Re: Support for Attorney General Andrew Bruck
Dear Governor Murphy,
On behalf of the LGBTQ community and its allies, Garden State Equality congratulates you on your upcoming second term and sends best wishes to you, Tammy, and your family for a happy and healthy New Year.
Your first term restored New Jersey to its position as a national leader in civil rights protection and advocacy. Your longstanding, heartfelt commitment to LGBTQ equality is all the more poignant because you engage it so fervently out of respect for and appreciation of the dignity of every human being.
This past year, you honored our community by elevating two eminently qualified leaders to serve in your senior administration who are also openly LGBTQ – Shawn LaTourette as NJDEP Commissioner and Andrew Bruck as Acting Attorney General. Their appointments not only reinforced your commitment to LGBTQ visibility, they sent a powerful message of hope and possibility to so many LGBTQ residents and youth as they pursue their destinies.
For the following reasons, we ask that you continue to enhance LGBTQ community visibility by installing Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck as New Jersey’s first full Attorney General from the LGBTQ community.
- Andrew Bruck is supremely qualified to be elevated and serve as New Jersey Attorney General as he is possessed of credentials that represent the highest standards of achievement. Though his academic and professional background are truly exceptional, what makes Acting Attorney General Bruck a perfect fit in the Attorney General position is his humility, decency, and kindness. These traits prevail in every aspect of how he conducts himself and treats others as well as his pursuit of your administration’s policy initiatives and objectives toward a more just, compassionate, and understanding world.
- Acting Attorney General Bruck presents a bold, strategic vision and quest for excellence that reflects your administration’s goals and initiatives – policy grounded in respect for and appreciation of the dignity of every human being. Since your appointment of Acting Attorney General Bruck, he has been out front advancing and building on your leadership each day, detailing an ambitious effort to address racial disparities and injustices in all aspects of Garden State life under a “Racial Justice Initiative.” He champions your commitment to pursue racial equity for all New Jerseyans, clearly inspired by your outspoken leadership to engage in the frank and sometimes difficult discussions and actions that provoke positive change and understanding. Acting Attorney General Bruck has directed his office pursue anti-discrimination regulation and prioritize racial justice in civil enforcement, among other initiatives.
- It is striking that, while Acting Attorney General Bruck addresses racial and ethnic justice with a frank and honest dialogue, statewide town hall meetings, and an aggressive action plan, he simultaneously holds the respect of the rank and file throughout the Department of Law and Public Safety and each of its divisions. He has achieved such regard with an organic integrity, having earned it through hard work and respectful engagement. This respect and esteem extends beyond New Jersey to the United States Department of Justice and elsewhere, and these bona fides give him special license to unpack and explore the complex themes and issues our residents encounter each day in policing and criminal justice reform.
Governor, the list goes on and on, with Acting Attorney General Bruck regularly harnessing the power of his office to advance your leadership agenda. This includes addressing gun violence, pandemic issues, policy directives, and numerous other concerns – all the more impressive because he has held the Acting position for less than six months. Those six months, however, have provided ample insight into his work ethic and his ambitious pursuit of your administration’s goals. It cannot go without noting that Acting Attorney General Bruck’s first days in office overlapped with his groundbreaking initiative to address and reconcile historical persecution of the LGBTQ community by law enforcement, an effort that made internal news and acknowledged the Murphy administration’s efforts to engage restorative justice and end discrimination.
Lastly, our national partners in the LGBTQ advocacy community around the country took notice when you installed Acting Attorney General Bruck, albeit in an acting capacity. For many of them, their state’s climate is so inhospitable to LGBTQ rights that the thought of having a member of our community serve as the chief law enforcement officer seems far out of reach. We are concerned that the removal of Acting Attorney General Bruck will send the wrong message to our partners in other states as well as LGBTQ youth. Affirming Acting Attorney General Bruck with a full appointment here in New Jersey will send a powerful message to those states and break down barriers that relegate our community members.
Again, congratulations on your next term and best wishes for your success and happiness. We are grateful for you, the first lady and all you do for our community.
This comes with our best personal regards,
Garden State Equality Board and Staff