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AG Josh Shapiro Seeks Four More Years
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY
General Josh Shapiro wants
to continue to be the people’s
lawyer. After four years in office,
he’s asking voters to judge him
on his accomplishments as he
seeks reelection on Nov. 3.

“I’ve got a proven track
record of taking on the big
fights and putting people
before powerful institutions,”
he said. “And I’ve done what I
said I was going to do.”
During his time in office,
Shapiro helmed an investigation
of sexual abuse in the Roman
Catholic Church, lawsuits
against loan servicing company
Navient Corp. for predatory
lending and a lawsuit against
Purdue Pharma, the creator
of prescription painkiller
OxyContin, which has been
identified as a major cause of
the country’s opioid crisis.

Shapiro also filed lawsuits
against the United States
Postal Service in response to
operational changes made
by Postmaster General Louis
DeJoy, including limiting extra
shifts, which Shapiro’s office said
could interfere with the timely
delivery of mail-in ballots, as
well as medical prescriptions,
paychecks and bills.

Shapiro, a
Democrat, pulled off a win in 2016 despite
Pennsylvania swinging red for
President Donald Trump. He
attributes his success to showing
up for communities that often
went ignored by Democrats and
believes that strategy will carry
him to victory again this year.

“I showed them a plan for
how I would fight for them. Now,
four years later, I’ve gone back
to those communities, those
forgotten communities, many
times and delivered real results:
money back for consumers,
drug dealers off the streets,
rights protected,” he said.

Shapiro named tackling the
opioid crisis, climate change,
gun violence, threats to civil
rights and the coronavirus
pandemic as some of his prior-
ities for a new term.

“I talk to moms who’ve lost
their sons to an opioid overdose,
who are included in my conver-
sations about how we’re holding
the pharmaceutical executives
accountable for their role in
manufacturing the opioid crisis.

I’m talking to parents in rural
Southwestern Pennsylvania
who couldn’t put their children
in the bathtub because fracking
companies had poisoned their
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water and it wasn’t safe for their
children to bathe or drink. I talk
to grandmas in Philadelphia
who lost their grandchildren to
guns. And I’ve worked hard for
all of these individuals who are
struggling,” he said.

He also has an eye on rising
anti-Semitism and hate crimes
in the state. Shapiro has been
subject to anti-Semitic slurs
and attacks throughout his
tenure, but said he was more
concerned about the impact
of hate crimes on his constit-
uents. He cited the shooting
at the Tree of Life synagogue
building in Pittsburgh as an
example of the dangers of
unchecked hate speech.

“That’s one of the reasons why
we started a civil rights division
— in order to protect all people,
no matter what they look like, or
where they come from, or who
they love or who they pray to,”
he said. “We’ve aggressively tried
to combat racism and anti-Sem-
itism, not only through making
arrests and filing lawsuits, but
by trying to tamp down on the
hate speech that exists in our
community.” Shapiro’s opponent, Repub-
lican Heather Heidelbaugh, is
a trial lawyer who previously
served on the Allegheny County
Council as an at-large member.

Her platform also includes
tackling the opioid crisis, as
well as decriminalizing the
actions of the mentally ill.

“I want to devote a consid-
erable amount of time to trying
to tackle that as a societal
issue,” she said.

She has criticized Shapiro for
creating units dedicated to impact
litigation and favors a more
restrained role for the office.

“That sort of unit is not
outlined in the Commonwealth
Attorneys Act,” she said. “So
the question is whether you
want to devote your resources
to suing the federal govern-
ment because you disagree
with the policies, or whether
you’re going to use the
resources to fight crime here
Pennsylvania Attorney General
Josh Shapiro
Courtesy of Democratic Attorneys
General Association
in Pennsylvania, to handle
cases that are referred to the
Attorney General’s Office from
a district attorney.”
Shapiro wants to think bigger.

“That demonstrates a
complete lack of understanding
of our laws here in Pennsylvania,
and what the people of
Pennsylvania really need from
their leaders,” he said. “They
need someone who’s willing
to fight for them, defend their
rights, not someone who’s going
to support special interests and
limit the role of the Office of
Attorney General.”
Terry Madonna, professor
of public affairs and director
of the Franklin and Marshall
College Poll, said Shapiro has
the wind at his back for several
reasons, including his appeal in
populous Philadelphia suburbs
that have gone Democratic in
the past several elections and
his time traveling the state.

“He’s advantaged by the fact
that he understands and knows
the state quite well. Voters
tend to know him because of
the service, and he’s been very
high-profile,” he said. “He’s been
going around the state doing
talks and has not been confined
to the capital in Harrisburg, and
that’s very important.” l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



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