NEWSLANC EDITOR: A Montgomery County Republican prosecutor and judge virtually prevent Attorney General Kathleen Kane from running for re-election and now a Montgomery County Republican Senator runs for her position. What a co-incidence!
By Kevin Zwick
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (July 25) – After a few tumultuous years, Republican John Rafferty says it’s time to dial back the role of the Attorney General to the office’s core mission.
Rafferty says “AG” doesn’t stand for “Aspiring Governor” and that the top law enforcement officer shouldn’t be out to grab headlines, telling the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon crowd Monday it’s “not an office for political activism.”
That line appeared to rebuke Democrat Josh Shapiro’s call for more robust action from the office on hot-button constitutional issues. In May, Shapiro told the Press Club the OAG’s public protection and civil divisions need to take greater action “protecting constitutional rights” on issues like abortion, clean air and water, protections for the LGBT community and education funding.
Shapiro, a former House legislator and currently a Montgomery County commissioner, has said if he were elected AG, he would join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of state education funding.
Gov. Tom Wolf and legislative leaders are fighting that lawsuit, which was brought by several schools districts and the Education Law Center. The suing districts argue the commonwealth does not distribute state subsidies appropriately.
Rafferty, a Montgomery County state senator, on Monday scoffed at Shapiro’s position, saying he’ll be “doggone if I’m going to let a judge in a black robe determine how the taxpayer’s dollars are going to be distributed for education or any other variation here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Contrasting his credentials as a lawyer with those of Shapiro, Rafferty said he has “vastly more experience” than his opponent. He added that experience will be needed to take over the office after Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s term.
“In the last four years, the office has been used for political gain and to settle personal and political vendettas,” Rafferty said. “That is not the mission, the goal, of the Office of Attorney General. It is unacceptable and it cannot happen again with an inexperienced person.”
He added that the office doesn’t need someone looking to “pad their resume or raise their state political profile. Often times the Attorney General, AG, is called Aspiring Governor. I’m not interested. I’m interested in being Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Rafferty admitted the last time he practiced law in a courtroom was 13 years ago and that he done so mostly in bench trials, argument court, preliminary hearings. “Even once in court, I’ve done more than my opponent,” he added.
“Only in Harrisburg would a politician like Senator Rafferty, who hasn’t overseen a legal case in 13 years or had any leadership experience, think they’re more qualified to be Attorney General than a talented executive like Josh Shapiro who manages teams of lawyers and leads Pennsylvania’s Commission on Crime and Delinquency,” said Shapiro’s campaign manager, Joe Radosevich, in a statement.
“As an executive overseeing a staff and budget four times larger than the Office of Attorney General, Josh has won praise from Democrats and Republicans alike for ethical, effective leadership,” he said. “The choice for Attorney General is clear: an accomplished executive who puts doing the job above politics or a long-term state senator who has spent a career in Harrisburg protecting the status quo.”
Shapiro was appointed in March 2015 by Wolf to his position with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Prior to that appointment, Shapiro served on Wolf’s gubernatorial transition team as vice-chair of the Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force.
The election is November 8.
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