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PPG Editorial: Impeachment of Philadelphia DA a shameful attack on democracy
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial Board, November 20, 2022
(link) https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2022/11/20/krasner-philadelphia-criminal-justice-reform-impeachment/stories/202211160096
Members of the Pennsylvania House on Wednesday voted to impeach Philadelphia’s twice-elected district attorney, Larry Krasner. The 107-85 vote, almost entirely along party lines, is an unabashed and unprecedented attack by the General Assembly on the right of local communities to govern themselves.
Never mind the baloney from House Republicans expressing concern for the people of Philadelphia. Allowing the General Assembly to remove an elected local official, without proper cause, would set a horrible and illegitimate precedent, threatening the autonomy of local communities and disenfranchising their voters.
The constitutional standard for impeachment is high, and the House hasn’t come close to meeting it. Only twice in the last 200 years has the House impeached an elected official — a State Supreme Court Justice in 1994 for improper influence by a political supporter, and a county judge in 1811 for imprisoning people for wearing hats in court. Both cases met the constitutional grounds for impeachment: misbehavior in office.
“Misbehavior” means malfeasance, misconduct or corruption. There is none in Mr. Krasner’s office. Instead, the articles of impeachment blame Mr. Krasner’s reform measures for a two-year spike in gun violence, and allege he was derelict in his duty to protect citizens. No evidence, however, directly links Mr. Krasner’s policies with an increase in homicides that is affecting major cities nationwide, including Pittsburgh. More to the point, if “misbehavior” meant policies legislators don’t like, every elected official in Pennsylvania would be subject to the whims of the General Assembly.
“This is a complete abuse of the process,” Jane Roh, spokesperson for Mr. Krasner’s office, said this week.
Never mind the baloney from House Republicans expressing concern for the people of Philadelphia. Allowing the General Assembly to remove an elected local official, without proper cause, would set a horrible and illegitimate precedent, threatening the autonomy of local communities and disenfranchising their voters.
The constitutional standard for impeachment is high, and the House hasn’t come close to meeting it. Only twice in the last 200 years has the House impeached an elected official — a State Supreme Court Justice in 1994 for improper influence by a political supporter, and a county judge in 1811 for imprisoning people for wearing hats in court. Both cases met the constitutional grounds for impeachment: misbehavior in office.
“Misbehavior” means malfeasance, misconduct or corruption. There is none in Mr. Krasner’s office. Instead, the articles of impeachment blame Mr. Krasner’s reform measures for a two-year spike in gun violence, and allege he was derelict in his duty to protect citizens. No evidence, however, directly links Mr. Krasner’s policies with an increase in homicides that is affecting major cities nationwide, including Pittsburgh. More to the point, if “misbehavior” meant policies legislators don’t like, every elected official in Pennsylvania would be subject to the whims of the General Assembly.
“This is a complete abuse of the process,” Jane Roh, spokesperson for Mr. Krasner’s office, said this week.
- more at link -
Even the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is calling this Krasner impeachment a sham and an attack on democracy. Thank God/Goddess that the voters have seen fit to turn the House BLUE after 12 years of partisan abuse. This is no way to run a state that considers itself the cradle of democracy.
5 replies
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They want Larry Krasner as their DA. He's been elected twice. The Legislature has no say in the matter, unless he's guilty of wrong-doing and abuse. There is no such evidence, even the Post-Gazette (owned by Block family MAGAts) says so. This is all political BS from the getgo.
Just sayin'
