Should Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh dial down his attacks on NJ’s attorney general?

PATERSON — After being publicly ridiculed by the state’s top law enforcement official, Mayor Andre Sayegh on Monday said he does not regret criticizing New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin after the city’s sixth October homicide.

But some of Sayegh’s closest allies are saying both privately and publicly that the mayor ought to de-escalate his attacks on Platkin, whose office took over the Paterson Police Department in March.

“If I’m criticizing the attorney general, what good is it going to do?” asked Councilman Luis Velez, an ally of Sayegh's. “It will not send a good message to the community. I think the mayor needs a good relationship with the attorney general. Fighting back and forth is not going to help anybody.”

Velez said he thinks the attorney general's intervention has been working well, while Councilwoman Ruby Cotton said she thinks the level of safety in the city has not changed much under state control of the police. Cotton said cooperation between the city and the Attorney General's Office is important.

“We’ve got to get on the same page,” the councilwoman said.

Conflict proves puzzling to city leaders

Community leaders said they were puzzled by the war of words between the mayor and the attorney general. Paterson Black Lives Matter leader Zellie Thomas called the public dispute disheartening.

“Paterson isn’t as safe as it should be under the attorney general, but it also wasn’t safe under the leadership of Andre’s administration,” Thomas said.

Hours after the city’s sixth October killing on Sunday, Sayegh said residents have been telling him “they don’t feel safer with Matt Platkin in Paterson.”

He noted there have been three times more homicides this October than in 2022.

Platkin’s office responded by saying Sayegh was using “falsehoods to foment fear in his community.” The Attorney General's Office noted that violent crime in 2023 has decreased substantially under the state takeover of the Police Department.

“The mayor can continue to ignore the voices of his constituents or he can join us,” said Platkin spokesperson Sharon Lauchaire.

Paterson politics: What's driving an apparent split between Andre Sayegh and prominent NJ Democrats?

Lawsuit over Paterson police control moves to NJ appellate court

Sayegh has joined with Paterson’s ousted police chief, Engelbert Ribeiro, in a lawsuit attempting to put an end to the state law enforcement takeover. On Monday, a judge ruled that the case should be handled by the state appellate court instead of Superior Court.

Sayegh on Monday said he stands behind his latest criticism of Platkin, saying it stemmed from what he described as Platkin’s “insensitivity” in holding a coffee-with-a-cop photo-op event amid the recent homicides.

“I’m not dealing with numbers,” Sayegh said, regarding the attorney general’s crime statistics. “I’m dealing with people. I was elected by the people.”

Sayegh acknowledged that the tensions started in March at the time of the state takeover in an announcement that blindsided the mayor.

‘Beyond insensitive’: Sayegh wants Murphy counsel to apologize for Paterson crime post

“I ran for mayor with a program for improving public safety, and I’ve never been allowed to do that,” he said, referring to the state intervention, which began nine months into his second four-year term in office.

Sayegh said the attorney general has not allowed his administration to move forward on a community-based crime reduction program that has won praise in Omaha, Nebraska. The Attorney General's Office and its officer in charge in Paterson, Isa Abbassi, have launched a “Next Generation” plan featuring more than 50 Police Department initiatives, most of them geared toward building community trust. Sayegh did not attend the Sept. 26 event at which Abbassi made that announcement.

Another Sayegh ally on the governing body, Councilwoman Maritza Davila, agreed with the mayor that people don’t feel safe in Paterson. But she said the residents have not blamed Platkin, instead citing the recent outbreak in homicides.

“Relationships matter,” Davila said of the Sayegh-Platkin feud, using a phrase that echoed the mayor’s own boasts in the past about his strong connections with Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration.

Critics speak out, too

Sayegh’s most vocal critic on the council, Michael Jackson, said it’s “too early” to say whether Paterson has become safer with the Attorney General's Office in charge of the Police Department, but he said the city’s law enforcement agency is heading in a “better direction” under the state.

“I want to know what Andre’s been smoking,” Jackson said of the mayor. “He did a horrible job with the Police Department. That’s why the state had to come in.”

Jackson cited two key personnel decisions by Sayegh. First, the councilman said, Sayegh got rid of a man he called a highly effective police chief, Troy Oswald. Then the mayor picked as Oswald’s replacement Mike Baycora, whose performance was such that Sayegh eventually held a press conference to lambaste him for not doing the job.

Paterson activist Corey Teague said he thinks Sayegh has been lashing out at Platkin because the state takeover of the Police Department has hurt the mayor’s goal of becoming a congressman.

“It didn’t look good for him to have the state come in like that,” Teague said.

Legal battle brews: Sayegh joins lawsuit seeking to end state control of Paterson Police Department

Paterson’s biggest developer, Charles Florio, said he hopes Sayegh and Platkin iron things out.

“Paterson is not safe, but it has nothing to do with Matt Platkin and it has nothing to do with Andre,” Florio said.

Who does Florio think is to blame?

“It’s the Paterson police officers. They’re terrible,” asserted the developer. “Paterson has the worst police officers in the state. They’re lazy. They do not want to do their job.”

Florio said he refuses to provide Paterson cops with access to his security command center, where numerous monitors show videos from the dozens of surveillance cameras he has on his properties. The developer said Paterson police rarely respond to complaints about noise, vagrants and other problems that worsen the quality of life in the city.

“They say they have more important things to do,” Florio asserted.

The president of Paterson Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 1, Angel Jimenez, dismissed Florio’s comments.

“If he wants to do the job for minimum wage, be my guest,” Jimenez said. “Let him put on the badge and work for $16.32 per hour. He’s a millionaire and he’s attacking middle-class and poor cops who can’t even pay their rent.”

Jimenez declined to make any comment when asked about the escalating battle between Sayegh and Platkin.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Andre Sayegh continues attack on NJ attorney general