LAYING DOWN ... THE LAW
DISTRICT ATTORNEY CANDIDATES CLASH AT DEBATE
The gloves were off on Sunday at a spirited debate between incumbent Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland and Democratic challenger Jack Stollsteimer at Cabrini University.
The question of outside funding independent expenditures supporting the two brought out some jabs and audience reaction. Leftwing financier George Soros has given $100,000 toward Stollsteimer’s campaign and Stollsteimer contended that a Trump-related Republican supports Copeland’s bid and has been running negative and untrue advertising against him.
Copeland, a Republican, had been appointed in 2018 by the Delaware County Board of Judges, although George Badey, chairman of the Radnor Democrats pointed out those judges are all Republicans. Badey was among the 100 or so people who attended the debate, including several local politicians, as well as Cabrini students.
Moderator Steve Highsmith asked the candidates how they are “their own person” when money is needed to win elections.
“People know me,” said Stollsteimer. “I live in this county. I’ve lived here for 50 years. I was a federal prosecutor before Kat Copeland was a federal prosecutor … What we want is everybody working for one thing: That is fair justice for every single person.”
Copeland pointed to her 27 years as a prosecutor, trying murderers, rapists and robbers, as what she has done and will continue to do.
Asked about disparate justice for minorities and that some district attorneys are not enforcing laws to try to change that, Copeland pointed said that she is “cognizant of the large hurdles” that minorities face and that she herself is a minority, with an Iranian mother and American father.
“I don’t believe that following in the footsteps of (Philadelphia District Attorney) Larry Krasner is ever the right stance,” she said.
Her role is to enforce the laws, not “selectively” based on race or other criteria, she said. Krasner, who came into office with Soros’ support, has done the “opposite” of his role as D.A. and not notified victims of what they are entitled to know, she said.
Stollsteimer said there are district attorneys of both parties who know they have to be fair to everybody.
“And just continuously locking people up for drug possession offenses we’re not actually making our communities safe,” Stollsteimer said. “So what I have done and what I’ve offered to do is to take a look at the marijuana… drug possession in Delaware County.”
In 2016, of the 3,000 people arrested for possessing a small amount of marijuana for personal use, 59 percent were African American, he said. And 22 percent of the population is African American.
“That’s wrong,” he said. “That’s racist and we’ve got to stop it.”
Copeland said in the last two years as D.A. she’s taken strong stances on keeping senior citizens safe from crime, school children safe from violence and guns away from those who shouldn’t have them.
“Most importantly I haven’t accepted money from large-scale billionaire financiers,” she said. “Now George Soros has financed Mr. Stollsteimer’s campaign. That should speak volumes.”
Stollsteimer denied that Soros’ financed his campaign.
“My campaign has been financed by individual donors and labor unions who represent working people here in Delaware County.” He accused Copeland of “lies and false negative attacks.”
Copeland said that her campaign is not coordinating with anyone.
“What I do know is that George Soros has invested money in Jack Stollsteimer’s campaign,” she said. “And they aren’t interested in Delaware County becoming another Philadelphia where crime has risen … and where victims don’t have a voice.”
Neither answered when Highsmith asked them whether they’ve told those supporters to stop and go away. They did not answer but Stollsteimer said all of his ads were paid for by his campaign or the Delaware County Democrats.
Copeland touted her 27 years as a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office and six years with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Stollsteimer also pointed to his record an assistant district attorney in 2000 before becoming a policy analyst and special assistant U.S. attorney for the Project Safe Neighborhoods gun-violence initiative in 2001. In 2004, he was appointed assistant U.S. attorney and assigned to lead a gun violence task force. Stollsteimer was appointed deputy state treasurer for consumer programs in 2017.
The pair also spared on immigration with the tougher federal enforcement of immigration law when asked if undocumented immigrants will fear to report crime.
Copeland spoke about her experience of as the daughter of an Iranian woman and a father who was arrested in Iran and unjustly charged as a CIA spy she has empathy for individuals who are unjustly charged. She said that her office encourages victims to come forward and has personally supported visas for crime victims who are undocumented.
“Our hearts are open to our victims and we encourage them to come forward,” she said. “And we will make sure we take a protective stance.”
Stollsteimer accused President Donald Trump of being a racist and hurting public safety by his “polarization” of immigrants.
“Everybody who lives in our community is entitled to the protections of the Fourth Amendment,” said Stollsteimer. “And they’re entitled to feel safe when they want to go to a police officer. We want Delaware County to be the diverse county that it is. My mother came from Ukraine, a refuge who was homeless on the streets of Germany. I know something about this, too. We want everybody to feel comfortable… and to be able to get justice fairly and equally no matter their status.”
Stollsteimer also said that he favors getting the privately run county jail back under public operations and Copeland agreed that it should be reformed.
Stollsteimer also mentioned the Republican “machine” controlling Delaware County and railed about patronage jobs and assistant district attorneys who work other jobs and run for office in their towns.
Copeland said all her ADAs work hard but some have to take a second or third job to support their families. A starting salary for an ADA is only $35,000, she said. She also said that she does not look into which party a person is registered with before hiring them, but hires on merit.