Attorney general grilled over guns, court losses in Senate hearing
Attorney General Matt Platkin was called to testify about his budget ask Thursday. Instead, he was on the defensive over his office's investigations and losses. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
State legislators rebuked Attorney General Matt Platkin Thursday for several recent high-profile court losses and suggested New Jersey needs an inspector general to oversee his office's work during a legislative hearing in Trenton Thursday.
Platkin, appearing before the Senate's budget committee to discuss his $1.6 billion budget request for the next fiscal year, pushed back on the attacks that peppered nearly three hours of testimony, prompting the committee's chair, Sen. Paul Sarlo, to chide Platkin for being 'combative' and urge all parties involved to quit talking over each other.
Some of the testiest questioning came from Sen. Doug Steinhardt (R-Warren), who interrogated Platkin over gun data in the wake of Bruen, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision that forced states like New Jersey to remove restrictions on carry permits.
Steinhardt and Platkin sparred over whether an increase in people carrying firearms results in more violence. Platkin maintained that it does, which Steinhardt called a 'false narrative.' Steinhardt noted that Platkin himself testified that the 778 people who were shot last year in New Jersey represents the smallest number of people shot here since state police began tracking shooting data in 2009.
'What you're saying makes zero sense,' Steinhardt said. 'You come in here telling us that shooting stats are down, yet 60,000 more people have carry permits than they did in the two and a half years preceding Bruen. With people running around carrying firearms like they would be, why aren't the stats through the roof?
Platkin responded: 'I'm not sure that anything I said doesn't make sense … The statistics that I'm referencing are kept and collected by the state police. I don't cook them up in my office.'
A 2022 study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found gun assaults rose in states that relaxed restrictions on conceal carry permits.
The criticism of Platkin was bipartisan, with several senators bringing up recent losses by Platkin's office of public integrity and accountability. That office led a racketeering investigation into South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross that resulted in a 13-count indictment a state judge dismissed in February. Platkin's office has appealed that dismissal.
Sen. John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) told Platkin the Norcross case was 'painful to watch.'
'That case did appear to be a very personal matter,' Burzichelli said. 'I would say, if we were talking off to the side, that a number of people feel equally aggrieved at the Norcross event, top to bottom.'
He zeroed in on comments Platkin made when he appealed the Norcross dismissal, when Platkin said the dismissal, if allowed to stand, would send a message that the 'most wealthy and well-connected few' live under a diferent criminal justice system than everyone else. Those comments, as well as the loss itself, created 'a distraction of confusion that doesn't reflect well on you,' Burzichelli said.
But Platkin defended the public integrity and accountability office's record, saying it's had 'well over 100 successful cases and … less than a handful' of losses. The media, he complained, typically ignore the wins and focus on the losses.
On his lament about two systems of criminal justice, Platkin said: 'Whatever case it is, I'm the attorney general of the state. I want people to believe in the criminal justice system.'
Both Steinhardt and Burzichelli also questioned whether the Attorney General's Office should continue overseeing state police or should be subjected to oversight itself, suggesting Platkin has a vendetta against the state police that is illustrated by recent investigations by his office that uncovered widespread problems in the agency.
Platkin rejected both suggestions. Keeping the state police under the state attorney general's supervision would ensure coordination and oversight, he said. Supervision by an inspector general is unnecessary, he added.
'We already have robust procedures to ensure that any allegation of misconduct is taken seriously, is addressed independently within our office, and is handled appropriately,' he said.
Republican legislators in February called for Platkin's ouster, partly over his lawsuits targeting the Trump administration.
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