Inspections department. She was also chief of the citys Public Nuisance Task force. She now has a private law practice. Krasner, originally from st. Louis, has lived in philadelphia for 30 years. After graduating from the university of chicago and stanford law school, krasner worked as a public defender in philadelphia for 5 years. For the past 25, hes been a civil rights and criminal defense attorney with his own private practice in center city. The current District Attorney, kelley hodges, is finishing out the term of former da Seth Williams. A federal judge recently sentenced williams to 5 years in prison for bribery and corruption. He admitted to using his position to help friends and business contacts who gave him gifts, and he admitted to stealing his mothers money meant to pay for her nursing care. The candidates are joining me this morning ahead of the election on tuesday. Thank you both for being with us. Beth grossman thank you very much, nice to be here. Rosemary so, first question, how will you restore trust and integrity to the office of District Attorney, given that the previous District Attorney is now serving time behind bars . Beth well, i think, you know, you lead by example. So, what the da has to do is establish a code of ethics for the office, including prosecutors, support staff, and police personnel. And i also, if elected, will be the da who is out there as many nights a week as possible, meeting with Different Community groups so they understand that there is a receptive da who cares about whats going on in the community and wants to listen to the public. Larry krasner first of all, i think that my opponents absolutely right about those factors, but its a bigger issue than that. We have to look at the issue of Institutional Corruption in different forms. And for example, when Seth Williams came in, there were only about 12 supervisors, and we now find theres about 59 supervisors. An awful lot of the offices resources are tied up in supervisors, who frankly seem to be doing less work than the trial lawyers who work hard every day. We have also had some pretty serious issues with civil Asset Forfeiture that, in my mind, suggests a level of Institutional Corruption, and all of that has to change. Rosemary you speak of civil Asset Forfeiture. You were involved in the Legal Process that takes peoples property away. Youve been criticized for peoples property when theybeing taken away when they werent committing a crime. Beth well this the fact is this, that the pennsylvania forfeiture act permits any proceeds, whether its house, real estate, cars, money to be taken from those involved with drug trafficking. And the story that never gets reported is that neighbors suffer in neighborhoods all over the city by living next to a drug house. Ive yet to find somebody who enjoys living next to a drug house. It decreases property values, crime goes up. And with regard to assets, you know, were in the middle of the biggest heroin and opioid crisis, and i fail to see why drug dealers should profit from pushing that poison. Rosemary we should mention that this, of course, was related to your work as being a part of the citys nuisance task force when you were chief of staff. Beth right, which wasin the das, i was chief of the Public Nuisance Task force, and it was an Outstanding Program because we worked with neighbors all throughout the city, dealing with issues such as nuisance bars, violent bars, scattering rubbish, abandoned lots, dangerous properties, bad outofstate landlords. So, we established that the das office can actually be a resource for neighbors besides what we do every day in court. And if elected, i want to have a very, very Strong Community engagement unit so there is somebody advocating for neighborhoods as well. Rosemary you mentioned the opioid crisis. That is affecting the country, our region, certainly the city. Mr. Krasner, this goes to you. In terms of treatment, we know that, from the experts, this is the way to curb the crisis. So, how do you make sure that addicts are spending time in Treatment Facilities and not spending time behind bars . Larry well, first of all, you change the culture of the das office, which for my 30 yearsand ive been a court 4 to 5 days a week for 30 years. For my 30 years, their solution, excuse me, to addiction has been to put people in a jail cell at 42,000 a year, rather than take lesser resources that would be necessary to actually treat the addiction. Theres a fundamental problem with the culture of the das office, there has been for a long time. And that problem is that they try to maximize charges against people, maximize arrests, maximize convictions, and maximize years. And it is a failed culture, it is a failed philosophy that has made us less safe and has also made society less just. Rosemary you make it sounds as though if you were elected, you might clean house immediately. Larry well, theres some House Cleaning to do. But lets understand what that means. Every time a new District Attorney comes in, there is some turnover. When josh shapiro become the attorney general in pennsylvania, an office that is basically equal to the size of the philadelphia das office, he dismissed, one way or another, 42 attorneys and a total of 62 people. Thats normal. When ed mandell came in as District Attorney, he made every Single Person in the office submit a resignation, and then many of them went on to do other things. This is normal, this is what is done. So, there will be some House Cleaning to do, but having said that, theres also a ton of really great prosecutors in that office ive known personally for years, tried cases with for years, who are in my cell phone, who are very close to me, and i think that we can do really good work together. Rosemary miss grossman, your response . Beth well, i think we have to look at, you know, talking about theiri do agree that there are too many supervisors. You have to use your resources as best that you can with a limited budget, but there are many, many extraordinary, talented people there with whom ive had the pleasure of calling my colleagues. But you also want to look and see, you know, whos a worker, who hasnt been . Do things need to be streamlined and cut out . And do you want to hire new people, younger folks who have fresh ideas. I think thats very important to prevent institutional staleness. But going to back to a point that my opponent said, over the past several years, the das office has actually become much more collaborative with the public defenders office, with the court system, and probation and parole, with a boatload of diversion programs that allow people who have gotten into trouble, maybe first or second time, to actually get themselves together, whether its through treatment, drug treatment, Mental Health treatment, job training, ged. And many of these programs actually have expungement eligibility, so its kind of an investment. If you get somebody back on track, theres less chance that he or she may go on to recidivate, or commit more serious crimes. So, it has changed over the past several years. I will acknowledge that Seth Williams had done some good things in the das office, and that has to be acknowledged. Rosemary so, thats something you support. Beth i absolutely support. You know, you focus on violent criminals, you have to. But if there is a way to keep people, you know, from graduating to more serious crimes, then i would rather give people a second chance, go on, get themselves together. And hopefully, as i mean it with the most respectful way, never see you again. Rosemary homicides are up in the city of philadelphia. How do you prevent violent crime, deadly violent crime, and work with the Police Department . Beth i think well, first of all, the das office is really about working collaboratively, and you need relationships. You need good working relationships with our Law Enforcement partners, which includes the Police Department, both local, state, and federal, and as well as with atf and the fbi. And with regard to gun violence, its a couple things. I think you really have to go after and prosecute gun crimes, including illegal possession of gun crimes, and really focus and sentence on them. You need to focus onthe das office has a Gun Violence Task force, which deals with straw purposespurchases, where somebody who has no record goes in and purchases a gun for somebody who has, you know, a criminal record and cant purchase. And are there guns stores where youre starting to see a large amount of straw purchases, and does that bear looking into . As well as i would actually also like to do a Community Outreach for educating the community through meetings where Proper Storage of guns in houses because a lot of guns are stolen. Rosemary mr. Krasner, how would you curb the homicide rate in philadelphia . Larry well, as you know, theres a longterm and a shortterm approach. The shortterm approach has to include things that other das have not been willing to do for political reasons. We have to go after dirty gun shops. Ive been going after dirty gun shops in one way or another for a very long time, but thats not something this office have ever done. They always want to talk about going after individuals, but not gun shops that engage in straw purchases, or that permit them to occur. Theres a 48 hour reporting rule, which is out there right now, which Seth Williams did not enforce that says if youre going to claim that your gun disappeared due to loss or theft, you have to report it within 48 hours. Its very important because when we find someone whos been shot to death, and we trace a crime gun to that killing, what we find out over and over is that a, quote, legitimate purchaser, unquote, is claiming that it disappeared years ago and they just didnt report it. We have to crack down on that. But obviously, the longterm solution, and we all know this from the science around it, is that when you bankrupt your schools to fill your jails, when you eliminate your Public Education to become the most incarcerated of the ten largest cities in the united states, thats a failing report card. We need, in the long run, to shift our resources away from jail and into things that actually reduce crime. Rosemary dont go away because we will be back in just a few moments with the candidates for philadelphia District Attorney. As i mentioned, later, philadelphia mayor jim kenney wants to bring control of philadelphia schools back to the city. We will discuss how it could impact your children and the school in your neighborhood. For philadelphia District Attorney. The candidates are republican Beth Grossman and democrat larry krasner, and they continue to join us to resume the discussion. Thank you again for being with us. Lets talk about voter turnout on tuesday. Obviously, it is a nonpresident ial election year. In the city of philadelphia, democratsregistered democrats outnumber republicans youre shaking your head yes, i know im not the first person to tell you this. Outnumber republicans i think its Something Like seven to one. In terms of getting your voters out, i mean, how do you do that . Beth well, i think we have a great outreach team. Ive spent time since the summer getting out and meeting people, and the amazing thing is ive gotten a positive response from everybody, republicans, independents, libertarians, democrats. People have really given me the privilege of their time, and i think that this is a race about experience and qualifications, and people understand my 21 and a half years of experience as a prosecutor. Rosemary mr. Krasner, are you concerned at all that, given what did happen one year ago, groups in the city that were expected to turn out didnt turn out . Are you concerned for your base . Larry no, i mean, honestly i hope everybody votes. I hope every democrat, every republican turns out. This is a democracy, people should go and vote for what they believe in. But no, im not concerned, i feel like we have a very supportive coalition of many different groups who are interested in the issues. Not really interested in me, but theyre interested in the issues, and thats what matters. I feel like we have a movement, and i think theyll turn out. Rosemary one of the issues thats gaining National Attention is the sanctuary city status of philadelphia. The mayor has vowed that the city will stay a sanctuary city. Whats your response to that . How do you work with the mayor if you dont agree with that . Beth look, i will always work with the mayor. Its not something that i agree with. You know, when you take an oath as the District Attorney, youre there to uphold the law, whether its federal, state, local. You know, and what i will make clear with regard to that is the das office always champions the rights of victims and survivors of crime, and somebodys residency status doesnt matter. Nobody should be a victim of crime. What i dont want to see is the city lose federal funding for various crime initiatives, that concerns me. Rosemary would you work with federal authorities who are looking for people that maybe the das office has prosecuted . Larry so, this city needs to stay a sanctuary city. If you really believe in victims rights, then let me tell you what you dont want. You dont want people who are have no legal status in the us, but are afraid to call the police when theyre robbed, or when theyre attacked, or when theyre raped because they know that the process of calling the police is going to get them deported. And that is going on right now, its going on in norristown, and its going on in other locations. When you create a group of people who cannot engage the police for their protection, they cannot engage the da for their protection, whether its sex workers or it is people with undocumented status, you are not protecting victims at all, youre exposing them. Beth i have to disagree with that. In my 21 years in the das office, we have never asked or inquired of a victims status, a witnesses status, any documentation that ice has access to through the courts system. The first judicial district does not pertain or provide any victim witness information. So, and with regard to sex traffickers, theres actually now something in the statute for Human Trafficking which allows Law Enforcement to help those victims get the proper documentation they need to stay in the country because its you know, as the time has gone over the years, weve now realized that prostitution isnt really a crime, its really a Human Trafficking thing. So, the viewpoint of that has really changed. Rosemary i wonder though if its the message too to people in the community, that philadelphia is or is not a sanctuary city. And you are being counted on to come forward if you see crime, witness crime, et cetera. I wonder if its the perception of that and the message thats being sent to people who live in the city. Beth it may be, but people are always free to go to the police and report, and the das office. And peoplethe public needs to know that the das office does not enforce ice regulations, that is not our role. We do not prosecute, we do not go after immigration stuff, that is not what we do. We prosecute the laws, the criminal laws in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. Larry i mean, thats nice rhetoric, but the reality is i deal with clients all the time who are terrified to call the police when theyre victims of crime, and its due in part to the rhetoric around sanctuary cities. So, let me be real clear, i support sanctuary cities and i support the mayors position. Rosemary do you have a final word on this . Beth no, i stand firm. A prosecutor is to uphold the oath of office, but we will always treat victims and witnesses of crime with the respect that they deserve. Rosemary well end it there. Republican Beth Grossman, democrat larry krasner, our candidates for philadelphia District Attorney, thank you for being with us. Both thank you. Rosemary coming up next on nbc10 issue, philadelphia mayor jim kenney joins us in studio to make his pitch for picking his own school board and giving the Current SchoolReform Commission the heaveho. Hes a husband, father, veteran. But most of all, hes a fighter. Chris brown has never been afraid to take on the big fights. Thats why he stood up to republicans and democrats alike to fight the north jersey casinos and the takeover of atlantic city. Chris brown is fighting to protect jobs in our region. A true champion for the working men and women of atlantic county. On november 7th, lets keep him fighting for us. Chris brown for state senate, hes on our side. This week to seize control of the citys struggling schools. The mayor wants to put an end to the School Reform commission and replace it with a board of his choosing. The mayor says his office will take responsibility to make sure the schools are funded properly. Joining me now is philadelphia mayor jim kenney, thanks for being with us. Jim its my pleasure. Rosemary so, first explain why an appointed school board by you, the mayor, is better than whats in place right now . Jim its all about accountability. I mean, for many, many years, 15 years now, people have been pointing fingers at each other. City pointing fingers at the state legislature, state legis