This is New Jersey's most interesting Democrat — and he's not a candidate | Mike Kelly

The most consequential Democrat in New Jersey right now is not one of the usual suspects.

It’s definitely not Gov. Phil Murphy. Or Sen. Cory Booker. Or Rep. Andy Kim. Or even other boldface Democratic names like Reps Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherill.

It’s Matthew Platkin.

Who?

Platkin, the state attorney general and chief law enforcement officer, is not exactly a household name. But when you gaze across the weird, potholed landscape of New Jersey politics, you can't help but notice his influence.

Taking on Paterson's troubled police force

Let’s begin with two of Platkin’s accomplishments that don’t receive much statewide attention.

First, consider his decision last year to take over the understaffed and demoralized police department in Paterson.

Taking over any police force is no small thing, especially here in New Jersey, where many communities proudly beat their civic chests over the fact that they have their own police departments — even if a small town force has only a dozen or so cops. Paterson, the state’s third-largest city, where about 25% of the nearly 160,000 residents live in poverty, has trimmed its police department in recent years by 20% and now has only 400 officers on its force. Authorities say Paterson needs another 100 cops — maybe more. The city’s crime rate is nearly eight times higher than the statewide average. Gangs are a fact of life in too many neighborhoods. So is a bustling drug trade.

But adding to this toxic soup of problems is the department itself. A string of officers were at the center of a federal investigation involving such charges as using excessive force or shaking down drug dealers for cash. Discipline seemed lax — at best.

After Platkin took over the force, the number of cops suspended without pay jumped from one in 2022 to 18 in 2023. In addition, credible complaints against officers increased from just two to 47. Violations filed by the department against its own members rose from 16 to 43.

More reforms are coming — not an easy task in a state where police officers are hardly shy about telling politicians that they will pay at the ballot box if they push too hard for changes in old department practices and rules.

Along those lines, Platkin has championed an innovative program to combine plainclothes officers with mental health screeners to respond to calls that involve a mentally disturbed person. It's his second major accomplishment.

What's next for Arrive Together?

This program — called Arrive Together — goes against the handcuff-and-gun style of policing that has dominated American law enforcement for more than a century. It recognizes that many interactions with cops — especially in cities — involve people suffering from drug overdoses or mental illness.

The program is still in its infancy. And, as my colleague Ashley Balcerzak reported recently, key statistics on how test programs by Arrive Together are performing at various police departments across New Jersey — including Paterson’s — are hard to come by. Platkin should do more to release this information.

But his strong push for the Arrive Together program — with support from Gov. Phil Murphy — is notable in the sense that it rocks the bureaucratic boat in a police culture that is difficult to sway. The program offers a soft-touch alternative to police departments where far too many officers have embraced an us-versus-them warrior culture and where cops spend far too much time in their patrol cars and barely speak to the people they are sworn to protect.

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Now, Platkin opposes the NJ line

Speaking of a culture that has been nearly impossible to change, consider Platkin’s third and perhaps most important accomplishment: his opposition to New Jersey’s practice of allowing party bosses to place handpicked candidates in prime positions on election primary ballots.

This kind of election gamesmanship — known as the line — is as close to ballot-box-stuffing as it gets. Favorites of the Democratic machine and party bosses are grouped together on a ballot. Challengers are iced out and placed in positions on the ballot where their names are difficult to notice — what critics call “ballot Siberia.”

Plenty of liberals — and even a few conservatives — have long pointed out this all-too-obvious unfair fact of political life. But somehow, Democratic and Republican power brokers chose to ignore it.

Until now.

The cause for all this recent attention was Murphy’s clumsy attempt to push his inexperienced wife, Tammy, into the lead position in the primary race as a U.S. Senate candidate to replace incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez., who is facing federal trial this spring on corruption charges.

Maybe Phil felt that Tammy, who has never held elective office and, until 2014, was a registered Republican, would have an easy glide path to the nomination. After all, Phil, clueless to his wife’s obvious faults and the possible criticism of nepotism, probably figured he had plenty of leverage over local Democrats. After all, Phil essentially paid for his own glide path to the governor's job.

Well, think again. Tammy Murphy’s candidacy jolted members of the Democratic rank and file to the point where they actually demanded that their party act as if it operated in a true democracy, not some family dynasty with too much money to spend. At the same time, Rep. Andy Kim, the South Jersey Democrat, cleverly positioned himself as a buck-the-system kind of candidate, raising questions about the line balloting.

Tammy Murphy dropped out of the race this week. But Kim’s federal lawsuit to stop the line practice is still alive. Sadly, Kim has not completely renounced the line. If his lawsuit fails, he said, he will retain his line position in counties where the party machine favors him in the upcoming primary.

Platkin could have stayed on the sidelines and let the legal wheels turn slowly in the federal lawsuit. Thankfully, he did not. The day before a hearing on the case in federal court in Trenton, Platkin came forward and denounced the ballot line as “unconstitutional.”

In a five-page letter to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, who may rule on the case before the primary in June, Platkin wrote that he was making the “exceptionally rare decision” as a state attorney general to challenge the constitutionality of an accepted state practice.

“A central reason for the Attorney General’s defense of state statutes is to implement the will of the democratic process that enacted them,” Platkin wrote. But he said he “has concluded that the evidence presented does not support a defense of the constitutionality” of the ballot line.

For his part, Quraishi was hardly thrilled about Platkin’s overture. Maybe the good judge doesn’t appreciate being reminded of the importance of the case before him. “I don’t know if I should consider that letter at all,” Quraishi said of Platkin’s letter during a hearing on the case. The judge went on to note that Platkin was “trying to backdoor his opinion without getting into the case” and instead “lobbing his opinion from the cheap seats.”

Really, judge? When the state attorney general sends you a letter, calling a state election practice “unconstitutional,” that’s not exactly a backdoor opinion or a shot from the cheap seats.

Unlike far too many New Jersey attorneys general before him, Platkin put his legal reputation — and probably his government career — on the line. Platkin declined to be interviewed about his decision. But his office said he did not consult with the Murphy administration before writing to Quraishi. Platkin merely told the governor’s office about the letter as it was about to be sent, a spokeswoman said.

What this adds up to is a rare look into political courage — indeed, an uncommon moment in New Jersey. Yes, we claim to be a progressive bastion. But when it comes to party politics, we tend to cling to old traditions like “ballot Siberia.”

Thank goodness, Matt Platkin is starting to crack the ice.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, as well as the author of three critically acclaimed nonfiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the Northeast, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New Jersey's most interesting Democrat in 2024? Matthew Platkin