Today is the day we find
out whether Larry Krasner will be
reelected as the district attorney
of Philadelphia.
Now, this is an important election,
especially when you consider how
Republicans and
the police union are fighting very
aggressively to ensure that he
does not get reelected.
In fact, John Nichols at the nation
writes that, the stakes are so
high because Krasner has been so
outspoken in his
criticism of police violence and
prosecutorial misconduct.
And so
ardent in advancing reforms that
have made his office a national
model for reformers.
And so what has he done so far?
Why does he get this glowing
complimentary coverage in
the nation?
Well, he fired 31 prosecutors
in his first week in office.
He eliminated cash bail for
people accused of many misdemeanors
and nonviolent felonies.
He announced that his office would
no longer seek criminal charges
against Philadelphians caught with
marijuana.
He initiated a review of sentences
from past prosecutions, with an eye
toward reducing jail terms.
His Conviction Integrity Unit
exonerated a score of innocent
people who'd been jailed by his
predecessors.
He sued Big Pharma companies to
make them take responsibility for
harm caused by the opioid epidemic.
He asked the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court to declare the death penalty
unconstitutional.
So he represents everything that
the police union and
conservatives despise.
And they are fighting aggressively
to make sure that he
doesn't get to serve another term.
>> Yeah, this was super important.
So by the way, it's tomorrow.
So if you live in Philly,
make sure that you vote,
it's really, really important.
It's not like a random local
election that doesn't
have consequences,
it has national consequences.
So he tried all these reforms,
the police union despise it,
the police overall hate it.
They don't want to be reformed,
they want to do it the old ways,
right or wrong, guilty, innocent,
who cares.
Let's go, let's crack some skulls,
let's put him in.
We don't want any accountability.
This guy's a pain in our ass, he's
trying to protect the citizens.
Does he know we're above the law?
And so of course, well,
specifically white cops are against
Larry Krasner because minority cops
are on his side, and so
that was very specific.
And then they have a fake Democrat
in the primary, yes because
Republicans can't win in Philly.
So they have to put a Republican
inside the Democratic primary, and
then back them with tons of money
from the police unions, etc, etc.
And then they smear Krasner.
The cops, I don't know if
they bother fighting crime
anywhere really honestly.
But then they turn around and
blame Krasner and say, he might
have caused violence and crime.
Well, how about you guys is
that your job is to prevent crime?
No, we can't do anything, man.
I mean we- >> It's such
a good point, Jenk.
It's such a good point,
because there's been an uptick in
crime in Philadelphia, but
there's been an uptick in crime
throughout the entire country.
So just to give you an example,
when it comes to gun violence,
gun violence on average is up 45%
nationally.
In Philadelphia, it's up 40%,
which is still horrible.
But to blame the uptick in violence
on one person, especially when you
take a look at the broader picture,
and you see the uptick in violence
throughout the entire country,
nationally.
You get a sense of just how
ridiculous and intentionally
deceptive these talking points from
the police union happened to be.
In fact, I do want to read you
a few quotes from the police union.
The Fraternal Order of Police lodge
five is Philadelphia's police
union.
And they write that, the President
of this police union writes.
Our officers have given us
carte blanche to spend whatever we
need to spend to be able to remove
this cancer,
they refer to him as cancer, from
the District Attorney's Office.
>> Of course, because the cops
busted all those people who turned
out to be innocent.
And Krasner let the people go
when he found out that they were
actually innocent, and
they have evidence to
show that they were innocent.
Cops are like that's embarrassing.
Now you're going to show the wrong
people we arrest?
Again remember, whenever you see
Fraternal Order Police in the case
of Philly, the minority cops
are all on Krasner's side.
So these are only white cops
who hate Krasner,
let's be clear about that.
>> And the Philadelphia Inquirer,
which by the way has endorsed
Krasner reports that
the Fraternal Order of Police has
hoisted billboards and
flooded mailboxes and airwaves in
a bid to oust the incumbent.
It's helping fund
a political action committee
formed by retired cops that
is the top spender in the race.
It's blaming Krasner for the
soaring violence in the city as I
mentioned earlier, despite the fact
that Philadelphia's crime surge
is in line with national trends.
And as you mentioned earlier Cenk,
while the retired cops, the police
union, and conservatives are
backing his opponent Carlos Vega.
The black cops in Philadelphia,
the National Enquirer,
a number of labor groups,
number of labor unions have backed
Krasner here.
The Philadelphia Inquirer also
reports that it's even mobilizing,
meaning the opponents to Krasner.
It's even mobilizing Republicans to
change their voter registration to
Democratic so they can back
challenger Carlos Vega in the May
18th primary.
And Vega, a veteran prosecutor who
was fired from the DA's office when
Krasner took charge, is also backed
by former Philadelphia mayor and
Pennsylvania governor
Edwin Rendell, who hired the lawyer
as a prosecutor when he served
as DA in the 1980s.
>> Yeah, Edwin Rendell is
a corporate Democrat extraordinare.
So it's unsurprising that he's with
the power structure in
Philadelphia, the old corrupt power
structure which he helped us set up
as mayor of Philadelphia and
then Governor of Pennsylvania.
If there was ever a progressive
policy, Edwin Rendell would
immediately show up on television
to fight back against it.
So I understand what's
going on here,
Vega is basically a Republican.
And since they can't win under
the Republican brand,
they're pretending that that
Republican is a Democrat in
the Democratic primary.
And as usual, they use the Fox News
trick and establishment Democrat
trick of finding a minority to be
the guy that they put out is their
face for what is actually the power
structure which is almost
all white.
And so, including as we've been
telling you the Fraternal Order
Police, isn't it interesting
that the one incredibly
strong union in the country is
the one that protects the property
rights of the powerful?
So, all the unions fighting for
higher wages for you guys, crushed,
non powerful, etc.
The Fraternal Order of Police and
all the unions that are cop unions,
very powerful,
can't be messed with.
Spend millions of dollars to knock
off a prosecutor who would actually
uncover their crimes.
They're the one union that's strong
because it protects
the property of the powerful, okay?
The idea that they're protecting
your lives,
I wish that were the case, far too
often it's nowhere near the case.
And that's, doesn't have to do with
the individual cops, it has to do
with the system and the structure.
And when anyone is a threat to that
system, which is exactly what Larry
Krasner is, this is what they do.
They come for
him with everything they've got,
that's why that election is so
important.
If he wins, it sends a message to
everybody, going progressive is
the right direction and actually
supporting the people can work.
If the bad guys win,
then it sends the message
don't worry about any progressives
winning as prosecutors.
We just spent millions against
them, later we'll smear them,
we'll lie about them, we'll get
the copy union to attack them etc.
And we'll just assassinate their
character and their basically
candidacy and their careers, and
then we'll be done with it.
And so that gets assigned
an affiliate tomorrow.
So I would encourage everybody to
go out and tell everybody too, if
you live in Philly, to go vote for
Krasner because the whole country's
online in that election, honestly