There’s an old saying of indiscriminate origin, and variable phrasing, that says “If you come for the king, you best not miss.”
The implication being that an attempt to unseat the monarch is not going to end well for the conspirators should they fail. Nobody bothered to impart this bit of wisdom to Attorney General Matt Platkin when he decided to bring racketeering charges against South Jersey’s reigning potentate, George Norcross.
Earlier this week a judge dismissed the charges against Norcross and his colleagues and the calls for Platkin to step down have already begun in earnest.
While it’s a stretch to call George Norcross a king, he does bare some striking similarities. He’s unelected, and rules his kingdom, South Jersey, with an iron fist. Norcross is an unrepentant bully, famous for arm twisting and backroom screaming matches in the Capital building replete with language that would make a longshoremen blush.
In fact, being a jerk was the cornerstone of his defense strategy, and it worked. The judge ruled that Norcross was merely engaging in tough business tactics, which while unsavory to those subject to said tactics, are not specifically illegal.
So Norcross walks and Platkin is left holding a pile of tear-stained indictments destined for the shredder.
From the jump, racketeering charges seemed like a reach. Even the fiercest critics of Norcross, some of whom you read here, thought Platkin was out over his skis, and they were right.
Platkin is currently laying in a heap at the bottom of the slope. Norcross allies are calling for Platkin to step down, which seems like a giant pain in the backside, simply from an administrative standpoint.
Just like the Feds before him, Platkin swung at Norcross and missed, do we really need to go through all the trouble of appointing a new AG while the Murphy administration is on it’s way out the door? Platkin has pledged to appeal the decision, but, in this particular instance, he should probably allow discretion to be the better part of valor.
Award-winning illustrator and children’s book author Drew Sheneman has drawn political cartoons for The Star-Ledger since 1998. His work is syndicated nationally through Tribune Content Agency. Find him at drewsheneman.net
Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.