Opinion: Impeaching Larry Krasner will happen “When Pigs Fly”

This column today is strictly my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of the owner of this publication, management or any other staff.
There are a lot of things that lawmakers in Harrisburg need to be working on. In particular, I think Republican lawmakers in our state capitol need to be looking at drawing up some impeachment papers against some of their own political party members for failing to fully take care of Pennsylvanians still trying to recover after being hard hit by the pandemic.
Instead, we got word on Monday, June 13, 2022, that GOP Lawmakers are busy drawing up Impeachment papers against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. Larry Krasner has been criticized, by some, since he first announced he was running for District Attorney because he has different ideas about how to handle certain cases. In short, he’s been accused of being too easy on criminals and thereby letting too many criminals get out of jail.
Philadelphia’s D.A. gets hit by criticism over his office’s handling of gun cases and violent crime almost everyday.
Three lawmakers, Rep. Josh Kail (R-Beaver/Washington), Rep. Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland), and Rep. Tim O’Neal (R-Washington), are leading the charge, having opened impeachment proceedings against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner Monday morning.
Since the New Year, over 1,000 people have been injured by gunfire in Philadelphia. Some of those people were seriously wounded. 220 people were killed at the hands of people with guns since January 1st of this year. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and Republican lawmakers at the state capitol are trying to lay all the blame at the feet of Larry Krasner.
The three lawmakers trying to destroy Larry Krasner’s career aren’t even from Philadelphia.
While I wish our current Mayor well, I have not agreed with everything he’s done or stood for since he came into office almost 8-years ago. This time, however, I agree with a statement he made 100%. Mayor Kenney was quoted as saying, “It’s a political stunt that they’re very good at. If they really want to help the city of Philadelphia, they can pass gun laws that will eliminate assault weapons, extended magazines, and allow us to pass our own legislation,” said Kenney.
Republican State Rep. Martina White of course had to get in on the attempt to attack Larry Krasner. There are very few positive things that Martina supports. Especially if they might help uplift Philadelphia. She was quoted by 6-ABC as saying, “I am proud to announce that I have co-sponsored the House resolution to impeach District Attorney Larry Krasner. In my view, the lawlessness in Philadelphia has been exasperated by the intentional lack of adequate prosecution by and under Krasner’s direction. That is coming to an end. I want to thank my colleagues Reps. Josh Kail, Torren Ecker, and Tim O’Neal for standing with Pennsylvanians and announcing they will be introducing Articles of Impeachment for Larry Krasner.”
These lawmakers who are trying to pull off this stunt allege they expect to have bi-partisan support to Impeach Larry Krasner. I think these 4 Republican lawmakers named in this column are desperate for some media attention, and this was the best idea they could muster. Well, it ain’t a good idea.
If they were so concerned about doing good and doing right, then they should have been on the Impeach Donald Trump bandwagon. How about that? That’s who they should have been concerned with getting out of office.
As for Larry Krasner, he’s as cool as a cucumber. During a press conference later in the day on June 13th, totally unrelated to what the Republicans did in Harrisburg, Krasner briefly addressed the Republican shenanigans. Krasner says he’s not surprised or worried about the “Impeachment” announcement. Krasner commented, “What they are doing in terms of impeachment is clearly without legal basis, clearly unconstitutional. This will all come out as this proceeds,” said Krasner. “There’s nothing new about there being resistance when you’re trying to bring meaningful change and trying to change society.”
Larry Krasner is a former civil rights attorney and public defender serving as the 26th and current District Attorney of Philadelphia since 2018. As DA of Philadelphia, Krasner became prominent for spearheading criminal justice reform. Another word for reform is CHANGE.
A lot of people are afraid of change. They don’t like change. They want to keep on doing things the same old way, over and over again. When you keep doing things the same way–you usually get the same results. Consider this: sometimes reform/change is needed, and that’s what Larry Krasner represents.
I just don’t see this idea of impeaching Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner as a real issue or something that should be done. Like I said at the beginning of this column, if Republican Pennsylvania State Representatives wanted to do something useful with their time, they ought to draw up articles of Impeachment against some of their party colleagues, even themselves.