After securing the Republican nomination for Attorney General, State Senator John Rafferty is issuing a challenge for his Democratic opponent in the fall, Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro.
Rafferty called on Shapiro to join him in signing a petition stating that whoever wins the AG race will not seek higher office later on.
He reasons that the next Attorney General ought to have a “laser focus” on correcting the scandals of the past four years.
“Today, I challenged my opponent, Josh Shapiro, to join me in pledging to take politics out of the AG’s office by promising not to seek higher office,” Rafferty stated. “We cannot afford to allow the Office of Attorney General to be used by candidates who simply see it as a stepping-stone for the Governor’s mansion.”
Shapiro is considered a rising star within the PA Democratic Party. In fact, Democratic leadership had wanted Shapiro to run for the Senate but he passed in his bid to become the next Attorney General.
Since he is on good graces with party leadership, it seems unlikely that he would want to limit his career by ruling out any future runs for office.
“Josh already said at a public forum that he’d serve out a full term as Attorney General; Pennsylvanians should know that while Josh’s pledge is to take on the heroin epidemic, stand up for consumers against special interests and bring integrity to our justice system — Mr. Rafferty’s pledge to voters is a political stunt,” Radosevich told PoliticsPA.
Radosevich also pointed out that in a debate that occurred on April 13th of this year, Shapiro stated that if he were elected he would serve a full term.
This is only the first of what is sure to be many disputes the two candidates will have as they seek to replace the embattled current Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
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56 Responses
Central Pa Dem = cross-dresser = SpongeBob = homo-troll
HaHaHa or Pat or your real name Brett. Is it true you tried to rat out your friends
And you cried when Fina said he wasn’t interested and then Fina convicted you
Put you in jail where you were a big mans bride. Fina still laughs at you.
HaHaHa-
I wrote in Kane. None of them were my guy.
Rafferty needs to challenge his face to not look so round and pudgy. This pledge idea makes him look like an even bigger loser.
DD – You still sore because your guy got trounced by Shapiro?
Truthhurts-
You’re wrong. He accidentally walked in once before looking for a bathroom.
Bob – Don’t fall for it!! The pathetic stalker troll (SpongeRETARD) is just posting as “Truthhurts” now. Best to ignore him. He is a FOXtard loser.
DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS
Bob Guzzardi loves him some Josh Shapiro. I guess PA is lucky Guzzardi isn’t even smart enough to qualify for the ballot. Bob – How is the gym business?
Rafferty can’t hide the fact that he has no lips. It is right there in the photos. Rafferty was a prosecutor for a cup of coffee, right? Was it in the ’70s?
I am still waiting for someone to answer these questions.
Josh can’t hide the fact that the first time he stepped into a courtroom was to get the pictures taken for his AG race.
Still waiting for someone to challenge this statement…
Rafferty looks like he is already 70. He’s going to get smoked by Shapiro.
FWIW John Raffery is 63, and would be bordering on 72 (his birthday is in February) after 8 years as AG. Shapiro would only be 50. I get what Rafferty’s going for, but it would be stupid pledge to begin with, considering Shapiro is so young and could serve 8 years as AG and then still have a long time to consider other offices if he so chose.
This makes no sense to me and seems a waste of time on both ends. The only advantage under being gained by this is Rafferty making Shapiro seem like a weasel. I mean show me a politician who has not once ounce of ambition and I’ll introduce you to God.
Hey David, why wouldn’t Wolf gonna second term? It’s only been a year. And he seemed to put a lot of effort just to get there.
Pledge??? Will Rafferty sign a pledge to uphold the law of the land (Roe v. Wade) when it comes to Womens Rights?
Wil Rafferty pledge to expose the rest of the sexists involved with the e-mail scandal?
This guy has nerve. Luckily – he won’t have any of the female vote.
Rafferty is also employed by a guy who received Porn-gate material. How’s that going to work? Has Rafferty signed a pledge to make public all the Porn-gate material that is on the OAG servers?
Josh Shapiro is no less qualified than John Rafferty.
John Rafferty is entwined with lobbyists Long & Nyquist, who are a cancer on the body politic of the Commonwealth.
Shapiro is qualified. He is smart. He gets things done. I am quite sure that there are lots of folks in Politics that would like to do even more for their Country … their State … or their towns.
I’m hoping the best people get the most important jobs. In this race, the best person for the job seems to be Josh Shapiro. Rafferty seems to realize this, too.
From Zak Bissell To John Rafferty I will support you with your challenge is to not run for a higher office for governor or US Senate in the feature then.
Shapiro wins this thing running away. And who cares if he makes a pledge not to run for governor. He raised $1million running for county commissioner by conning contributors into thinking that was the job he wanted. Hopefully Shapiro will have enough sense to hire Castor and others who know how to run the office. He can spend the next four years politicking for higher office.
Rafferty is running for attorney general. Shapiro is running for ‘almost Governor’.
Rafferty can’t hide the fact that he has no lips. It is right there in the photos. Rafferty was a prosecutor for a cup of coffee, right? Was it in the ’70s?
Josh can’t hide the fact that the first time he stepped into a courtroom was to get the pictures taken for his AG race.
“I want to be an attorney general when I grow up,” said no kid ever.
Has Frank Fina resigned yet?
LOL … Earlier, at 11:59, he was “Truthhurts” …. Then he changed his screen-names a few times, posted as other people and tried to return to “Truthhurts” screen-name…. but the idiot typed it differently at 12:47. Now he is “TruthHurts” with a capital “H” in the middle.
Moron.
Unmedicated-
My customers prefer my system to the sluggish, difficult and out-of-date VAN/VoteBuilder system. I had few nice wins against party endorsed/incumbents this primary, and hoping to flip a few races (or make them more competitive) in the Fall.
Actually, Stephanie did have enough signatures and the judge refused to let a dozen of her signers testify. He had told her they could testify once the initial count was concluded, as a rebuttal, so they didn’t have to come in or miss work unnecessarily. Then he lied and reneged on that once the count was done, claiming they should have testified sooner. The fix was in. I stand by my statement that she had 1,000 valid signatures.
Pat-
My point with Josh is that he started campaigning for AG, before he even got elected to his second term, and then “officially” announced a week after being sworn in.
Given that, he never should have run for a second term to begin with.
I supported Kane for AG, over Shapiro, Zapalla and Morgenelli.
Porter – you have my vote if you are running against Rafferty.
Truth hurts, RR?
I am joining John in pledging not to run for Governor, but I would be proud to join him in running for Lamest Politician Ever (of course, he’ll win in a landslide, but I believe democracy is best served by contested elections, so VOTE FOR ME!)
Before calling someone else a moron, consider that – what over a year later? – you’re STILL posting under numerous handles, hoping to convince a few dozen readers of a make-believe groundswell of support for those you like and opposition to those you don’t.
“Shapiro is literally the problem with our national government he has no desire to actually fix things and work with people he only cares what he gets out of it.”
You are clearly a clueless imbecile. And a troll. Talk to legislators that worked with Shapiro. He is known for getting things done – even known for reaching across the aisle to do so.
“corrupt pay for play county commissioner” – Prove it. Any moron can type the words.
Pat in no way did I say he worked for the federal government. I simply said he is the type of politican that is wrong with DC which by the way is where he would like to go. Also he is a corrupt pay for play county commissioner. Most importantly its very fun how when faced with facts you just like most of your peers act like toddlers who didnt get there way and scream and shout instead of actually acknowledging that you were wrong. I answered all of your questions Pat and did so kindly. I am not a Tea party supporter or flaming lib like you.
“works”
TrollBoy – I wasn’t asking you. I was asking David.
The fact that you think Shapiro forks for our “national government” proves that you are a clueless imbecile. Now go drink your TEA.
Kathleen had ambition.
No I believe his point is that no sooner did he get elected to his current office then did he start leveraging it for political donations to run for AG. Which if elected AG he will continue his pay to play nonsense to run for Governor from DAY 1. He has no interest in fixing anything he only cares about the political capital he can gain with progressives and I quote “locking up more frackers and sue for education funding” which the AGs office can not do at all. I would say the difference between him Morganelli, Zappala,& Rafferty is that have all actually serviced in there current positions for an extended period of time actually doing good work for there consitiuents and the people that elected them not just used there office to run for the next one. Shapiro is literally the problem with our national government he has no desire to actually fix things and work with people he only cares what he gets out of it.
David,
I am sure that Mr. Shapiro will serve the remainder of his term if he is defeated by Rafferty in the Fall. Just as he would have if he had been defeated by Zappala in the Primary.
Not sure I get your point. Are you saying that all people in elected office need to complete their term(s) before running for something else?
Because – you supported Zappala/Morganelli. They had not completed their terms as D.A.s she they ran for A.G.
Also – I believe that Rafferty is in the middle of a term, no?
Fetterman was a pawn in Estey’s old boss’ plan for global domination. If given any scrutiny, the pampered rich kid who goes around in the costume of the working man, but sends his kids to private schools, will be exposed for the lazy hypocrite he is. O, wait, the NYTimes did that years ago, but TeamRendell successfully squelched that criticism in order to divide the vote from that egomaniac Sestak.
When Wolf aborts, it will be Fitzgerald from the west v. Stack from the east. Bank on it, yinz.
Since David is clearly off his antipsychotics again, I would like to re-post the greatest comment in this website’s history:
“David Diano – Just stop posting. At first, everybody who has seen you at Democratic State Committee thought you were a just a joke who is an annoying gadfly political groupie trying to sell a crappy product (one of many reasons why not one serious candidate for state or federal office, no serious statewide or congressional candidates, ever buys your terrible product). After every post you do more than just confirm that, you also look dumber. Stop speaking authoritatively about the law, you have never practiced law and don’t have a degree from even the lowliest unaccredited law school. You know nothing about election law, campaign finance law, or any aspect of the law. I remember when you were telling everybody how your client Stephanie Singer definitely would win the challenge to her inclusion on the ballot last year. Big surprise, she lost in Philly Common Pleas Court, Commonwealth Court on appeal, and in her attempt to appeal to Supreme Court. Bad facts, bad arguments, and a bad lawyer almost always lead to a bad result. That’s right, we remember that your most important candidate was a one-term Philly City Commissioner who couldn’t even get 1,000 valid signatures (in a city with hundreds of thousands of Democrats) to get on the ballot as an incumbent – you and your client who ran Philly elections did a great job with that, Diano. I have never seen anybody more wrong on everything than you. On politics, keep your uninformed opinions to yourself. When you are in a hole, stop digging.”
Such a pledge would really screw up the plan for Wolf to announce he’s not running for a second term if Josh wins AG, so Josh can start his run for Gov.
Shapiro wouldn’t make this pledge during the primary. Which makes sense, because without the goal of using the AG office for a Gov run, the entire AG campaign makes no sense.
Josh didn’t seem interested in serving his 2nd 4-year term as commissioner, as early as last summer when it was an open-secret that he was running for AG and using the commissioners race to raise money for it. He commissioned a poll in November, and announced his run a week after he was sworn in.
But, there’s another HUGE problem with the plan:
When Wolf announces he’s not running for 2nd term, Stack will announce his own run. Stack is from Philly. Shapiro is from Montco.
… Then…. BOOM …. Fetterman runs from Allegheny county.
You heard it here first !
Josh can’t hide the fact that the first time he stepped into a courtroom was to get the pictures taken for his AG race.
By the way, I am sure Josh is pledging to serve a full 4 year term now… until something changes, like Wolf says he isn’t running for re-election. Then Josh will say the circumstances have changed since he made that promise and now he is being urged to run. Josh is a fake.
I think Kathleen Kane should launch an investigation into who stole Rafferty’s lips.
Given the stellar record of Attorneys General who have higher ambitions, there should be a constitutional amendment to prohibit them from running for another office for four years after having left the AG office.
What’s worse? Me or Rafferty’s no-lip face?
Rafferty won the endorsement of the Board President of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.
“I am writing today as President of the Board of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation to announce my support for John Rafferty for Attorney General”
Rafferty is against planning for parenthood: Rafferty got a 0% score from the Planned Parenthood group.
“The next Attorney General may well have to make important decisions to protect all life, including the life of the unborn. I can only support a candidate who is pro-life and so I would urge you to join me in supporting Senator John Rafferty for Attorney General.”
That settles it. Shapiro for AG !!!!!
Besides the fact that he knows he’s going to get smoked by Shapiro in November
Don’t fall for it, Shapiro.
These hack Republicans are obsessed with PLEDGES. Has Rafferty pledged to release all the Porn-gate e-mails?
If I remember correctly, Shapiro has already praised to let the public see what these people were doing while we were paying them.
How about Rafferty? His boss at the law firm where he works is alleged to have received Porn-gate material. is he going to sign a PLEDGE to release it all and let the public see what their government has been up to?
It was pretty clear Josh was going to win the primary thanks in large part to idiotic campaign management from the rusty Zappala machine, but now that Josh’s empty suit ambitions are shown threadbare, it’s also equally clear that Josh won’t be so lucky in the general. He’s not going to be able to Shapirooze his way out of his many documented shortcomings.
The Rafferty Requirement for Attorney General: No ambition.
Never heard anything so stupid in my life. Republicans and their “pledges.”
All this means is that Rafferty KNOWS he has no future in Politics. He probably knows he is going to get smoked in November, too.