Following the Senate Judiciary Committee’s approval of the nomination of Matt Platkin to serve as Attorney General in an 8-2 vote, Senator Robert Singer praised the Acting Attorney General’s support for Lakewood and the Jewish community:
“Our Jewish community in Lakewood and surrounding towns has been targeted with hate crimes, stabbings, and vile anti-Semitic social media posts in recent years,” said Singer (R-Ocean). “Whenever those issues arose, Matt Platkin was a partner in helping us to protect the rights of our community and fight for justice. He did that as chief counsel to the governor, and I have no doubt he’ll continue to do it once he’s confirmed as Attorney General.”
“I promise to continue prioritizing our response to some of the most important and challenging issues facing our state,” Platkin said in introductory remarks at a Senate hearing over his nomination. “Combating gun violence, fighting for racial justice, strengthening police-community relations, promoting accountability for social media enterprises, ensuring reproductive rights access, addressing the rise in auto thefts, providing meaningful relief and trauma-informed services to victims of crime, and protecting New Jersey in court.”
It isn’t clear when a full vote to confirm Platkin as the attorney general will take place. Until then, he will continue to serve as the “acting” attorney general.
Before being nominated to the role of attorney general, Platkin served as a legal adviser to Gov. Phil Murphy since 2016.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Platkin was pressed by Republican Sen. Anthony Bucco over his support of Governor Murphy’s liberal policies.
“What I’ve seen, out of your office, is … more of a shift to promoting progressive political policies that may have national implications,” Bucco said. “That concerns me, because we do that at the expense of our taxpayers while crime is rising all over the state.”