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Reader Poll: Will Shapiro Run for AG?

Josh ShapiroSeveral Democrats are vying to be the next Attorney General.

So far Stephen Zappala, John Morganelli, Jack Stollsteimer and Dave Fawcett have already thrown their hats into the ring.

Meanwhile, thanks to the withdrawal of Todd Stephens, John Rafferty is the only GOP contender at the moment.

The biggest unanswered question, however, is what Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro will choose to do. Observers believe Shapiro is just weeks away from declaring but it is always possible that the Montco native pulls back and decides not to run or to seek some other office in the future.

Either way, he’ll have to decide soon.

Until then, we leave the question up to you.

Will Josh Shapiro Run for Attorney General in 2016?


  • Yes (55%)
  • No (45%)

Total Voters: 574

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28 Responses

  1. Jim J. Welcome aboard. The truth will come out only if the Zappala gang can’t hide it, change it or fix it. Old man Zap made a statement under oath that he didn’t know where his son, Greg “cash for kids” worked while he had been going to law school. In fact, he was working for Godfather Zap’s brother in the investment banking business and they spoke to each other every day. The truth, for a Zappala is only a commodity that can be bargained away for something else.Leon should win his civil suit unless it gets fixed against him, not uncommon in the wild Western District of Pa.

  2. Josh Shapiro for AG would be the same mistake — even worse — than Kane for AG. He has absolutely no prosecutorial experience, where he has to make the final call on criminal charges. He does not know the intricacies of prosecuting (which is more than simply reading the Crimes Code, i.e. being involved with PCCD) He is not and will not be a prosecutor first. He is clearly a politician looking for his next meal at the trough. Have we not learned our lesson from electing another person AG, who had limited prosecutorial experience?? THE AGs OFFICE SHOULD NOT BE A POLITICAL OFFICE!!

  3. Rollo – You need to re-think that. The criminal trial was an embarrassment for Zapalla. His ADA got smoked and Ford was exonerated. The civil trial will be much worse. The truth will come out. And it won’t be good for Zapalla. In his run for AG, he will surely be asked about the “Report” he tried to bury. He will surely be asked why he was in such a rush to arrest a paralyzed kid. The investigation was not even close to being complete when Zapalla decided to charge the kid.

  4. Leon Ford was left hanging out to dry with little help from Pittsburgh’s “Black Leadership”. Why?because many of the “leaders” have been bought off by the Bazzano-Zappala-Porter mafia. All Stevie had to say at the Leon Ford news conference was: “I won ‘t dignify that question with an answer”. Then, the sissy buggered off and NO ONE challenged him to explain himself. The Pgh. Media and the black leaders gave him a good leaving alone and the black hand moved on, launching it’s war on women. In the dust, Leon is now just a crippled kid with a lawsuit, more debris left in the wake of mafia business as usual.

  5. Rollo – You need to take a loo at the Leon Ford case. The kid gets paralyzed by Police who mistake him for someone else. The Police lie about it and Zappala arrests the paralyzed kid – who was unarmed when Police shot him. Then the video comes out and it is clear the Police lied. They also failed to wear their microphones as directed by Police Directives. When a Committee of Senior Police Officials write a report critical of the Officer that shot Mr. Ford, Zappala tried to deep-six it. The defense had to file numerous motions to get Zappala to turn it over – even though out is Brady material and must be turned over under the law. Bottom line – Zappala tried to help the Police cover-up their shooting an unarmed kid.

  6. You forget former Montco DA Bruce Castor (a Republican) is leaving politics and has no great love for his party’s leadership. He has already said he does not think a Republican can ever win statewide again. He and Shapiro have a very friendly professional relationship. It will not take long for the Cosby case to implode on newly minted DA Kevin Steele, probably a matter of months if not weeks, and Castor’s judgment will be vindicated. I can see a scenario where if Castor thinks the GOP establishment endorsed an Asher-toady, that Castor weighs in on Shapiro’s side. In SEPA, that will give Shapiro all the prosecution credibility he will need. Throw in Gov. Wolf and Chairman Groen, plenty of money, and a crowed field, Shapiro will win a primary.

  7. Shapiro’s credentials are infinitely better than Junior Zap when he was appointed Allegheny D.A. With the muscle of his daddy, Godfather Zap and Uncle Charlie. Junior only knew his way around the courthouse by virtue of a political appointment as a property tax reviewer (read fixer). As the D.A., he did two things:1. Punish his families enemies and 2. Hire his relative Chuckie Porter ( son of convicted mob boss and fellow rat, Chuckie, senior,, as a legal advisor to the D. a.’s office at a quarter million a year. (source: Cyril Wecht discovery).The Bazzano-Zappala-Porter mafia always goes after government money because it has become the family business. That’s why Morgan Stanley fired brother Greg (cash for kids) when his credit swaps that cost school districts million became too close to defend. Don’t confuse Shapiro with Shapp. There are no mafia connections here.

  8. Montco PA Dem-

    Josh’s allies, Wolf and Marcel, are good allies to have. No question about it.

    However, Jim Burn deserves more credit for the Supreme Court sweep, which was in the bag BEFORE Marcel took over in Sept. The candidates were selected and well funded before the switch-over, and the GOP was under-funded with weak candidates.

    Unfortunately, none of Josh’s allies can give him even the minimal courtroom experience voters want in an A.G..

    I do fully expect them to game the system, twist arms, cajole, promote, etc. to help Josh get the state committee endorsement.

    Someone else here suggested that Marcel might try to avoid an endorsement vote, if it looks like Josh wouldn’t win it, or play for open primary.

    Given the field, my guess is that it would be hard for any candidate to make the endorsement threshold.

    I’m still hoping Josh will come to his senses and avoid running for this particular office. It strikes me as a bad career move, that will kill Josh’s forward momentum and future prospects. I’d fully support Josh in a run for US Senate or Governor, but I can’t encourage a run for Attorney General.

  9. The fact is that Josh will have two powerful allies in this race — Wolf has already been mentioned, but maybe even more important is Marcel Groen. Marcel set the bar high with the Supreme Court sweep but my guess is that he really wants to see Shapiro win this AG race and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. There may be some interesting days ahead for the Dem State Committee.

  10. Given the comments, maybe there should be another poll:

    Should Josh run? yes/no

    or

    Is Josh qualified for A.G.? yes/no

    I think those results might be more interesting/lively than predicting whether or not Josh will run.

  11. Well – “Zap” better not expect the Black vote in Philly. What he did to that kid in Pittsburgh was almost as bad as what the cop who shot him did. The facts of the Leon Ford case will come out. And it will doom “Zap”‘s AG run.

  12. snap will gt slaughtered trying to run for AG without having been a real lawyer. and don’t discount the impact of Zap family money and ties in this race. big steve Zap’s leftover campaign money and contacts from being on the supreme court.. greg zap’s $$$$ from running Juvy homes for kids .. shopping centers, commercial real estate– casinos… little steve can tap it all. and his firm’s actually been defense counsel for a lot of crooks and hoodlums before little steve put on white gloves to get the coveted and politically charged appointment by judges in allegheny county for allegheny county DA.. winning out over a number of much more qualified actual criminal prosecutors. query how much big steve was able to influence that unusual appointment , and zap family influence would be a factor in the AG race.. don’t forget the ties between the zaps and fallen philly king crook vince fumo. i am sure vince will want to repay favors .

  13. Not like me to agree with Dave. But, he’s 100% right. Josh may get in the race to raise more money. He has about 1.4 million in his coffer now. So he may have a slight advantage on fund raising. My suggestion is stand down. Your going to be unhappy with the end result.

  14. If Josh Shapiro runs for Attorney General by winning the primary and the general election. I think for Former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies or Former Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz one of them will most likely going to be his successor as Montgomery County Commissioner in 2017 and as Valerie Arkoosh’s new running mate and team leader by then. If that happens for Montgomery County Commission will have 2 Democratic Women joining the bench.

  15. Article and interview with Jack Stollsteimer:

    wesa.fm/post/attorney-generals-office-seen-next-step-stollsteimer

  16. He needs to get in or get out… NOW, before the Bazzano-Zappala-Porter mafia celebrates their family holiday on February 2nd: “Rodent Day.” Allowing the rats to take over a sinking ship won’t save the ship.

  17. Diano,

    Oh, THAT Senate seat. Yeah, he would have been more qualified for that seat than AG.

  18. jjcnpa-

    If Wolf gets off his ass, and do what he should have done in 2014: push hard to help the Dem St. Leg/Sen candidates

    then he won’t suffer as much for the rest of his term. If he could actually get a Dem majority at some point, he might actually enjoy the job.

  19. Wolf may not run for re-election (can he appear to be more unhappy and dis-interested?) and Josh may be waiting for that.

  20. Scranton Sucks

    Josh was heavily recruited to run against Sestak, but finally declined.

    The odd thing is that Josh had done more than hint he was interested in Senate.

    Now, he had conducted a poll (even though he hasn’t been sworn in yet for Montco commissioner).

    He’s going to get hammered in a primary about his lack of courtroom experience.

  21. I hope he does run. Zappala covered up for Police who illegally stopped and shot an unarmed Black kid in Pittsburgh. The kid’s name is Leon Ford. The Police mistook him for someone else, cursed at him, threatened him, and – ultimately – shot him 5 times. Then, as he lay paralyzed, Zappala arrested him. Even though it was clear from the video that the Officer’s story about what happened was false.

  22. Shapiro will get destroyed for AG. You can’t go from NEVER practicing law a day in your adult life to being the state’s top prosecutor.

  23. The answer is NO! Shapiro has pusillanimous tendencies and everyone in the state knows it! Montco doesn’t help anyone until the race has already been won. Having Governor Wolf appoint you to a made up crime commission because he never tried a case in court is transparent and lame. Josh isn’t qualified to run for AG SENATE OR GOVERNOR. He will get smoked statewide that’s how much he’s liked and he knows it

  24. He has great legislative and executive experience, but no prosecutorial experience … basically any other elected position in PA would be better for him.

  25. There was a ton of hype about Josh running for Senate (which he was well qualified for given his prior legislative experience), but Josh pulled back from that, despite being heavily courted by the DSCC.

    The common belief is that Josh wants to be Gov, and that A.G. is merely a stepping stone.

    But, to me, Josh’s experience running Montco is far more relevant for being Gov than the A.G. route.

    Looking at the field:
    Fawcett was a Republican and has no relevant experience
    Morganelli has experience as a DA
    Stollsteimer has experience as a Federal prosecutor
    Zappala is also a DA and from the second largest county

    This seems a tough field for Josh to run against.

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    Total Voters: 30

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