Attorney General Matt Platkin chalked up complaints against him to “partisan political attacks.” (Hal Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
Assembly Republicans mounted an attack Thursday on New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, moving to impeach him in the morning and demanding his resignation during an afternoon voting session.
The criticism comes as Platkin, who Gov. Phil Murphy appointed to the job in February 2022, has joined other Democratic attorneys general around the nation to challenge the constitutionality of various Trump administration orders.
Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Hunterdon), during discussion on a bill that would require Platkin’s office to annually review the state’s policy on police use of force, complained that Platkin is too “busy inserting himself into federal politics” to comply with state legislators’ marching orders.
“He should resign. He’s a disgrace, and he needs to go back to where he came from,” Peterson said. “We need an attorney general who will do the will of the people.”
Legislative GOP leaders introduced a five-page resolution Thursday that accused Platkin of waging “lawfare” and overstepping his authority by investigating the state police and taking over the Paterson police department in 2023. A state appellate court ruled in December that he had no legal authority to do so, a decision Platkin has appealed to the state Supreme Court.
“Platkin has undermined people’s trust in our police and the office of the Attorney General. We’re starting the impeachment process to balance the scales of justice,” Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Warren), his chamber’s GOP leader, said in a statement. “He is not above the law.”
The resolution also accuses Platkin of mishandling legal responses to the pandemic, targeting anti-abortion pregnancy centers because of an alliance with Planned Parenthood, and hurting the state police by ordering an investigation into their traffic stops. The resolution was sponsored by DiMaio and Assemblymen Antwan McClellan (R-Cape May) and Christopher DePhillips (R-Bergen).
Platkin called the criticism “partisan political attacks” and refused to respond to critics’ specific charges.
“I am focused on the same priorities I have had since day one: driving gun violence down to historically low levels, holding social media corporations accountable for the harms they’re inflicting on our children, and protecting our residents — including by standing up to threats from Washington and fighting corruption, no matter who it offends,” he said in a statement.
The GOP calls for his ouster came just a day after attorneys for South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross and his allies demanded Platkin resign because a state judge dismissed a racketeering indictment Platkin’s office brought against Norcross last year.
The Republicans’ impeachment resolution is unlikely to advance in the Democrat-controlled Legislature. It would require a majority vote in the Assembly, followed by a trial in the Senate overseen by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court and a two-thirds vote in that chamber.
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