Leading up to the April 26 primaries, PGN is spotlighting candidates who will be on the ballot. This week, we continue our election coverage with a focus on the race for Attorney General.
Voters will pick among five contenders for the two who will earn major-party nominations to run for the job of the state’s top prosecutor. Three Democrats and two Republicans are seeking their respective party’s nomination. The winners will face each other in the November general election.
Amid accusations of leaking information from a grand-jury probe, incumbent Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced she would not seek reelection.
John Morganelli (D)
PGN: Why do you want to run?
JM: I believe that at this critical time, Pennsylvania needs an experienced, tested prosecutor. I’m the longest-serving district attorney at this time and served as a special deputy attorney general on two occasions. I have experience with first-degree murder cases, taking some of the most dangerous people off Pennsylvania’s streets. I feel I have the best résumé to run.
PGN: What sets you apart from other candidates?
JM: Neither [of my opponents] has been in a courtroom prosecuting a single case. I’m very active in the grand-jury process. I don’t think their résumés are equal to mine.
PGN: People in the LGBT community reacted strongly to the homophobic emails exposed in the Attorney General’s Office. What would you do to combat stereotypes and increase inclusion in the office?
JM: That whole affair is a complete disgrace to the office and law-enforcement community. Regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, people need to be treated fairly. We need to continue to diversify law enforcement. One of the greatest cures for discrimination is to get to know folks. Ill will fades when you put a name to a person.
PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?
JM: When Kathleen Kane said she wasn’t going to defend the same-sex marriage ban [in Pennsylvania], I wrote an op-ed to support her. I was in the forefront to support legislation to include LGBT folks in hate-crime legislation. As a district attorney, I’ve done this work for 24 years. I think LGBT residents, like all Pennsylvanians, want safe streets.
John Morganelli serves as Northampton County District Attorney.
Josh Shapiro (D)
PGN: Why do you want to run?
JS: It’s a critically important office. It’s the only job in the Pennsylvania government that can be a voice for all people of the commonwealth. I’m a Georgetown law graduate and have been in private practice for over a dozen years. I also serve as chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Crime and Delinquency. My complete background enables me to use this office to its full potential.
PGN: What sets you apart from other candidates?
JS: My progressive vision for the office. I have a record of integrity and executive leadership skills to clean up the mess in that office. I will stand up for all Pennsylvanians.
PGN: People in the LGBT community reacted strongly to the homophobic emails exposed in the Attorney General’s Office. What would you do to combat stereotypes and increase inclusion in the office?
JS: I speak about this literally 10 times a day. It really goes to the heart of a lack of fairness. Swapping homophobic, racist or misogynistic emails, it really puts into question whether you can get a fair shot in Pennsylvania. I’ve come out with a 12-point integrity agenda. I’d like to have a chief diversity officer to make sure we have a more diverse office that reflects the public it serves. I will also use the megaphone of the office to continue to advocate for expanded hate-crime legislation and nondiscrimination legislation.
PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?
JS: All Pennsylvanians should consider voting for me because of my record leading the third-largest county in the state. We started nondiscrimination hiring in Montgomery County, which led to record numbers of women, African-Americans and LGBT people in county government. I helped elect the first openly gay judge in Montgomery County history. Montgomery County was the first [in the state] to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In the state House, I sponsored hate-crime legislation to include LGBT brothers and sisters, and I cosponsored a nondiscrimination bill now called the Pennsylvania Fairness Act.
Josh Shapiro serves as chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.
Joe Peters (R)
PGN: Why do you want to run and what sets you apart from other candidates?
JP: I am a former cop who served as the state’s top drug prosecutor. As a federal Mafia prosecutor, I helped bring down notorious Philadelphia mob boss Little Nicky Scarfo and his gang in a three-month trial before a sequestered and anonymous jury. I also served two presidents as a top official at the White House drug czar’s office, battling drugs and terrorism. The attorney general is the state’s top cop and prosecutor. As a former cop and a career prosecutor, I am the cops’ choice and the prosecutors’ choice. I am not a career politician — I have been elected to nothing. I have spent a life from local, state, national and international experience in the very areas that haunt us today: drugs and terrorism. There is no on-the-job training here. I am ready on day one. I am independent. I will do the right thing for the right reasons.
PGN: What would you do as attorney general to combat stereotypes and increase sensitivity and inclusion in the office?
JP: I would mandate regular sensitivity training for all employees (attorneys, agents, support personnel), as this is both an important workplace as well as an equal protection public-service issue. I will work to hire and promote to ensure that the OAG workforce is more inclusive and also reflective of the diversity of our state.
PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?
JP: My first priority as attorney general will be to restore the public’s full faith in the office. I began there as an intern and later rose to be the state’s top drug prosecutor, as the first executive deputy attorney general of the Office’s Drug and Organized Crime Division. Also, battling the heroin epidemic will be a top priority for me. My opponent worked [at the OAG] for three years, in the 1980s, doing Medicaid cases in a regional office. Compare that to me: not a career politician but a career prosecutor. It’s a simple equation: career prosecutor or career politician.
Joseph C. Peters served as communications director for Attorney General Kathleen Kane in 2013. He also formerly served as a Scranton police officer and a federal prosecutor.
John C. Rafferty Jr. (R)
PGN: Why do you want to run?
JR: My background serving as a state senator, a deputy attorney general, a private-practice attorney and a small-business owner has given me a wide breadth of experience that few others have.
PGN: What sets you apart from other candidates?
JR: Outside of my unique background, I believe my pledge to serve as attorney general, if elected, for two terms, and not use the office as a springboard to governor or U.S. Senate like all of my competitors separates me from my opponents.
PGN: People in the LGBT community reacted strongly to the homophobic emails exposed in the Attorney General’s Office. What would you do to combat stereotypes and increase inclusion in the office?
JR: Those emails were inappropriate in any forum and that type of behavior will not be tolerated under my leadership in the office of attorney general.
PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?
JR: All Pennsylvanians should vote for me because I am going to be a fair and impartial attorney general who is motivated by doing the right thing, not the politically expedient thing.
John C. Rafferty Jr. represents parts of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties in the state Senate.
Stephen Zappala (D)
Did not respond to interview request.
Stephen Zappala serves as Allegheny County District Attorney.