Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled state legislature moved Wednesday to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, saying that the top prosecutor’s progressive approach has resulted in rising crime throughout the city.
Lawmakers are seeking to remove Mr. Krasner primarily under the state constitution’s “misbehavior in office” article, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. It’s a broad term that hasn’t been applied in either of the state’s two previous impeachments — one in 1994, and the first in 1811.
Mr. Krasner is also being impeached for obstructing a legislative select committee’s investigation into his office’s work.
“The city of Philadelphia cannot afford to wait any longer for us to take action on what we already know to be true: That Krasner is responsible for the rise in crime across our city due to his dereliction of duty to prosecute the guilty and to protect the innocent,” Martina White, Philadelphia’s lone Republican state representative and a main sponsor of the impeachment effort, said at Wednesday press conference.
Mr. Krasner, who easily won reelection last fall, has criticized the move as overriding the will of the people in a since-deleted Twitter thread.
“We knew this was coming,” the DA said in his post. “It’s devastating to democracy, and it shows how far toward fascism the Republican Party is creeping. These Republicans divest from communities and then grandstand about crime for political gain.”
He added that Republicans “don’t allege I’ve committed a crime. They just don’t think Philly has a right to govern itself.”
During the last successful impeachment in 1994, former state Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen was ousted after he was convicted of trying to illegally obtain prescription drugs.
Philadelphia has seen a dramatic increase in murders since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year’s 562 homicides was the most violence the city has seen in at least 15 years, according to police data. That came after the 499 murders in 2020 was already a major jump compared to the 356 in 2019.
This year’s 439 homicides are a 3% year-to-date decline compared to 2021, but are still on track to exceed 2020’s total.
Republicans said they are planning to wrap up the impeachment before the legislative session goes on recess Nov. 2 — less than a week before the state holds elections for its next governor and U.S. senator. But NBC News reported that lawmakers said they will add extra days to the calendar to move ahead with the process.
Securing an impeachment requires a simple majority vote in Pennsylvania’s House, and a two-thirds vote in the State Senate. There are currently 28 Republican state senators, meaning at least six Democrats would need to side with the impeachment effort in order to achieve the two-thirds threshold.
Progressive prosecutors across the nation have come under fire for what critics say is a soft-on-crime approach, failing to prosecute certain offenses and allowing too many dangerous individuals to remain on the streets. Former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was recalled by constituents earlier this year.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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