U.S. Sen. Bob Casey appeared at a campaign event Tuesday with Indivisible Philadelphia, an organization that wants police funding “allocated to better-qualified resources that will actually help people and take police knees off the necks of Black and Brown communities.”
On Wednesday, the 1,300-member Delaware County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 27 returned the favor by endorsing Casey’s Republican opponent, Dave McCormick.
“Last night, our current senator, Bob Casey, attended an event with an anti-police organization, Indivisible Philadelphia. Subsequent to that event last night Indivisible Pennsylvania announced they’ve endorsed Sen. Bob Casey,” said FOP President Chris Eiserman.
“This is a group that said. ‘We won’t stop until they defund the police,’” said Eiserman. It wants “fewer officers on the street. They have advocated to end cash bail. This is a group responsible for bailing out some of the most violent offenders Pennsylvania has to offer.
“At a time when there were four shootings in four days on our local public transit system, law enforcement across the commonwealth is understaffed,” he said. “Casey’s decision to align himself with these defund the police activists is alarming and extremely dangerous. Pennsylvanians deserve better.”
Eiserman serves as deputy chief for Folcroft Borough. He was joined Wednesday by Folcroft Officer Chris Dorman, who was shot seven times on June 24, 2016.
“It was a 911 call about a suspicious person smoking and selling marijuana,” said Dorman, 33. “We located them in the area.” The suspect fired at Dorman, hitting him in the face, chest, hand, back, and both legs, Dorman told DVJournal. Yet he continues to serve.
Polls show Casey and McCormick locked in a single-digit race. Those same polls show former President Donald Trump with a narrow but consistent lead over President Joe Biden in the presidential race. A strong showing by Trump is likely to boost McCormick’s campaign, and Trump has made law and order a central issue in his reelection bid.
In Delaware County, Eiserman called out Casey for not backing the call to strip power from prosecutors who are not enforcing the law.
“We all know that [Philadelphia District Attorney] Larry Krasner’s progressive approach of letting criminals back on the street isn’t working. And yet Bob Casey supports Soros-funded prosecutors in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, who have let crime get completely out of control,” said Eiserman. “Casey voted against $300 million to anti-narcotics and opioid (funds) for customs and border protection. He voted against Kate’s Law twice, which would have set a mandatory minimum for deported felons who illegally reenter the U.S.”
Kate’s Law was named for Kate Steinle who was killed in 2015 by an illegal immigrant later acquitted of murder by a San Francisco jury after claiming the gun fired accidentally. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reintroduced Kate’s Law last year.
“Casey says there’s systemic racism in our police,” said Eiserman. “He thinks we are the problem, not the violent criminals making Pennsylvanians less safe.”
Casey co-sponsored a bill that would end qualified immunity for police officers, a policy that protects cops from being sued for actions “taken in the line of duty,” said Eiserman. “His bill would also defund local police departments from federal grants if they don’t implement the Biden administration’s preferred policing policies.”
“Thankfully, Pennsylvania has a law-and-order Senate candidate who will work with the police and not against us: Dave McCormick,” said Eiserman. “Dave’s a combat veteran who takes threats to Pennsylvanians’ safety seriously.”
“Dave knows it’s time to respect law enforcement and keep violent criminals off our streets,” said Eiserman. McCormick would also work to secure the southern border and keep “dangerous drugs like fentanyl and crime from destroying Pennsylvania families.”
Forty-seven sheriffs have endorsed McCormick, said Eiserman.
Afterward, Eiserman told DVJournal, “We need a senator that’s going to support law enforcement. There were over 370 officers shot in the line of duty last year.” And “right now, we’re at 70 this year.”
“The FOP is trying to pass the Protect and Serve Act (HB2743), which makes it a federal crime to attack a police officer,” said Eiserman. The group tried to meet with Casey about it, but he was unavailable to see him. They met instead with a staffer who would not tell them the senator’s position on the bill. He noted, however, that Casey supported bills to protect journalists and poll workers.
“Look at the numbers,” he said. “In the last two months, we had two officers in East Lansdowne shot, and one in Chester City shot.”
Casey’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
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