HARRISBURG (TNS) — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted along mostly partisan lines Wednesday to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a seldom-used legislative power that sets up a trial of Krasner in the state Senate.
As they have since the effort to impeach Krasner began earlier this year, Republicans cited an increase in crime in Philadelphia and argued that Krasner’s progressive criminal justice strategies were the proximate cause.
The GOP’s impeachment resolution also cites instances in which Krasner’s office was chided by judges for allegedly disingenuous behavior in court, as well as Krasner’s refusal to comply with elements of a subpoena by the House select committee created to investigate him.
Krasner is “using prosecutorial discretion to act against the public interest,” said the impeachment measure’s prime sponsor, Rep. Martina White, R- Philadelphia, asserting that there is a “direct correlation” between Krasner’s prosecutorial tactics and a rise in violent crime.
Democrats contended that Republicans’ case relied on correlation without proving cause — and that the GOP’s objections to Krasner were fundamentally political disagreements which, if used as grounds for impeachment, could set up many other officials to be removed from office.
“Impeachment is not about litigating disagreements in policy,” said Rep. Mike Zabel, D-Delaware, appealing to his GOP colleagues for a negative vote.
“Think about the standard you want to be applied to you, or other officials, or future legislators,” Zabel continued. “No elected official will be safe.”
Wednesday’s vote was 107-85 on the impeachment resolution, with only one Republican defection. Krasner, a Democrat, was first elected in 2017 and overwhelmingly re-elected last year.
In a statement issued after the vote, Krasner said “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,” and described the impeachment as an “anti-democratic authoritarian effort to erase Philly’s votes.”
The Pennsylvania Constitution allows the House to impeach any civil official for “misbehavior in office” and for the Senate to hold a trial on those accusations, although the legal standard for such misbehavior is a crucial matter of debate.
The GOP’s impeachment resolution, as well as a brief filed by Krasner in Commonwealth Court challenging the impeachment, both cite the common law definition of actions taken “with improper or corrupt motive” as being the precedential standard for impeachable misbehavior – but disagree as to whether Krasner’s actions constitute such.
Also unclear heading into Krasner’s trial is any involvement by Bruce Castor, a prominent Montgomery County politician and attorney who headed former President Donald Trump’s defense team during Trump’s 2021 impeachment.
Prior to Wednesday’s House session, Castor was in White’s office along with George Bochetto, the Republican attorney working with the House select committee investigating Krasner. Castor and Bochetto declined to elaborate on Castor’s involvement when approached by reporters outside White’s office.
The two later attended the House Republicans’ press conference following the successful impeachment vote, at which GOP leaders, including House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, declined to comment on Castor’s involvement.
Castor quipped during the conference that he was “here as a tourist.”
“There’s been no talk of the trial, who the managers are at this point, so it’s hard to say,” said Rep. Torren Ecker, R-Adams/ Cumberland, one of the select committee members, when asked what Castor’s role was. “We can’t answer your question.”
Ecker and Benninghoff did say, however, that they expect the Senate to take the matter up before the current legislative session expires on Nov. 30, and that they believe the Senate could continue the trial next year without the House re-authorizing the impeachment resolution. Doing so would be a difficult proposition for Republicans, given that they are poised to lose their majority in the House.
“The Senate can take it up as a continuous body” due to the staggered election of Senate seats, Ecker said. “There does not need to be a re-vote on a similar resolution next session.”
Further complicating the timeline is Krasner’s appeal that the state’s Commonwealth Court intervene in the case; a hearing on the matter is, coincidentally, scheduled for Nov. 30, according to the court docket.
A conviction to remove Krasner would require a two-thirds vote of the Senate, which currently has a 29-21 split in favor of the GOP, going down to 28-22 when the new legislature is seated in January.
