Jack Stollsteimer (D) is the District Attorney for Delaware County. He boasts of 65% decreases in overall gun violence in Chester County and successfully prosecuting contractor wage theft. Going into the office, he recognizes the balance needed to prosecute crime and protect civil rights.

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What is a short job description of the office of attorney general?

Yeah, great question. So Attorney General of Pennsylvania, under our laws, really has two main functions. First, the attorney general is the commonwealth's chief law enforcement officer responsible for the investigation and prosecution of thousands of criminal cases every year. Also, the attorney general is the Commonwealth's chief law officer. So they do all of the civil work representing the commonwealth in civil court.

That includes going after companies who are stealing from us as consumers, to try to offer consumer protection to everybody in Pennsylvania.

 

Why do you qualify to step into the role?

Yeah, I'm qualified. I think I'm actually uniquely qualified to do this job in this field because I am the only elected district attorney that is running as a Democratic candidate. And the most closest proximity job or, I guess, job closest in subject matter to being attorney general is being a district attorney of a large county. So I'm in the elected district attorney of Delaware County, which is the suburbs of Philadelphia.

It's the fifth largest county in the Commonwealth. I do the criminal work every single day. I handle and supervise the investigation, prosecution of about 7,000 criminal cases each year. And I've also used the same power I share with the attorney general of Pennsylvania to go after companies that are stealing from our consumers. I use a consumer protection statute both to sue the opioid distributors, to bring resources home for people with substance use disorder.

And I'm also using it to sue big chemical companies for the forever chemicals they put in all of our bodies and our drinking water.

 

What are your priorities if you take the office?

Yeah, so work I've done here in Delaware County is work I want to do for all 67 counties. And there's really two things that are the highest priority. One is I'm the only prosecutor who's actually prosecuted wage theft in the construction industry. There's a statute in Pennsylvania that makes it a crime to steal from your own workers and from the Commonwealth when you misclassify workers on construction sites.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro and I are the only prosecutors who joined together in a task force and brought criminal charges against private contractors here in Delaware County. I want to do that in every county in Pennsylvania. And just as high a priority to me is to stop violent crime, particularly gun crime. I spent most of my life, particularly the last four years, working as district attorney in the city of Chester, Delaware County— where I've been able to bring the community and police together.

And we've reduced the number of shootings in the city of Chester by 72%. The number of gun homicides are down by 68%. I want to bring that kind of commitment to ending gun violence all across Pennsylvania to every community that will work with me.

 

What is something about the current administration you would change and/or keep the same?

Yeah. Attorney General Shapiro, when he was attorney general, did a fantastic job in rebuilding that agency after it was nearly destroyed by Kathleen Kane and the nonsense that she she put the agency and the people who work there through. So there's a lot to build on that, really, as I found out when I got elected district attorney. Most of the work that goes on in an AG office— it doesn't really matter who is sitting in the front desk, but you get a chance to do as the leader, as the elected leader, is to set priorities for the office.

So the priorities for me are going to be protecting women's reproductive health, going after wage theft in the construction industry, environmental crimes, and then also stopping gun violence, bringing the same commitment to focus deterrence that I brought that strategy to the city of Chester, to every community in Pennsylvania.

 

What do you have that your other primary candidates do not?

I have a record of accomplishment. There is nobody else in this race who's an elected district attorney who has led a major criminal justice agency like I have. I am the chief law enforcement officer of our fifth largest county. I'm seeking to become the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth. And I think the experience I bring to the table with the work I've done in Delaware County, reducing gun violence, reforming our criminal justice system here, fighting for women's reproductive health all of those things, when you look at my record, makes me by far the strongest Democratic candidate, both to win the general election, but also I think more importantly to do the job day one as your lawyer, as the attorney general of Pennsylvania.

 

What is a topic/discussion point around the office of Attorney General and what is your take on it?

I think Attorney General Michelle Henry is doing a fantastic job. I've got to partner over the last four years, being an elected DA, I get to partner with the attorney general on a wide variety of initiatives. And I found that office to be fantastic. And the work it does. Again, what I intend to do is take the work the office is currently doing to the next level by dedicating myself and my energy to serving all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties to fight for consumers, to fight for women's reproductive health, and to end the violence that takes place in too many of our communities.