ballot box if they push too hard for changes in old department practices and rules.
..... Along those lines, Platkin has championed an innovative program to combine plainclothes officers with mental health screeners to respond to calls that involve a mentally distributed person. It's his second major accomplishment.

What's next for Arrive Together?

..... This program - called Arrive Together - goes against the handcuff-and-gun style of policing that has dominate American law enforcement for more than a century. It recognizes that many interactions with cops - especially in cities - involve people suffering from drug overdoses or mental illness.
..... The program is still in its infancy. And, as my colleague Ashley Balcerzak reported recently, key statistics on how test programs by Arrive Together are performing at various police departments across New Jersey - including Paterson's - are hard to come by Platkin should do more to release this information.
..... But his strong push for the Arrive Together program - with support form Governor Phil Murphy - is notable in the sense that it rocks the bureaucratic boat in a police culture that is difficult to sway. The program offers a soft-touch alternative to police departm3ents where far too many officers have embraced an us-versus-them warrior culture and where cops spend far too much tie in their patrol cars and barely speak to the people they are sworn to protect.

Now, Platkin opposes the line

..... Speaking of a culture that has been nearly impossible to change, consider Plantkin's third and perhaps most important accomplishment: his opposition to New Jersey's practice of allowing party bosses to place handpicked candidates in prime positions on election primary ballots.
..... This kind of election gamesmanship known at the line - is as close to ballot-box-stuffing as it gets. Favorites of the Democratic machine and party bosses are grouped together on a ballot. Challengers are iced out and placed in positions on the ballot where their names are difficult to notice - what critics call "ballot Siberia."
..... Plenty of liberals - and even a few conservatives - have long pointed out this all-too-obvious unfair fact of political life. But somehow, Democrats and Republicans power brokers chose to ignore it.
..... Until now.
..... The cause for all this recent attention was Murphy's clumsy attempt to push his inexperienced wife, Tammy, into the led position in the primary race as a U.S. Senate candidate to replace incumbent Senator Bob Menendez, whip is facing federal trial this spring [2024] on corruption charges.
..... Maybe Phil felt that Tammy, who has never held elective office and, until 2014, was a registered Republican, would have an easy glide path to the nomination. After all, Phil, clueless to his wife's obvious faults and the possible criticism of nepotism, probably figured he had plenty of leverage over legal Democrats. After all, Phil essentially paid for his own glide path to the governor's job.
.... Well, think again, Tammy Murphy's candidacy jolted members of the Democratic rank and file to the point where they actually demanded that their party act as if operated in a true democracy, not some family dynasty with too much money to spend. At the same time Representative Andy Kim, the South Jersey Democrat, cleverly positioned himself as a buck-the-system kind of candidate, raising questions about the line balloting.
..... Tammy Murphy dropped out of the race this week. [03/27/2024] But Kim's federal lawsuit to stop the line practice is still alive. Sadly, Kim has not completely completely the line. If his lawsuit fails, he said, he will retain his line position in counties where the party machine favors him in the upcoming primary.
..... Platkin could have stayed on the sidelines and let the legal wheels turn slowly in the federal lawsuit. thankfully, he did not. The day before a hearing on the case in federal court in Trenton, Platkin came forward and denounced the ballot line as "unconstitutional."
..... In a five-page letter to U.S. District judge Zahid N. Quraishi, who may rule on the case before the primary in June, [2024] Platkin wrote that he was making the "exceptionally rare decision" as a state attorney general to challenge the constitutionally of an accepted state practice.
..... "A central reason for the Attorney General's defense of state statutes is to implement the will of the democratic process that enacted them," Platkin wrote. But he said he has concluded that the evidence presented does not support a defense of the constitutionality" of the ballot line.
..... For his part, Quraishi was hardly thrilled about Platkin's overture. Maybe the good judge doesn't appreciate being reminded of the importance of the case before him. "I don't know if I should consider that letter at all," Quraishi said of Platkin's letter during a hearing on the case. The judge went on to note that Platkin was "trying to back-door his opinion without getting into the case" and instead "lobbing his opinion from the cheap seats."
..... Really, judge? When the state attorney general sends you a letter, calling a state election practice "unconstitutional," that's not exactly a back-door opinion or a shot form the cheap seats.
..... Unlike far too many New Jersey attorneys general before him, Platkin put his legal reputation - and probably his government career - on the line. Platkin declined to be interviewed about his decision. But the office said he did not consult with the Murphy administration before writing to Quraishi. Platkin merely told the governor's office about the letter as it was about to be sent, a spokeswoman said.
..... What this adds up to is a rare look into political courage = indeed, an uncommon moment in New Jersey. Yes, we claim to be a progressive bastion. But when it comes to party politics, we tend to cling to old traditions like "ballot Siberia."
..... Thank goodness, Matt Platkin is starting to crack the ice.

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