Platkin, judges set for Senate confirmation vote next week

The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet on Monday to consider Gov. Phil Murphy’s nomination of Matt Platkin as New Jersey Attorney General, as well as five nominees for Superior Court judgeships.

Brian P. Stack, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, confirmed that the panel will meet.  Stack and Senate President Nicholas Scutari said in June that they expected a Senate session in August to consider judicial nominations.  The Senate has scheduled sessions on Monday and Thursday.

Platkin’s nomination took a major step forward last month when State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Roseland) signed off on his nomination.  He’s in strong shape to become New Jersey’s 56th attorney general.

The Senate is also expected to consider Murphy’s pick of Zenon Christodoulou, the Somerset County Democratic vice chairman, for a seat on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.  If confirmed, he’ll replace Upendra Chivukula, a former Democratic assemblyman from Franklin who was not renominated.

The five judicial candidates – Juliana Blackburn, Thomas Comer, Christopher Edwards, Laurie Poppe and Jeffrey Wilson – are ready to go.  If they move through Judiciary and win confirmation by the full Senate, it will reduce the number of Superior Court vacancies from 63 to 58.

Five others nominated by Murphy to the Superior Court are still awaiting sign off from home county and legislative district Senators: Nadia Kahf Alqudah of Wayne, Julie Kim of Franklin Lakes,  Damian Santomauro of Cranford, Demetrica Tod-Ruiz of Pittsgrove and Kristin Vassallo of Scotch Plains.

Alqudah has been waiting since March, with the other four nominations made in May or June.

On Monday, Murphy has filed notices of intent to fill four other Superior Court vacancies, but the Senate must be in session to receive the formal nomination.

One of the nominees is Linwood City Councilman Ralph Paolone.  His seat is not up until 2023, and if the Senate waits until after September 15 to confirm him, it means Linwood Republicans would appoint someone to fill his Ward 2 seat until January 2024.  But if he’s confirmed before then, it would force a special election this November to fill his unexpired term.

That might not matter, since Linwood is a Republican stronghold.  Paolone, in office since 2005, was unopposed in 2017 and 2020, and Democrats don’t have a candidate for a city council seat up in November.

Murphy filed his intent to nominate Frank Testa of Haddonfield on July 11, and David Fritch ad Sean Gertner, both of Jackson, and Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Naazneen Khan on August 1.

Gertner has been the Lakehurst borough attorney for more than 20 years.  Fritch is an administrative law judge.

Another Murphy pick for the BPU, former Assemblywoman Marie Rodriguez-Gregg (R-Evesham), has not yet received signoff from State Sen. Jean Stanfield (R-Westampton).