What Does A State Attorney General Actually Do? - PublicSource

Five candidates, three Democrats and two Republicans, are running to succeed Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane. She declined to run for a second term after being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, among other crimes, and had her law license suspended by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

To become attorney general, you have to be able to practice law in Pennsylvania, be at least 30 years old and have lived in Pennsylvania for the past seven years (exceptions for politicians and public employees).

Of the five candidates, there are two politicians and three with extensive experience as prosecutors.

Meet the candidates for PA Attorney General

Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican John Rafferty, the two politicians, are trying to convince voters to take a broad view of the attorney general’s office.

“To view this office as just another DA or super-DA…unfortunately and unnecessarily limits the scope of what this job is really all about,” Shapiro said at a April 13 debate at Widener University’s Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg.

Shapiro is the chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners and was appointed to be the chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency [PCCD] by Gov. Tom Wolf about a year ago. The PCCD coordinates criminal and juvenile justice reforms across multiple state agencies and provides grants for substance abuse education, to support crime victims and people with mental health issues.

Rafferty has 13 years of experience as a Pennsylvania state senator from the 44th district, which spans portions of Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties. He began his legal career investigating Medicaid fraud in the attorney general’s office. He likened his experience to that of former Attorney General Mike Fisher, who served in the state senate for 16 years before being elected attorney general in 1996.

The two longtime Democratic district attorneys in the race — Allegheny County DA Stephen Zappala and Northampton County DA John Morganelli — have run their offices for 18 and 24 years, respectively. They have been emphasizing the criminal law aspect of the office.

“I think you have to be a prosecutor. As district attorney, our forum is the courthouse. Our forum is the streets. The criteria we use is facts, and we use evidence,” Zappala said at the Widener debate.

Morganelli is currently the longest serving district attorney in the state, and this is his fourth try at becoming attorney general.

“You need to have good legal experience and the district attorney’s office is the breeding ground for that experience,” Morganelli said.

Republican candidate Joe Peters was a Scranton police officer, an organized crime and drug prosecutor in the attorney general’s office for 15 years, a federal mafia prosecutor and oversaw a White House drug trafficking program. He most recently served as Kathleen Kane’s spokesman for about eight months in 2013 and 2014.

“We are electing the chief law enforcement officer,” Peters said at the Widener debate. “It’s that way in the Commonwealth Attorneys Act. It’s that way in the perception of the public… We need the most experienced person who can walk into that office and lead it on day one.”