Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner stunned city residents on Monday when he told reporters: “We don’t have a crisis of lawlessness, we don’t have a crisis of crime, we don’t have a crisis of violence.” Philly had more than 500 murderers last year. What planet is he living on?
Krasner is one of the many city prosecutors from Boston to San Francisco who have been elected by “soft on crime” groups linked to left-wing philanthropist George Soros.
Krasner’s latest Twilight Zone commentary prompted former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to yell “Enough!” In the Philadelphia Inquirer this week he wrote: “I wonder what kind of messed up world of white wokeness Krasner is living in to have so little regard for human lives lost, many of them Black and brown, while he advances his own national profile as a progressive district attorney.”
Ed Rendell, another former Philadelphia mayor who later served as Pennsylvania’s governor, said Krasner “clearly demonstrated that he simply doesn’t understand that the first and most important part of a D.A.’s job is to protect people in this city from violent, brutal crime.”
We’ve often worried whether or not cities that spiral out of control can recover. Until recently, New York City was a shining example that they can and the election of former police officer Eric Adams as the next mayor is a hopeful sign. Philadelphia, sadly, has proven to be a much tougher case.
Senate Democrats are so far slow on the uptake; they voted unanimously this week to promote soft-on-crime, Soros-backed Boston DA Rachael Rollins to U.S. Attorney. Rollins declined to prosecute trespassing, shoplifting, larceny under $250, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, receiving stolen property, and wanton or malicious destruction of property, among other things. This earned her a promotion.
When will business leaders, civic leaders and ordinary citizens understand that crime is a tax on the poor and that America’s great cities will die unless civic order is restored?