PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler named three impeachment managers for the upcoming trial of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. They are Delaware County Republican Craig Williams, Western Pennsylvania Republican Tim Bonner, and Philadelphia Democrat Jared Solomon.
All three are attorneys. Rep. Williams served as an assistant U.S. attorney and as a prosecutor in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“We are now moving to a trial or prosecutorial phase,” said Rep. Williams, who worked in the U.S. attorney’s office and as a prosecutor in the U.S. Marine Corps. “So this point going forward, there's going to be a limit on our willingness and expectation to make any comments on the evidence. We will be approaching it as though it's a prosecution.”
Rep. Bonner spent 18 years in the Mercer County District Attorney’s Office in Western Pennsylvania. Rep. Solomon also has military law experience, having served as an Army Reserve JAG officer.
Solomon says he believes Krasner is failing the city, but he doesn’t believe it rises to level of impeachment.
“I've read the documents. I've read the court opinions. I know the standard. I have listened and weighed all the evidence," Solomon said. "Everybody knows, Republican and Democrat, that this evidence does not meet the constitutional standard that we would use to impeach a civil office officer like Mr. Krasner.”
Solomon has spoken out against impeachment during debate in the judiciary committee, accusing Republicans of political brinkmanship. He says he sees his role as a protector of the Constitution.
“They're making the the effort to impeach the district attorney about political score, settling and taking away the voice and the vote, and the franchise from Philadelphians, I will not participate in that. And that's why someone needs to be in the room to ensure that the Constitution is followed.”
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He has said he questions some of Krasner’s decisions, but he doesn’t believe it rises to level of impeachment.
The articles of impeachment passed the House basically on a nearly party-line vote.
Next, the state Senate needs to schedule a session day during which the managers will formally introduce the articles of impeachment into the record, and then the members of the Senate will be sworn in as the hearing body for the trial.
A conviction would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate, or all 29 Republican votes, plus at least 5 Democrats.
Krasner, who was reelected to a second term by a wide margin in 2019, has criticized the action in Harrisburg as “a lame-duck majority fighting a lost cause,” calling it an “anti-democratic authoritarian effort to erase Philly's votes.”