- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of State of Affairs with Steve Adubato has been provided by Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let'’s be healthy together.

PSE&G, committed to providing safe, reliable energy now and in the future.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

PSEG Foundation.

Newark Board of Education.

PNC, Grow Up Great.

The North Ward Center.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

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[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, I'm Steve Adubato.

Way more importantly, we're honored to be joined by the Attorney General of the great state of New Jersey, Matt Platkin.

Mr. Attorney General, how are you?

- Steve, I'm doing well.

Thanks so much for having me.

- Have you gotten used to that, by the way?

- No, I don't think.

(Steve laughing) I don't think you ever get used to being called General, but I really appreciate you having me on today.

- You got it.

Tell folks a little bit about your background.

Grew up where?

- I grew up in Morris County, and in fact, I live now in Essex County, which I know you enjoy to hear.

Now I live just a few miles away from where my dad grew up in Clifton, and a few miles on the other side from where my grandparents grew up in West Orange.

So, my whole family's kind of from a very small radius.

And grew up here, graduated from Madison High School.

- Well, it's a great honor, a big responsibility.

And I'm gonna ask you this right out of the box, when it comes to the issue of crime, violent crime, a lot of rhetoric around it, we're doing this right after the midterm elections, lots of rhetoric, the question really becomes, what actually can and should state government be doing, particularly out of your office, to fight violent crime?

- Well, first and foremost, public safety is always our top priority, it's literally in the title of my department, the Department of Law and Public Safety.

I said this the day I was nominated, and that's been true every single day that I've been in this job.

We are extremely focused here under Governor Murphy's leadership, and in our department, in tackling a rise in crime.

And I'm proud that, in New Jersey, we've bucked the national trends.

We have invested in violence intervention efforts, we have deployed our law enforcement resources effectively, we use an incredible intelligence sharing network to go after the individuals who are truly violent.

And thanks to those efforts, and the new laws that the legislature and the governor have passed and signed, we've seen a significant reduction in shootings in the state.

And we've seen that reduction, importantly, in every single city of size across the state, from over 40% in some cities, down to the lowest in Camden, which is a just 23% reduction in violent crime and shootings.

And so what we're seeing is what we're doing here in New Jersey is working.

- Do this for us, be more specific, if you could, a couple of the actions that have been taken that you believe have produced those numbers.

Numbers are people, they're not just statistics.

Please.

- Look, any one number, as you said, Steve, is a tragedy.

That's somebody who lost their life or who was shot, and whether that's a victim, a bystander, a law enforcement officer, like we tragically saw a couple weeks ago in Newark, any shooting is a tragedy.

- That's right.

- And gun violence is an epidemic in this country, and unfortunately, remains an epidemic in New Jersey.

But I do think what we're doing here is working, and I think about gun violence prevention in three areas.

The first is, we need to be smart in how we prosecute and investigate shootings, and we've done that.

We established a statewide gun violence reduction task force, it brings together our state, federal, and local partners, and I've invested heavily in that task force.

And thanks to the investigations of that task force, we have held accountable truly violent individuals who are committing shootings across the state.

And we've used our resources effectively and efficiently to ensure that we're really going after those who are involved in violent acts.

That's helped drive down the numbers.

But prosecution alone is not gonna be enough to end the gun violence epidemic.

The second prong of what we've really focused on is, thanks to the governor and the legislature, we now invest more in violence intervention work than just about any other state in the country.

- Define violence intervention work.

- Exactly.

It's a nice name for something that people have been doing for a long time without any state support, and those are the groups on the ground, who consist of individuals from these communities, who can be credible messengers, and go in and talk to folks who are predisposed potentially to be a violent offender, or maybe even predisposed to be a victim, and sometimes that's the same person, and help get them off that path, and get 'em onto a path that's more productive and safer for their community.

So, we're investing in the community as part of our law enforcement strategy.

And then the third piece that I'm very excited about is, we're not looking just at the person who's pulling the trigger, we're also holding accountable the companies and the retailers that are profiting off of this bloodshed.

The legislature gave us powerful new tools, and I stood up a new office that is focused singularly on going after the companies that willingly sell firearms into our state, again, violation of our laws, that don't take care to prevent straw purchasers from purchasing guns.

We know that over 80% of crime guns in the state did not start here, so we have to go upstream and hold accountable those that are truly profiting off of guns that are used in the commission of crimes in Trenton, or Newark, or Camden, and Paterson.

- Let me do this, 'cause I wanna make sure we get a few topics in here.

This is a big issue.

You, and your office, along with others in government and law enforcement, are dealing with the issue of auto thefts.

First of all, Matt, can you tell us why do you believe there's been a significant increase in auto thefts, number one.

Number two, again, what's the role of your office in terms of curtailing it, fighting it, dealing with it?

- Yeah, so it's a great question, Steve.

Auto thefts are a national problem right now, they're going up everywhere.

When I took office in New Jersey, we were up 31% year over year.

That's a staggering increase, and it's unacceptable.

We're still up, but as of last week, we're only up 12%, so we've cut that increase by two-thirds percent, two-thirds of the amount just in the time that I've been in office.

Why are thefts a problem?

They're a problem for a couple reasons.

One, they make communities feel unsafe.

If somebody's coming in and taking your car, and you don't feel safe in your home, and as the chief law enforcement officer, that's a top priority for me.

The second is, these cars are being used in the commission of other crimes, particularly violent crimes.

Increasingly, we've seen shootings involve one, two, or sometimes three or more stolen vehicles.

And so the car that gets stolen in one community may be used in a violent act in another community.

How are we addressing it?

The same way, frankly, we're addressing gun violence, through a multi-prong effort, starting with a statewide intelligence sharing network to use all of our resources and go after organized car theft rings.

These are organized, they are targeting communities.

- Are they?

- They are.

They are.

And we have used these resources effectively.

The same way we've gone after shootings, we're going after auto thefts.

We have an auto theft task force that I've invested heavily in and expanded with state police, Division of Criminal Justice, and federal and local partners.

And the governor has put $10 million to play to significantly expand our license plate reader technology, which is the most powerful tool we have to combat auto thefts.

And then the last thing is, the new cars are very hard to steal, unless you leave your key fob in 'em, and then they're remarkably easy to steal.

- Right, but not everybody can afford a new car.

- True, but the cars that are being targeted, overwhelmingly, still are luxury vehicles and high-end vehicles.

I mean, it's not universal, but the key fob being left in the car is still the biggest driver of why these cars are so easy to steal.

So we have to be vigilant about that, we're asking people to bring their key fobs in at night and make sure they're not left close enough in their house to the car that it could still be started.

But on the enforcement side, we're doing everything we can to hold those accountable who are organizing these efforts, and more importantly, making sure that we're investing in resources that are gonna help us be effective.

- Let me do this, we got less than a minute left.

As a former Chief Counsel to the Governor, the position you held before this, you're a lawyer by background, obviously, the Katie Brennan case, we had Ms. Brennan on a while back and she talked about her situation, people can read about it wherever they choose to, as the Chief Counsel, what was the biggest lesson you learned as it relates to the Katie Brennan situation, I'm a student of leadership, the biggest leadership lesson you learned from that in terms of being proactive and assertive in dealing with a crisis?

- Look, Steve, I think in that role, and in this role, you learn lessons every day.

And I'm certainly one who has made very clear, I've made plenty of mistakes over my career, and I've said about that case in particular, there are things that I would've done differently.

And if you look at what we're doing here in the department, I think we're leading a national effort to combat sexual assault and domestic violence.

We've stood up, for the first time ever under my leadership, a new division that is focused entirely on victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and gun violence.

And that division is, which puts it on par, by the way, with the Division of the State Police, the Division of Consumer Affairs, Division of Law, big parts of our department, it's being led by Patricia Teffenhart, who's the former Executive Director of the Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

And then on the criminal side, we have stood up a new effort to have, for the first time, a statewide coordinating effort around our sexual assault criminal cases and policy.

And so, we're doing everything we can to lead, but absolutely, you learn lessons every day.

And anybody who's in any of these jobs, whether it's Chief Counsel, Attorney General, or any senior position in state government, federal government, local government, and you know a lot of these folks, Steve, if you can't say you haven't learned from your experiences, then you're just not being honest.

And so what we're trying to do is do the best we can for all survivors of crimes, and all victims of crime in our state in every community.

- We appreciate you responding directly to one of the many challenging questions you've had to deal with in government, and despite your youth, you have had many, many difficult decisions to be made, or not to be made, in your previous job, and now as Attorney General.

Thank you, Matt, we appreciate it.

- Thanks for having me, Steve.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're now joined by the president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Joe Fiordaliso has joined us many times.

Mr. President, good to have you with us.

- Thank you, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- Hey, Joe, do us a favor.

The Whole House pilot program, what is it, and why is it so important?

- Well, clean energy involves a multitude of different activities, and not only generating clean energy, but it also has health factors.

You and I both were raised in a large city.

I was raised in the Ironbound section, which had many, many different kinds of factories, and things of that sort.

God only knows what we were breathing in, and so on.

And it approaches a home geared toward low and moderate income folks, primarily low income people.

And what we look at are a variety of different ways that we can make their home more energy efficient.

And how we can make their home not more energy efficient, but remediate health hazards, water intrusion as an example.

Lead waterlines as an example.

But it's important to remediate these kinds of things so that our children are in better health.

And that down the line saves all of us money.

Not only are we generating a cleaner environment, we're also addressing health issues.

And this is extremely important.

- Let's do this.

As the website for the BPU is up, let me also say, I've said this before when President Fiordaliso has joined us, that the Caucus Educational Corporation is involved in a public awareness effort about clean energy and we're part of that as well.

That being said, Joe, I wanna talk about clean energy, the clean energy program, the cost of clean energy in this state.

We had Senator Anthony Bucco on, I've said this to you before, I'm gonna say it again.

He and other Republicans, and some others, but particularly Republicans have said the cost of the clean energy program in the state is simply exorbitant, cannot be afforded, and needs to, frankly, be scaled back, you say.

- Respectfully, I disagree with the senator and those who profess that thinking.

Ultimately it's going to cost each and every one of us about a $1.50 a month more for energy, as we continue to enhance our clean energy program.

We have no alternative, Steve, in my humble opinion.

Climate change is devastating our climate, devastating our planet, devastating our way of life.

And it's not only for you and me, but it's for your children and your grandchildren and subsequent generations that we have to look at.

And we're gonna be judged, I believe, by what we do and how we do it to mitigate the effects of climate change.

So for a $1.50 a month I think it's well worth the investment.

We do it prudently.

Some people think we throw spaghetti up against the wall and hope something sticks.

Well, that's not how we approach this.

We understand we're spending other people's money, and you and I are rate payers.

We have to make sure that whatever program we encounter, we initiate, we do so prudently, carefully, and are able to defend the effectiveness of that program.

- Mr. President, one more quick question.

Offshore wind, where are we?

- We're moving forward, we're going to have our third solicitation the first quarter of 2023.

- Solicitation for contractors to come in and build offshore wind facilities, is that right?

- Yes, yes.

And the governor has increased our goal to 11,000 megawatts, which is the largest on the East Coast.

New Jersey is a leader in so far as offshore wind is concerned.

We're also bringing manufacturing back into New Jersey, in southern New Jersey to build the parts of the foundation for our windmills, and it's gonna create hundreds of jobs.

And this is another area besides the health area that I mentioned before, the economic incentives, the economic enhancements that are coming into our state because of clean energy.

- Again, check out the BPU website to find out more.

Real quick, Joe, I said last question, one more.

Electric cars.

There's some sort of rebate for non-luxury cars.

What is that clearly, so we understand that?

- Yes.

What we did, we revised the program a little bit, Steve, because we want everyone to have an opportunity to purchase or lease an electric vehicle.

Not only the most expensive ones, and I won't name any brands, but also where the average citizen like me can go out and get an electric vehicle at an affordable price.

Transportation in New Jersey accounts for 40% of our carbon emission, 40.

And we have to do something about that.

And we are doing something about that.

And with the Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden has signed off on, we expect an influx of money into the state of New Jersey to help with our clean energy programs.

- Joe Fiordaliso is the President of the Board of Public Utilities.

I wanna thank you, Joe, for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you for having me, Steve.

- Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- So I do this work because it'’s my passion, my ministry, and this class is all about helping folks that, like me, do what I do.

It'’s so important, right?

It'’s resources and access.

Do you understand that that'’s what they keep away from our community?

We don'’t have access.

- We're honored to be joined by Dr. Jamila Davis, community practitioner and residence at the Seton Hall University, one of our higher ed partners.

Good to see you Dr. Davis.

- Good to see you as well.

- You got it.

Let me ask you this, you have a unique position at the university.

Your background is unique and important.

You spent 12 and a half years, excuse me, you were sentenced to 12 and a half years for quote unquote bank fraud.

Should be in quotes, it's what it is.

You served nine, if you will?

- Yes.

I served nine years in federal prison.

- Now let me get this straight.

I often say that getting my PhD was really difficult because I got knocked down so many times.

You got your, you got your master's, your bachelor's, your, your bachelor's, your master's, your doctorate while in prison.

- I got my associates, my master's, and my bachelor's while incarcerated.

And I started my coursework for my PhD while incarcerated, and I came home and I was able to complete the work to do my dissertation, and then I actually got the degree.

- How and why?

- Because behind bars I found purpose, right.

So like, you know, just transparency.

Before my incarceration I was chasing money, I was chasing people.

I was chasing success in worldly terms.

And I kind of started realizing what matters and what doesn't matter.

And I had such a lengthy sentence so I had a choice, you know, sink or swim.

I could either, you know, just do nothing or do something with my time.

So I decided that I would make the best outta my time and that's how I ended up going back to school and getting my degrees because I knew that that was something that people could never take away from me.

- Impressive doesn't even do justice to what you just described.

Let me ask you this, the community practitioner and residents at Seton Hall, what does that mean?

- So basically I am, I guess, the middle person between the community and higher education.

So it's often good people in the community that wanna do great things and impact but they don't have the skillset and the knowledge.

And a lot of them don't feel like they could even go to college or really know what's possible, so I'm there to bridge the gap.

So I've been able to bring the City of East Orange in to do programs with the youth at Seton Hall.

I'm now working with the Newark's Office of Violence Prevention and we do work there at Seton Hall.

So we create programs for community and allow them to take part in the higher ed experience.

- So interesting because it also triggers another question for me as it relates to female inmates.

You have in fact developed a curriculum for female inmates.

What is the curriculum and what is it intended to do Dr. Davis?

- I'm glad you asked that.

So when people think inmate, they just think bad people, male or female.

But the truth is, females have very different reasons that bring them to prison than men.

Oftentimes, many of us are subjects of abuse, and the data shows this.

So we have issues such as low self-esteem and trauma and different things that cause us to offend, right?

So when you put us in prison and you put us in a place with other people who just have the same issues as we have that only causes us to become even more intense in crime and we don't get to heal.

So I created my curriculum, which is the Voices of Consequences Enrichment Series to help incarcerated women heal, recognize their potential, and recapture their dreams.

- Can you give me the name again Dr. Davis?

- So really is all about-- - I'm sorry for interrupting you.

Say the name again of the curriculum.

- Yes.

It's the Voices of Consequences Enrichment Series for Incarcerated Women.

- I interrupted you, go ahead and finish your point.

And the impact it's intended to have 'cause you're talking about what you've called the pipeline, the trauma to prison pipeline, if I'm not mistaken, correct?

- Yes, you well researched here.

So the trauma to prison pipeline is often the reason why women go to prison.

They receive some type of trauma and they become hopeless and they let themselves go.

And when they let themselves go, they put themselves at risk of doing things that they shouldn't really do.

And I am a product of the trauma to prison pipeline.

So I know this myself, and I had to heal.

So that journey of incarceration for me was really digging and soul searching and figuring out what was the issues that allowed me to put myself at such risk.

And I wanted to not only heal myself, I said, "Let me document this journey, what I'm doing.

And I utilize my blueprint to help other women follow what I took part in that helped me in my healing process."

- If you allow me, Dr. Davis, let me take this liberty, okay?

Over your left shoulder is a framed picture of Dr. Martin Luther King, and I'm a student of leadership.

I write about it, think about it, make mistakes around it every day, all the time.

But when I think of Dr. King, I think of this extraordinary leader who died for a cause, the cause of civil rights.

Purpose.

So my question to you is this, to what degree do you believe you were put here to do this work and it's your purpose?

- I believe it with everything within me.

When you have a situation like I went through and the judge banged the gavel and said, "You're here by sentence to serve 12 and a half years in federal prison."

And you don't think that you can make it.

You have to have some type of encounter with your higher power to even give you the ability to go on.

I wanted to die.

I didn't wanna be here.

But it was when I discovered my purpose and understood that my pain was for a reason that was going to bring me into a brighter place and to help others out, it kind of gave my life meaning.

So I feel like purpose is everything.

And if you're not living life for something that's really substantive, then it really doesn't mean anything at all.

- You know, for some of us, and I told you that I teach a masterclass at Seton Hall in leadership.

I'm sure there are some young students who's like, "Who's this old guy coming in and teaching leadership?"

I may not be a credible messenger but you've been identified as a highly credible messenger for obvious reasons.

Well, maybe not so obvious to some.

What does that mean to you, that you're such a credible messenger, particularly to young people, young people of color and all young people but disproportionately young people of color?

Because you understand you've lived it - It's necessary.

- and you know who you are.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry.

- So when you talk about transforming communities, someone with the knowledge has to go back and get the others, right?

And it has to be somebody that they trust.

It has to be somebody that they believe in, and unfortunately now, with the hype of street life and those things, people think those people are the credible people.

So I just happen to have both sides of it.

You know, my story, my background, having served so much time in the feds, I have street credibility.

But I use it for good.

I use my street credibility to go in and speak to people.

And I showed them my mistakes.

I let them know, "Hey, I was just like you.

I did this, this, this, this, and this, and look at what this led me too.

But here, follow me.

I have another route that won't cause you so much pain and heartache and you can get the results you desire.

Hey, let's try this or let's try that."

And so we teach them entrepreneurship, social justice, just different things that can change their perspective and change their life.

- Dr. Davis, thank you.

Appreciate it.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- You made a difference.

You're gonna continue to make a difference.

That's Dr. Jamila Davis.

I'm Steve Adubato, thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato Is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

RWJBarnabas Health.

PSE&G, The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

PSEG Foundation.

Newark Board of Education.

PNC, Grow Up Great.

The North Ward Center.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by Insider NJ.

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By cultivating hope.

And we see that every day, in the eyes of our preschoolers, in the souls of the seniors in our adult day program, in the minds of the students at Robert Treat Academy, a national blue ribbon school of excellence, in the passion of children in our youth leadership development program, in our commitment to connections at the Center for Autism, and in the heart of our community, the North Ward Center, creating opportunities for equity, education, and growth.