11/16/2022
After Pennsylvania’s House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a measure that would approve the impeachment of Democratic Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, the House voted 107-85 in favor of the resolution Wednesday. The measure will now move to the Pennsylvania Senate for a trial.
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted 14-8 along party lines to pass House Resolution No. 240, which called for Krasner’s impeachment.
The committee has accused Krasner of enforcing policies that contributed to rising violent crime in Philadelphia, misbehavior and mismanagement of his office.
Representative Martina White of Philadelphia sponsored the 22-page resolution, accusing Krasner of “dereliction of duty and despicable behavior.” She also accused the district attorney of running his office with a “staggering amount of dysfunction.”
“In the hundreds of years the Commonwealth has existed, this is the only time the House has used the drastic remedy of impeachment of an elected official because they do not like their ideas,” Krasner said in a statement following Wednesday’s vote.
“Those ideas are precisely why Philadelphia voters elected and re-elected me to serve as the Philly DA – in two landslides. These ideas include doing more and doing better for victims and survivors, solving crime through modern scientific enforcement, and investing deeply in the prevention of violence.
And they are why elected officials who do not live or vote in Philadelphia are trying so hard to erase the votes of Philadelphians: because they preferred the status quo. They have impeached me without presenting a single shred of evidence connecting our policies to any uptick in crime.
We were never given the opportunity to defend our ideas and policies – policies I would have been proud to explain. That Pennsylvania Republicans willfully avoided hearing the facts about my office is shameful.Â
The discussion of impeaching Krasner began in June when three Republican lawmakers, who do not represent the constituents of Philadelphia, announced plans to draft articles of impeachment against the two-term Democrat.
“Lives have been lost, property has been destroyed and families have been crushed. Enough is enough,” said House Republicans Josh Kail. “We don’t take this measure lightly. We recognize it is an extraordinary measure, but the actions that the DA have taken are extraordinary and we have tried a more measured approach in the House of Representatives, but to no avail.”
In October, House Republicans introduced the impeachment resolution.
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