Statement from Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez:

“A disservice to the women of New Jersey”

That’s what Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg called Governor Murphy’s disgraceful defense of his chief counsel, Matt Platkin, and other staffers who promoted and protected an alleged rapist in the Murphy administration.

Governor Murphy actually said that, “The team in my office did what they believed was the right thing. And I stand by them.”

The right thing?

A young woman turned to Platkin and the Governor’s team time and again, asking them to help her after an alleged sexual assault.

But instead of helping Katie Brennan, a bipartisan legislative investigation found that Platkin and the governor’s staff failed her “every step of the way.”

The women of New Jersey deserve better than a governor who defends staff members who protect alleged rapists at the expense of female victims.

The women of New Jersey deserve better than a governor who refuses to hold Platkin accountable for failing Katie Brennan.

The women of New Jersey deserve better than a governor who spent more than $1.5 million of our hard-earned tax dollars on a whitewashed report blaming “the system” for failing Katie Brennan, rather than putting the blame squarely where it belongs: on Platkin and others who turned their backs on an assault survivor in her time of need to protect a man in their inner circle.

It’s time for Platkin to go.

It’s time for women to hold Governor Murphy accountable.