More than $700,000 has been invested by a PAC backed by billionaire George Soros into the campaign of liberal public defender Matt Dugan, who is running to be Pennsylvania's Allegheny County district attorney over incumbent Steve Zappala in Tuesday's Democrat primary, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Justice and Safety PAC has used most of its money on ads and mailers slamming Zappala's record.
Zappala has harshly criticized the outside influence, as the PAC is based in Washington, D.C., and has no ties to Allegheny County. Zappala noted that the PAC is spending 10 times as much money to elect Dugan as the candidate is spending on himself.
"No rational person believes that any politician who gets nearly all their funding from one source won't be taking orders from them once taking office," Zappala spokesman Mike Mikus said.
In 2017, Soros spent $1.7 million in backing the winning campaign of Larry Krasner for Philadelphia district attorney, which was five times as much as Krasner spent, and represented 30% of all spending in the seven-candidate primary.
Under Krasner's tenure, recidivism rates have sharply risen, with critics blaming his refusal to charge low-level offenders, according to the Washington Examiner.
Due to that example, many in Allegheny County fear that a Dugan victory as district attorney will bring both skyrocketing crime and the diminished rights of victims.
One victims' rights advocate said that "all one has to do is look at Philadelphia … those of us that work in the system understand that electing a public defender as our chief law enforcement officer is not in the best interest of our safety nor victims."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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