{"id":821170,"date":"2022-09-30T22:29:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T22:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=409373"},"modified":"2022-09-30T22:29:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T22:29:19","slug":"pennsylvania-lawmakers-prepare-to-impeach-larry-krasner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/09\/30\/pennsylvania-lawmakers-prepare-to-impeach-larry-krasner\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Lawmakers Prepare to Impeach Larry Krasner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeffrey Thomas,<\/u> the Republican district attorney of southwestern Pennsylvania\u2019s Somerset County, spent the night of April 25, 2022, in jail. After another person reported that they had seen him punching his wife in the head on FaceTime the previous May \u2014 an allegation the DA and his wife both deny \u2014 Thomas was charged with simple assault in a case pending trial. Two months later and 200 miles east, Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a resolution to convene<\/a> a Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order and used its authority to subpoena a Pennsylvania district attorney: Philadelphia-based reformer Larry Krasner.<\/p>\n

Krasner\u2019s crime \u2014 according to Republicans, conservative Democrats, and police, who worked together to try to oust him last year \u2014 is an increase in the crimes of others: When homicides spiked in 2020, impacting Philadelphia, rural parts of the state, and many communities across the country, they blamed Krasner\u2019s reform policies. As DA, Krasner has focused on prosecuting violent offenses and diverting people from incarceration. Less than a year ago, Philadelphia voters overwhelmingly reelected him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Pennsylvania lawmakers proceeded with the second day of impeachment hearings for Krasner, who, in August, refused<\/a> to comply<\/a> with a subpoena requesting that he turn over information on how he prosecutes certain crimes. The subpoena, Krasner argued, \u201crepudiate[d] the law of this Commonwealth,\u201d served \u201cno valid legislative purpose,\u201d violated the separation of powers, and requested that his office produce privileged documents. Earlier this month, a bipartisan consensus in Pennsylvania\u2019s state legislature voted overwhelmingly to hold him in contempt.<\/p>\n\n

Leading the impeachment charge are state lawmakers who represent districts hundreds of miles away from Philadelphia. The champions of the cause are Republicans, who have taken aim at the Democratic DA for implementing progressive reform policies since day one. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have taken no such action against the Republican Somerset County DA \u2014 who, in addition the simple assault charge, is also under house arrest awaiting trial for allegedly raping and strangling a woman last year, and is now temporarily suspended from his job and from practicing law, but retains his seat\u00a0\u2014 and instead have fallen in line with their Republican colleagues. When the vote came up on September 13, in a body with 89 Democrats and 113 Republicans, members voted 162 to 38 to hold Krasner in contempt.<\/p>\n

The focus on Krasner has continued to sharpen as Republicans solidify a national strategy to attack Democrats on crime, with an emphasis on targeting<\/a> democratically elected reformist prosecutors. But in an assembly where almost 90 Democrats could have taken a stand \u2014\u00a0albeit a symbolic one \u2014 for progressive reform, why did the right-wing push pass so handily?<\/p>\n

Republican state Rep. Josh Kail,<\/u> who represents a southwestern district outside of Pittsburgh and is leading midterm campaign efforts for the state House Republicans, is widely seen as the leader of the impeachment charge. But according to seven sources \u2014 including several Democratic state lawmakers and political operatives with knowledge of the process \u2014 who spoke to The Intercept and requested anonymity for fear of professional reprisal, Kail had help from Democratic state Rep. Jordan Harris, who\u00a0was elected\u00a0Democratic whip in\u00a02018. The sources say that Harris whipped Democratic members who hold seats seen as vulnerable in the upcoming November midterm elections, when Pennsylvania Democrats seek to win the governorship, control of both legislative chambers, and a seat in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

Along with four of the five other members of House Democratic leadership, Harris voted against the contempt measure, putting his own vote at odds with the position he is said to have pushed, according to the seven sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my job as the Whip is having conversations with members about their votes, and as I do with every vote, I made myself and my staff available to members who had concerns about the resolution,\u201d Harris told The Intercept. He said he would not comment on internal caucus deliberations.<\/p>\n

The committee currently searching for legal grounds to impeach Krasner held hearings on Thursday and Friday in Philadelphia\u2019s Navy Yard, a location that some critics have described as purposely inaccessible to most of the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is especially troubling that this committee, which is trying to undo the results of an election in Philly, picked a location that is extremely hard to get to for ordinary Philadelphians and a time where most people are at work,\u201d said Krasner spokesperson Jessica Brand, who also leads the Wren Collective, a firm that advised reform-minded prosecutors. \u201cOne might speculate that this was an intentional attempt to keep people away as the committee tries to undercut democracy.\u201d Krasner himself has not been invited to attend the hearings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been other DAs that have been brought up [on charges] for things and we\u2019ve heard about them,\u201d said Democratic state Rep. Stephen Kinsey, who represents a part of north Philadelphia with high instances of gun violence. But, he said of Pennsylvania Republicans, \u201cthis majority party has turned a blind eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same Republicans in far-flung parts of the state have repeatedly decried gun violence in Philadelphia while voting to gut gun control bills in the General Assembly.<\/blockquote>\n

GOP ire toward Krasner\u2019s reform efforts \u2014 like implementing diversion programs for certain first-time nonviolent gun possession cases \u2014 has consumed a significant amount of state legislative time and threatens to take more, as the Republicans who control the General Assembly try to fast-track impeachment efforts before November. The same Republicans in far-flung parts of the state have repeatedly decried gun violence in Philadelphia while voting to gut gun control bills<\/a> in the General Assembly. State lawmakers have similarly sought to undermine<\/a> Krasner\u2019s prosecutorial authority since he took office in 2018.<\/p>\n

Harris said the timing is \u201cconvenient \u2026 for Republicans weeks before an election. This is the path the majority has taken to try and solve gun violence in Philadelphia while widely supported gun safety measures don\u2019t receive a vote. We could\u2019ve debated them in Harrisburg but the Republican majorities are more interested in this than doing the real work required to assist in restoring peace and safety to our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overwhelmingly successful contempt vote, for which members had only a few hours\u2019 notice, was held on the same day as the city\u2019s first murder trial<\/a> of an on-duty cop, whom Krasner had charged in October 2020 for the 2017 killing of a young Black man, 25-year-old Dennis Plowden. Krasner\u2019s office has pursued police accountability and drawn fire from police and their union<\/a> throughout his time in office.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Only two officials have ever been impeached in Pennsylvania, where the bar for impeaching a DA has historically been high<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that there\u2019s any such comparison,\u201d said state Rep. Summer Lee, the Democratic congressional nominee for Pennsylvania\u2019s 12th District. \u201cBut these political times are so incendiary in that false equivalencies are so prevalent when it comes to the media putting out information,\u201d Lee said, referencing the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Three Democrats who voted for the contempt measure said they did so because they wanted to show consistency in their treatment of legislative subpoena power following the impeachment inquiry against Trump, not because they believe there is evidence of an impeachable offense by Krasner. Four other Democratic lawmakers, who showed mixed support for the contempt measure, said they were confident that not all Democrats who voted\u00a0in its favor\u00a0would automatically vote to remove him from office, should the impeachment committee produce official articles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very slippery slope to impeach.\u201d<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis is a very slippery slope to impeach,\u201d said Democratic state Rep. Ed Neilson, who voted for the contempt measure and in favor of forming the impeachment committee. Neilson, who represents part of Far Northeast Philadelphia, said he voted for the measure because state lawmakers have the right to subpoena Krasner, not because he thinks there are necessarily grounds for impeachment.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, also the state\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, has not commented publicly on the attacks against Krasner. The two officials\u2019 offices have worked closely on some issues, like prosecution of gun crimes, and have butted heads on others. In 2019, employees in Shapiro\u2019s office emailed the Philadelphia Inquirer asking for them to pursue more critical coverage of Krasner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That year, state lawmakers voted to strip Krasner\u2019s prosecutorial authority by giving Shapiro\u2019s office the power to prosecute gun crimes in Philadelphia, and Shapiro came out against the law<\/a> in response to pressure from protesters. His office declined to comment on the impeachment effort and referred questions to his campaign, which did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the midterm elections, Pennsylvania Democrats at the national and local level are facing concerted Republican attacks against the same criminal justice reform efforts that first buoyed the popularity of officials like Krasner and Lt. Gov. and Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman. While Fetterman\u2019s campaign dominated<\/a> the Democratic primary and has launched viral attacks on his Republican opponent, the former talk-show doctor and prominent millionaire Mehmet Oz, Fetterman has slipped in some recent polls. Oz and his Republican operatives have run ads attacking\u00a0Fetterman\u2019s\u00a0work on clemency<\/a> as head of the state board of pardons.<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania and elsewhere, Democrats forced to respond to the very real gun violence in their districts have ceded ideological ground and political power by embracing tough-on-crime narratives without leverage to legislate a solution. The Krasner impeachment attempt follows the successful recall<\/a> of DA Chesa Boudin<\/a> in San Francisco, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s suspension<\/a> of a state attorney who refused to prosecute women for seeking abortions in Tampa, and two failed attempts<\/a> to recall DA\u00a0George\u00a0Gasc\u00f3n in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s not a fan of Krasner, Neilson said, \u201cI\u2019m also not a big fan of impeaching everybody that does something you don\u2019t like. \u2026 Better be careful where we go because it could be one of them next.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Pennsylvania Lawmakers Prepare to Impeach Larry Krasner<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on The Intercept<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Republicans have fought Philadelphia\u2019s reform DA since his first election. Now, some Democrats are falling in line to oust him.<\/p>\n

The post Pennsylvania Lawmakers Prepare to Impeach Larry Krasner<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821171,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821170\/revisions\/821171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}