Last month, John reported that the Pennsylvania legislature had filed articles of impeachment against Philadelphia’s soft-on-crime District Attorney Larry Krasner. He has presided over one of the worst, protracted crime waves in the City of Brotherly Love in living memory, spending his time persecuting his city’s police while criminals file in and out of a revolving door. This story largely flew under the radar in the midst of all of the midterm election madness, but the next step in the process took place yesterday. The state legislator voted on the matter and impeached Krasner. The lengthy statement that his office released in response sounds as if he’s working under the influence of some sort of hallucinogen, bizarrely claiming that he’s actually made the city safer. It’s really something to behold. (CBS News)

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was impeached by the Pennsylvania House on Wednesday. The final vote was 107 for yes and 85 for no.

Now, a trial will be held in the Pennsylvania State Senate at a later date.

Pennsylvania Republicans claim Krasner’s leadership stands in connection with the increase in crime. Additionally, they allege that he obstructed the House’s work by not complying with the committee investigating him.

As noted in the linked report, this doesn’t mean that Krasner is already packing up his office. Just as with federal impeachments in Congress, this is a two-step process. In order to be removed from office, Krasner will now have to be convicted in the state senate. Republicans in the Pennsylvania state senate currently hold a large majority, but they don’t have the two-thirds required for a conviction, so a few Democrats will have to be convinced to cross the line and join them in order for this to happen.

Reading through Krasner’s response, you really have to wonder what world he’s living in. He accused the members who voted to impeach him of doing so because “they do not like” his “ideas.” He reminded the legislature that the voters of Philadelphia elected him to office twice by solid margins. (He’s actually correct about that part, which is why the people of Philadelphia are currently getting exactly what they deserve, and they’re getting it good and hard.)

Krasner goes on to claim that he has been “solving crime through modern scientific enforcement, and investing deeply in the prevention of violence.” Oh, really? If you’re investing so deeply in the prevention of violence, your investments haven’t been paying much in the way of dividends. There have been 459 homicides in the city so far this year with more than a month to go. That’s barely less than the record-breaking number of killings Philadelphia experienced last year and they could still top that number in December. Repeat offenders who were released under Krasner’s policies regularly show up in the local news.

The weak District Attorney closes his response by describing the impeachment vote as an “anti-democratic authoritarian effort to erase Philly’s votes.” He then boldly states that the city’s voters “will have the last word.”

What Krasner either doesn’t realize or is choosing to ignore is the fact that Philadelphia is not an independent political entity. It’s not a state or a nation. It’s a city that exists inside of and under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania. When a municipal official mismanages their responsibilities to the point where the streets are literally littered with dead bodies, the state legislature has both the authority and the moral obligation to step in. And that’s precisely what they are attempting to do.

The voters of Pennsylvania may have been willing to (barely) elect a befuddled stroke victim with no record of accomplishments in his life to the Senate. But will they continue to tolerate the utter failure of Philadelphia’s District Attorney to keep people alive? Or will they let their elected officials know that Krasner needs to go, partisan loyalties be damned? We’ll find out soon enough.