NJ Attorney General Confirmation Process Set to Air Murphy Administration Dirty Laundry

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ramsey NJ, Businessman and Congressional candidate Frank Pallotta (N.J.-05) released the following statement calling on New Jersey Acting Attorney General Matt Platkin to resign and be prosecuted: “Yet again, New Jersey is the face of corruption and scandal with a refocus in today’s New York Post on Acting Attorney General Matt Platkin’s cover-up of the assault of a campaign staffer; his forcing nursing homes to accept COVID patients; and now his office behavior, which involves throwing chairs.

Matt Platkin should not only resign from our state’s top law enforcement job, he should be prosecuted. The silence of Democrats, including Congressman Josh Gottheimer, is deafening.”

file photo Katie Brennan

Republican state Senate leader Steven Oroho already has expressed “extremely serious concerns about Matt’s handling of Katie Brennan’s allegations,” and it is believed that the Essex County Democratic senators who need to sign off on Platkin are not all on board.

Brennan, a volunteer in Murphy’s 2017 campaign, testified before a bipartisan state legislative committee that she was sexually assaulted by top Murphy official Albert Alvarez, and that Platkin, Murphy’s then-campaign policy director, covered up for his friend. The committee concluded that Platkin and other top Murphy loyalists failed Brennan “every step of the way.”

Platkin had gone on to become the governor’s chief counsel, and Alvarez was given a cushy six-figure job in the administration, only resigning when Brennan went to the media the following year. Former colleagues are aghast at Platkin’s latest promotion. One ex-campaign staffer describes a toxic “boys club” atmosphere under the 35-year-old Montclair resident, in which chair-throwing in meetings was tolerated and women who complained were iced out.

As the governor’s chief counsel, Platkin was responsible for the decision to force nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. As a result, New Jersey suffered one of the nation’s highest pandemic death tolls and the Murphy administration last year had to quietly pay out $53 million to families of seniors who died at state-run veterans’ homes.

From the coverup of campaign volunteer Katie Brennan’s sexual assault allegations to the Cuomo-esque forcing of COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, Matt Platkin’s confirmation process will air dirty laundry Murphy may regret.