PENNSYLVANIA Attorney general hopefuls square off

The Democratic debate is to be aired today.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Three Democrats trying to distinguish themselves in the primary race to become Pennsylvania's next attorney general went easy on each other in a debate, opting instead to promote their records and several tough-on-crime strategies.
Mostly, they relied on their different backgrounds to pitch themselves as populist crime fighters best suited for the state's top law enforcement post.
Each of the candidates, including two former federal prosecutors and a sitting district attorney, is vying to be the first Democrat to capture the office since it became an elected post 23 years ago. Democratic voters will pick one of them as the party's nominee in the April 27 primary.
John Morganelli, Northampton County's district attorney, and Jim Eisenhower, a former federal prosecutor in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., proposed toughening laws against violent criminals.
David Barasch, the former U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania's Middle District, cast himself as Pennsylvania's answer to Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general who has cultivated a reputation for prosecuting white-collar criminals.
Taped debate
The candidates appeared at the studio of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia on Thursday for a 30-minute taped debate and were given up to 60 seconds to answer questions posed by anchor Rick Williams.
The League of Women Voters sponsored the Thursday debate, which is to be aired today. The two Republicans vying for their party's nomination appeared together Wednesday.
At times, the candidates took mild pokes at one another -- Morganelli called his opponents "corporate lawyers" because they now work in private firms, while Barasch and Eisenhower intimated that Morganelli's county experience doesn't measure up.
And Morganelli stood out as the lone anti-abortion candidate. But mostly the trio worked hard to highlight their backgrounds, endorsements and ideas.
Morganelli's proposal to eliminate parole, or early release provisions, for those serving time for violent crimes drew sharp lines between the candidates.
"It makes me sick when I read that a person who committed murder and who's out on parole offends again," Morganelli said.
Morganelli also proposed toughening penalties for gun owners whose firearm is used by another to commit a crime, such as a child who gets hold of a parent's gun.
Words of caution
The other candidates cautioned against changing parole policies too broadly, saying prison populations could balloon and that parole is a crucial enticement that prison officials use to control prisoner conduct.
"It's a question of being able to manage our prison population," Eisenhower said.
While both Morganelli and Barasch said they believed the state has as many mandatory minimum sentences as it can stand, Eisenhower advanced a proposal to toughen state gun laws by widening the definition of what constitutes the use of a firearm during a crime.
For example, Eisenhower said a criminal should be charged with a gun offense if he has a firearm in his belt or stashed nearby while committing a crime. Currently, the suspect must have at least brandished the firearm if prosecutors are to win an extra five-year sentence, he said.
Such a change would mirror federal gun laws and mean longer prison sentences for those criminals, he said.
"We've got to do more about gun violence ... and we need to make sure that there is a stricter mandatory sentence and that the law allows for more vigorous prosecution of drug criminals who use guns," Eisenhower said.
White-collar crime
After Eisenhower and Morganelli spoke about wanting to widen the office's pursuit of health-care fraud and corporate crime, Barasch pointed to his record as the state's consumer advocate.
"When we talk about white-collar crime, that was the best possible training," Barasch said. "That was digging into the corporate books and records of utilities around the state."
His experience as the U.S. attorney in Harrisburg overseeing the prosecution of complicated, corporate crimes at companies such as Highmark Inc. and Rite Aid Corp. guarantees that the office, under his direction, would more aggressively pursue such cases, he said.
"I have the experience to actually put together the kind of prosecutorial effort because I have the experience of having done it before," Barasch said.
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