Pennsylvania's Attorney General, who is paid $197,748 a year, is the Commonwealth's chief law enforcement officer; the state's collection agency; defends all actions brought against the state; administers consumer protection laws; prosecutes violations of antitrust laws; and represents the Commonwealth in cases where a local District Attorney has a conflict of interest. Five Democrats seek their party's nomination. They are Keir Bradford-Grey, Eugene DePasquale, Joe Khan, Jack Stollsteimer and Jared Solomon. Above you can see a debate involving all five. Below I'll tell you a little bit about each of them.
Keir Bradford-Grey - She's a graduate of Ohio Northern University Pettit School of Law and served as Chief Public Defender in Montgomery County and as the leader of the largest public defender's organization in Philly. If elected, she would be the first public defender to be elected as the state's top prosecutor. "I'm running to be the people's lawyer, and that's what the Attorney General is in every other state," she has said. The "people's lawyer" in other states prosecutes criminals. She promised to go after criminals in the board room."
As of March, she had raised a total of $640,000 and had $211,000 to spend.
Eugene DePasquale - He's a graduate of Widener University School of Law who served as a state representative for three terms and as state auditor general for two terms but lost a race for Congress. Though he has no experience as a professional prosecutor, he touts an enviable record during his time as auditor general. "It is my investigation that found over 3,000 untested rape kits. ... It is my investigation that found 58,000 [one out of five] unanswered phone calls at the child abuse hotline. Any single one of those calls could have meant life or death for a child."
DePasquale's work as auditor general found that a former Bangor school Superintendent was paid $142,000 for "consulting services" never provided. He blew the whistle on voting machine providers who shower county officials with gifts. It is he who revealed that funds from the state's high gas tax were being diverted to fund state police instead of repairing roads.
His work made him unpopular with the Governor, but he was independent.
As of March, he had raised $570,000, and had $180,000 to spend.
Joe Khan - He's a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and served as a local and federal prosecutor, including the corruption investigation that led to the prosecution and conviction of the Mayors of Reading and Allentown. But he fell short in his bid for election as Philadelphia DA.
He certainly has experience as a prosecutor. He led the pay-to-play corruption investigation that led to the conviction of the Mayors of Allentown and Reading, but he also closed the grand jury even though FBI agent Scott Curtis claimed that the problem still exists in this area.
As of March, he's raised $923,000 and has $314,000 to spend.
Jack Stollsteimer - A graduate of Temple Law, Stollsteimer is Delaware County's DA. He led the effort to deprivatize the jail in that county and reduced its population by 30%. Asked whether this is dangerous, he responded by saying he balances criminal justice reform with public safety. He said he actually has reduced the jail population by 40% and uses those savings to get low level offenders the help they need. As a result, shootings in his county are down 72% and homicides are down 68%.
He's the only Democratic candidate who actually has been a District Attorney. He has support from the trades union and has prosecuted worker misclassification.
He said he's spent his entire career trying to reduce easy access to guns, not by those who have the right to have them, but from thse who don't.
As of March, he raised a little over $1 million and had $368,000 to spend.
Jared Solomon - Thus guy id simultaneously running for AG and for re-election as State Rep. That takes him out of the picture for me.
My Opinion: I really like DePasquale but believe Stollsteimer will be most effective in that office. I think DePasquale is in the best position to win because he comes from the western part of the state and has no competition from that region. The other candidates are all from the Philly area and might cancel each other out.
25 comments:
Who's not being funded by George Soros?
DePasquale sounds like a profession politician.
Soloman's (AG) commercials run non-stop on my TV service. He talks about how tough he is and shows the typical "taking to people in a serious, professional manner while the a narrator talks about his qualifications" trope you see in political ads but in the same commercial he's also sitting at the kitchen table with his mother who is giving verbal rewards like she's talking to a child who's just learned how to use the potty ("that's pretty good"). He comes off as a guy who still lives at home and has mommy do his laundry and pack his lunch every day. Not sure who that commercial is supposed to convince.
I believe DiPasquale is from the York area but I also think he will win.
While Eugene is a good guy his lack of expertise in the legal field works against him and most independents will look to the person with a solid legal track record and real experience as a prosecutor and thats Stollsteimer. Eugene's cash on hand numbers for someone running for a full year are very low and prevents him from waging a serious TV campaign while I see Stollsteimers Ads on TV. The fact that the all Allegheny trade councils and the Allegheny Building trades endorsed Stollsteimer makes me think Eugene doesn't have a lock on the West as some might think but your rationality is sound
Are any of these candidates being supported by George Soros? The damage his candidates have done nationwide, and in particular with Larry Krasner in Philly, I don't want that at the state level here.
Any support from Soros is a disqualifying issue for me.
I think most people will look at the fact that Eugene is lacking expertise in the legal arena and most people will go with the DA from Delaware County. He was all over TV with the 2 officers were shot in the fire in Feb and that recent exposure will help Stossteimer. Prosecutors have won 5 of the 6 AG spots and I think that's his advantage as a District Attorney with a solid track record in reducing Gun Violence in Chester which had a terrible reputation. He's got 368k to spend to Eugene's 180K so Eugene can't even wage a TV campaign which is necessary to win the state especially since straight ticket voting was the last time Eugene won with Josh Shapiro led the top of the Ticket and benefited from his popularity. Yeah Josh didnt have the same legal expertise but he had 3 million and Eugene is no Josh Shapiro which is a force of nature in my opinon . Stollsteimer as a DA is all over TV and couple that with the Western Trade Councils and all of Western Labor has endorsed Stollsteimer you gotta say Jack breaking thru out west
I rec'd a comment at 4:12 am with a huge gap at the end claiming DePasquale is from York. I deleted the comment bc of the gap. He is from Pittsburgh and attended their Central Catholic, which is always a tough school in basketball. He currently is a Professor at University of Pittsburgh. His grandfather was a member of Pittsburgh City Council. Not sure how he ended up in York and do not know if he is still there. His roots are in the western part of the state.
The comments about Soros obviously come from Rs. This post is for Dems.
This post is for democrats--true look what the democratic DA's did to our country -post this Bernie.
"Soloman's (AG) commercials run non-stop on my TV service. He talks about how tough he is and shows the typical "taking to people in a serious, professional manner while the a narrator talks about his qualifications" trope you see in political ads but in the same commercial he's also sitting at the kitchen table with his mother who is giving verbal rewards like she's talking to a child who's just learned how to use the potty ("that's pretty good"). He comes off as a guy who still lives at home and has mommy do his laundry and pack his lunch every day. Not sure who that commercial is supposed to convince."
Have not seen the ad but have heard from one Dem who was turned off by it.
Well if this post is “for Dems” don’t let Matthew Munsey comment. He is an R that must go!!!
Solomon's ads are so annoying- it doesn't surprise me he's running for both offices.
Regarding the York issue, that's the area DePasquale represented in the state house, so presumably he actually lived in York County for some time. It seems he's moved back west in the intervening years though, since the primary ballot lists Allegheny as his home county.
He did not win with Shapiro at the top of the ticket. If that were true he would still be Auditor General
His roots are Western PA you are correct. He served as a state representative from York and ran unsuccessfully against Scott Perry. I wish he had won that race. 50 bucks
Anonymous 10:32
Pennsylvania Attorney General
Results: Josh Shapiro Wins Nov 8th 2016
CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES PCT.
Josh Shapiro
Democrat
2,989,095 51.3%
John Rafferty
Republican
2,833,911 48.7
99% reporting (9,135 of 9,158 precincts)
Nominate the radical gun grabber guy. That'll go well in November. This is the problem with closed primaries and the tilted table they provide for extremists. The rest of the state shouldn't surrender liberties because urban minorities from fatherless homes insist upon shooting each other. Candidates who assume we're all fatherless thugs ready to commit murder, are seeing a warped view of the law-abiding. But go ahead and run on it.
Bernie, Anon 806am here. You're partially right, I am an Independent.
The Democrats I know and talk with also have concerns regarding the radical left fringe of the Democratic party, and the people George Soros supports are part of that fringe.
I think it's a legitimate question for Democrats to ask as well. It may not be a disqualifying factor for them, but it should be a discussion point as it points to the direction of their party and what they support.
We need more democratic AD'S. --the Chinese and Russians love it.
I agree Solomon's ads are idiotic and reflect poorly on his judgment. I found this blog post very informative since I didn't know much about the candidates. Being from Allentown I do recall Joe Khan from the Fed Ed prosecution and I remember being impressed by his tough stand against a corrupt local Democrat. I'm voting for him.
"go after criminals in the board room"
That's code for "I hate successful white men."
"You have taken to really censoring comments. Interesting!
Remus"
This post is for Democrats, not for people who want to bray away about Soros or other goofy stuff.
2:12- I remember Joe Kahn from the Pawlowski trial, too. I thought he was grandstanding on weak evidence and that Ed was railroaded by Mike Fleck and the Prosecution. Then again, I wasn't on the jury and Ed was convicted.
I already mailed in my ballot. I voted for Eugene DePasquale for the reasons Bernie wrote above in his post.
Solomon is sooooo annoying!!!
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