SUN asked some candidates from the Congressional, State Representatives & Attorney General primary races their position on the issues and who they are endorsing for President:
By SUN Editor Monica Peters
Congressman Chaka Fattah
Congressman Chaka Fattah, 2nd Congressional District (Incumbent)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty in your district?
CF: I’ve spent my entire career fighting to improve the life chances of children and working families–from funding programs that helped poor communities to get to their first well-paying job, to saving the homes of thousands of Pennsylvanians and millions across the country. I’ve pushed Congress to invest in youth mentoring programs and advocated for the Second Chance Act – ensuring that even if someone gets off the right path that when they leave the criminal justice system they can begin again with their lives in front of them.
SUN: Do you support stop-and-frisk?
CF: No, I do not support stop-and-frisk. That said, stop-and-frisk is a city government issue not a Federal issue. However, I am in support of strategies that will help reduce violence in our communities. Remember, I was publicly against it even while groups around the country on both sides of the political spectrum argued for it. I even took on the Philadelphia Inquirer on this issue and often stood alone in opposition to a police that would criminalize our neighborhoods.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
CF: Yes, I support Black Lives Matter. I applaud those actively involved in the Black Lives Matter movement.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them if elected?
CF: Rebuilding our schools, generated career training opportunities, protecting programs that empower our youth to meet their full potential. This is why every labor union or group that protects the interest of workers or poor families has endorsed my campaign.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
CF: Hillary Clinton
Rep. Dwight Evans
Rep. Dwight Evans, 2nd Congressional District (D)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty in your district?
DE: We need to have co-operation between the public, private and non-profit sectors to address poverty. We also need to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, so the jobs that people seek out can actually support them and their families.
SUN: Do you support stop-and-frisk?
DE: No, I believe that community-centered policing is an integral part of vibrant communities. It is time for Congress to support the kind of policing programs that both reduce crime and promote cities’ quality of life and economic growth.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
DE: Yes, the Black Lives Matter has brought attention and focus to issues like poverty, racism, criminal justice reform and other issues that African-Americans have lived with for too long. I will advocate and push for solutions to these and other issues.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them if elected?
DE: Poverty, education and the rebuilding of our neighborhoods are some of the pressing concerns. The federal government needs to work with all levels of government to address these issues. I believe that my leadership and track record of finding solutions speaks to these issues. I will work in Congress to pass legislation that addresses these and other issues from day one.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
DE: Hillary Clinton
Brian Gordon
Brian Gordon 2d Congressional District (D)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty in your district?
BG: Bring trade education, music, art, as well as quality pre-college studies to the public schools. Link public schools to unions and employers so children have a clear path to success. Find every employer willing to hire prisoners and match returning citizens with willing employers. Create a jobs program for unemployed adults to plant trees, rebuild parks, schools, and recreation centers. Change trade policy to require minimum labor and environmental standards to rebuild American manufacturing jobs.
SUN: Do you support stop-and-frisk?
BG: No Stop and frisk is unnecessary for quality policing and is unconstitutional. Waiting and observing before acting will allow police assess innocence or guilt before acting. Police must have a reasonable suspicion clearly before any stop may occur.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
BG: Yes. As a civil rights lawyer who has handled many use of force cases, I am a strong advocate for the reasonable and lawful use of force in every encounter between civilians and police. I support community policing. I support putting operations manuals on line so citizens cans fully their rights and responsibilities when dealing with the police. I support training for every police officer in hidden bias and policing without racial bias.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them if elected?
BG: Poverty, violence, a broken school district and the need for jobs. We need to gear public education to prepare children for jobs in our region. We need to promote our great industries which are medical and healthcare; tourism, history, hotel, restaurant, art and museums; the port and shipbuilding. We need trade policy designed to return manufacturing jobs to Philadelphia.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
BG: Hillary Clinton for President but has taken a few of Bernie Sanders policy pieces like a penny tax on every Wall Street trade to support fully funding public school education for everyone within the 2nd Congressional District.
Dan Muroff
Dan Muroff 2d Congressional District (D)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty in your district?
DM: The poverty in the 2nd Congressional district is unacceptable. I believe to tackle poverty we must commit ourselves to tackling issues of education, public safety, and living wage employment. I strongly support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and then indexing it to inflation.
SUN: Do you support stop-n-frisk?
DM: I thought the practice was to have been terminated this year, but it’s apparently continuing. The ACLU found that the Philadelphia police continue to make racially-biased stops and frisks in violation of the 2011 consent decree. Last year, 42 percent of frisks were conducted without a valid reason. This is simply an assault on liberty, primarily directed at African Americans, and it must end.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
DM: Absolutely, yes. I was troubled last year when white people I respect in public office responded to the Black Lives Matter movement with suggestions that all lives matter. Of course, all lives do matter, but to dismiss the Black Lives Matter movement is either racially tone deaf, or something worse. African-Americans have lost their liberty, and the Black Lives Matter movement is a smart effort to raise awareness and fight for liberty.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them?
DM: I have committed much of my attention in my campaign to tackling gun violence. This is certainly not the only challenge facing this district, but incidents of gun violence and gun crimes have spiked this last year, so it’s a troubling trend. I have a six-point plan of reasonable legislative measures to tackle gun violence. If elected, I will fight hard to get my plan enacted into law.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
DM: Hillary Clinton. But, Bernie Sanders has added a lot of conversation to the debate.
State Rep.
Tonyelle Cook-Artis
State Rep. Tonyelle Cook-Artis 200th Legislative District (D)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty in your district?
TCA: Poverty alleviation begins with a fair and equitable funding formula for schools. Rectifying education inequality will be the hallmark of my legislative agenda.
SUN: Do you support stop-and-frisk?
TCA: No. Stop and Frisk has led to an influx of systematic profiling of minorities- particularly African-American and Latino men. Furthermore, only a fraction of stop and frisks have led to arrests and of those arrests, only a few have resulted in confiscation of a firearm as the policy intended.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
TCA: Yes. We must begin to address national concerns about race and particularly how structural mechanisms serve to ostracize African-Americans from fundamental rights and freedom. We be able to have thoughtful, and productive dialogue on how to improve the quality of life for Black Americans. I’m hopeful that we can.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them if elected?
TCA: There are three issues that are at the top of my agenda of issues that affect the district:
1) Education – I will seek to draw support for an equitable funding formula for our schools and to restore the cuts to the education system in programming such as arts/recreation and sports.
2) Public Safety – I will seek to address the proliferation of illegal firearms that end up in the hands our youth by supporting stronger penalties for straw purchasers and instituting a universal background check.
3) Economic Development – I will seek resources that serve to eliminate blight of our commercial corridors and will seek ways to incentivize the hiring of district’s residents into our neighborhood businesses.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
TCA: Hillary Clinton
Chris Rabb (Photo: John S and James L Knight Foundation)
Chris Rabb 200th Legislative District (D)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty in your district?
CR: My approach to addressing poverty in my district is by fighting for full and fair funding for our public schools. My short- and mid-term approach to addressing poverty is helping new and existing businesses to create new local jobs that offer a living wage.
SUN: Do you support stop-and-frisk?
CR: No. This policing tactic should end immediately — unless of course they impose the same practice as frequently on white Philadelphians as they do on Black and Latino Philadelphians.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
CR: Yes. The BLM movement is an invaluable form of nonviolent social protest that has its place in a society whose current racial battlefront requires different tactics than what was effective during the Civil Rights era.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them if elected?
CR: Education and public safety are of critical importance to my district, as they are to most Black urban communities across the city, state and country. As a fifth-generation educator, I know that there’s no better collective investment we can make than high quality education.
That education must begin with supporting universal pre-K on up to post-secondary schooling. the single best antidote to persistent crime.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
CR: Leaning towards Bernie.
Stephen Zappala
Stephen Zappala: Pennsylvania Attorney General (D)
SUN: What are your specific plans to address poverty?
SZ: As Attorney General, I will address poverty the same way I have addressed it in Allegheny County where I have served as District Attorney the past 18 years; hold public officials and corporations accountable when they enrich themselves and violate the law taking tax dollars away from programs that help people in need; hold slum lords accountable as I have in Allegheny County when they fail to maintain their properties, exploit their tenants and allow crime to make their properties unlivable; crack down on scammers who rip-off the elderly, the disabled and people who are our most vulnerable. I will work for a criminal justice system that gives people back their lives by diverting non-violent criminals to treatment and rehabilitation instead of incarceration and work to make record expungement more accessible. I will enforce the constitutional rights of our citizens to clean air and water and prevent poorer communities from becoming dumping grounds for companies that don’t respect our environmental standards.
SUN: Do you support stop-and-frisk?
SZ: I do not support stop-n-frisk. In Allegheny County, I have worked with chiefs of police to create protocols that prevent racial profiling and ensures all stops and detainments are for reasonable suspicion and provide strict rules for use of force.
SUN: Do you support Black Lives Matter?
SZ: Yes. As a District Attorney I have worked hard to build a system of conviction integrity that does everything we can to make sure we get things right on the front end so we prevent wrongfully charging, arresting and convicting someone for crimes they did not commit. I was one of the first District Attorney’s in Pennsylvania to have video cameras installed in police cars and interrogation rooms. More recently I have worked to put body cameras on 800 Pittsburgh police officers. I put in place, traffic stop protocols to curb racial profiling. I do not tolerate police officers who abuse their authority and hold them to the highest standards of accountability. That is why the police unions have endorsed my opponents and not me. To this day, I am the only DA in Pennsylvania that has convicted an on-duty, uniformed police officer of a shooting homicide. To me, Black Lives Matter.
SUN: What are some of the pressing issues that you feel are affecting your district? And, how do you plan to address them if elected?
SZ: I believe everyone is entitled to the same rights under that law. I am going to bring back the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General’s office. The Attorney General needs to be a lawyer for the people and do for them what they can’t do for themselves in matters of civil rights.
SUN: Which candidate are you supporting for the Pennsylvania Presidential primary?
SZ: Supported President Obama, last two elections. Will support whoever democratic nominee is.
*Josh Shapiro, Democratic candidate for Attorney General, did not respond to the SUN’s request for an interview.
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