Camden senator says Platkin playing politics, seeks Senate hearing

A state senator from Camden County has accused Attorney General Matt Platkin of using his office to pursue a political agenda and wants the Senate to hold a public hearing this fall to investigate his allegations.

The senator, James Beach (D-Voorhees), accused Platkin of having a “longstanding obsession with South Jersey’s political landscape, particularly within my home county of Camden.”

“Holding hearings on Attorney General Platkin’s misuse of government resources in pursuit of his own political ambitions would underscore an adherence to our Senate oath and fidelity to the constituents we represent,” Beach said.  “At a time when members of our caucus decry President Trump’s overt politicization of law enforcement, it is disingenuous of us to remain silent when the same is occurring here in New Jersey.”

Beach cited Platkin’s indictment of key South Jersey political and business leaders last year, including Democratic powerbroker George E. Norcross III, which a state court judge has dismissed, and the slowness of the state’s prosecution of two South Jersey Transportation Authority officials last year – something Beach says has left them “in limbo with their reputations in tatters.”

He also claims that Platkin’s decision to intervene in a lawsuit involving the seating of Democratic county committee members in Cherry Hill was in retaliation for a bill Beach, the Camden County Democratic chairman, introduced to remove the State Police from the attorney general’s office.

“We should all be alarmed by Mr. Platkin’s repeated use of taxpayer-funded government resources to attack political enemies and his lack of consideration for the impact on the reputations and economic well-being of those targeted. It is precisely what we condemn against President Trump,” said Beach.

Platkin pushed back on Beach’s allegations, saying it is “no surprise that some of those in power do not like an attorney general who takes on the powerful.”

“While those relative few may only be able to view others’ actions through the cynical lens of political ambition, my one and only concern since the day I have taken office has been standing up for New Jerseyans no matter who it offends — and I do not intend to stop now,” Platkin said.

In a letter to Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Beach said the legislature “cannot turn a blind eye as New Jersey’s attorney general exhibits the very behavior that we condemn at the national level.”

“Unlike those targeted by the attorney general, we cannot remain silent. We have a responsibility to conduct hearings on Attorney General Platkin’s gross mismanagement and overtly political behavior, without fear of intimidation or retribution. The attorney general has repeatedly claimed, including as recently as his Budget Committee testimony in April, that his actions are neither political nor inappropriate,” said Beach. “There is, however, mounting evidence to the contrary and it is incumbent upon us, in our oversight capacity, to expose the truth. We owe it to the New Jersey taxpayers who are footing the bill for his malfeasance.”

But Platkin has defended his actions, arguing that he’s been “singularly focused on protecting New Jerseyans from harm.”

In doing so, I have taken on tough fights — whether it be leading national efforts to hold social media companies accountable for the youth mental health crisis they have created, obtaining record settlements from companies who polluted our drinking water or profited off of the opioid epidemic, reducing gun violence to historically low levels, taking unprecedented actions to combat human trafficking, shielding our state from tens of billions of dollars of unlawful federal funding cuts, or defending our democracy and taking on corruption,” he said.