PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania House has passed a resolution to form a committee with subpoena power to investigate Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Lawmakers in Harrisburg spent nearly two hours debating the resolution from Western Pennsylvania Republican Josh Kail.
“The purpose of this select committee is to investigate the alleged dereliction of duty that we have seen by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner,” Kail said.
“The report will make recommendations for new laws, potentially, for new policies and potentially recommendations for articles of impeachment.”
Minority leader Philadelphia Democrat Joanna McClinton suggested the General Assembly's attention was misdirected.
“If this General Assembly wants to do something about gun violence, here we are waiting. Let’s do it. Let’s not try to throw people's votes out again, just because you don’t like the outcome of an election, she said.
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Philadelphia Democrat Chris Rabb argues there is already an elected legislative body that oversees the DA’s office.
“It may not be well known to my colleagues who are closer to Cleveland than Philadelphia, but it's called the City Council,” Rabb said.
Philadelphia Republican Martina White says she appreciates her colleagues from across the state who have taken up the issue.
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“This resolution is going to create a special bipartisan committee with subpoena power. It's going to allow us to question witnesses, take testimony under oath, and acquire any supporting documentation that we need to make better decisions,” White said.
“It's up to us legislators excellent exercising our responsibility to investigate how it could be that felons are continuously being allowed back onto our streets to terrorize the innocent.”
Delaware County Democrat Mike Zabel calls the committee a pretext for a predetermined outcome, noting the website requesting information from the public is stopkrasner.com.
“I don't know how Pennsylvanians can trust this process — this kangaroo commission, which is what it's set up to be,” he said.
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He said comments from supporters of the resolution call into question the fairness of the investigation.
“I don't know how Pennsylvanians can trust a process where the investigation starts out, and the conclusion is already there. This is not what impeachment is for. Impeachment shouldn't be made, because we simply disagree with somebody.”
The resolution passed 114-86.