Carlos Vega Attacks Larry Krasner As 'Rich White Elitist'

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

In their last public debate of the campaign for D.A., Carlos Vega the challenger repeatedly blasted incumbent Larry Krasner as a "white, rich out-of-touch elitist."

In a 94-minute virtual debate on WURD, Vega explained how he grew up poor in Spanish Harlem in the Bronx, and that when he worked at the D.A.'s office, he was a single dad raising two kids. 

For 15 years, Vega said, he worked by day as a homicide prosecutor in the D.A.'s office. And at night, Vega said, he supported his family by working a second job at UPS, loading and unloading delivery trucks. 

"As you see, a campaign is a rich man's game," Vega said. "I don't live in a million dollar house like Mr. Krasner. I don't drive a Tesla like Mr. Krasner. My children don't go to Friends [Select] like Mr. Krasner. I have to work and I have suffered financial losses as I'm raising a family."

"I grew up in poverty, I was poor, I was hungry," Vega explained. "I worked two jobs to feed a family."

And then, Vega said after he served as the first Latino homicide prosecutor in the state for 30 years, he was fired unceremoniously in 2018 by "a white out-of-touch elitist" named Larry Krasner, who decided that a "Latino is not good enough to serve in this office."

That set Krasner off, who responded with an emotional speech of his own where he appeared near tears. Whether they were fake or not may require a formal investigation.

Krasner began by saying he resented being called "a rich white elitist."

"I have been very fortunate in my life," he said. "But when I grew up I did not go to private schools. I was born in St. Louis. I went to an inner city school in St. Louis, the Pershing Elementary School, until I was 8 or 9."

When his family moved to Pennsylvania, Krasner said, he attended "Philadelphia area public schools."

Then, Krasner went for the heartstrings. 

His father, a veteran, Krasner said, "spent decades in a wheelchair."

"He had no hips," Krasner said, pausing for effect, while looking pained and licking his lips.

 "He received Social Security benefits," Krasner said about his father. As he talked slowly, Krasner removed his glasses, while his voice was breaking. 

"I ate on food stamps," Krasner said. About his father, "he came from an immigrant family," Krasner said. "I'm the first lawyer in that family."

"My opponent knows that," Krasner said. But, Krasner said, Vega will "try and deceive you to win an election."

[For all you amateur sleuths out there who want to go to the videotape to see whether Larry's crocodile tears are real, the show starts at 1:08:43 on the youtube video.]

It was the highlight of a combative debate that had Vega, as the underdog challenger, not only taking on incumbent Krasner, and his billionaire backers like George Soros.

But with journalism being as partisan and progressive as it is today, Vega also had to single-handedly debate the three obviously biased pro-Krasner moderators of the debate -- WURD radio host Charles Ellison; Joann Bell, founder of the Black Women's Leadership Conference; and Solomon Jones, WURD radio host, and official Philadelphia Inquirer columnist of color. 

Throughout the debate, the hosts took turns grilling Vega on the support he's received from the FOP and a police PAC.

Every time that topic came up, Vega explained that he was the only candidate for D.A. who had held police accountable by successfully prosecuting a couple of police officers, one who was responsible for killing two motorists, another was a homicide cop who covered up his girlfriend's involvement in a murder.

"I've put cops in jail," Vega said. Meanwhile, Vega said, his opponent, Progressive Larry Krasner, had indicted 51 cops for various crimes, but has never won a single conviction, and has never sent a single cop to jail. 

Then, after he got through talking about how he had held cops accountable, Vega told the trio of pro-Krasner hosts,  "Let's talk about holding the D.A.'s office accountable."

Vega then rattled off the names of five employees in Krasner's office who had gotten into ethical or legal trouble. 

Vega's first target was Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci, Krasner's onetime head of homicide who was transferred to the homicide unit after an alleged road rage incident involving a young black female motorist.

"He had her arrested, her car confiscated, she lost her job," Vega said. "Now, she's suing the city for millions."

Meanwhile, Vega said, Voci still has his $160,000 a year job at the D.A.'s office.

"Where's the accountability in that office," Vega asked. "He [Voci] abused his power" by bringing a police inspector with him to arrest the black female motorist at her house. He [Voci] brought "the full force of the police department" down on that one person, Vega charged.

Vega's next target was Assistant District Attorney Dana Bazelon, arrested by the cops and charged with child endangerment after she left her four-year-old daughter unattended in a locked car.

"Where is the accountability," Vega asked again.

Vega's third target was DeVonte' Douglass, Krasner's former gun violence counselor, who shot and killed a male prostitute he had arranged a tryst with during office hours for $500.

Then, Vega brought up Adam Foss, a former Boston prosecutor and TED talk star who was brought in for nine weeks in 2018 to train Krasner's young prosecutors. 

After Foss left town, he was publicly accused by several women of being a serial predator and rapist who was knowingly spreading STDs. 

In Boston, Foss is the subject of a criminal investigation. Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, Vega asked, "Adam Foss, how much was he paid, and where did you get the money to pay him?

Krasner has refused to answer both questions.

Vega's fifth and last target of the evening, another Larry Krasner hire, was a senior advisor in the D.A.'s office who was disbarred for forging a judge's signature on a divorce petition, and then lying about it when confronted by that same judge.

"Where's the accountability in the DA's office," Vega asked again. "What happened to those individuals when they abused their power?"

In all five cases, Krasner has declined comment on whether he disciplined those employees. 

"They should be held accountable," Vega said. "Larry has not done that. He's not transparent."

Vega, however, forgot to mention one other case, that of Assistant District Attorney Joseph Torda, who was investigated by the state attorney general's office on charges that he stole porn from his ex-girlfriend, the self-proclaimed "stripper, model & e-slut."

The alleged reason ADA Torda stole the porn -- he was in it. 

Quite an office Krasner presides over. "Let 'Em Loose Larry" can't even control the crime wave in his own freaking office!

Reached this morning for comment, Vega weighed in on the crocodile tears debate, casting his vote for the Krasner waterworks being fake. 

"Once again, Larry shows his hypocrisy, trying to claim he grew up poor," Vega said. Instead, Krasner "grew up on the Main Line and went to the Conestoga School District, which is one of the richest and the best districts in Pennsylvania."

"As an adult, he has lived a life of privilege, yet still remains tax delinquent while he urges others to fund our schools," Vega said. "Contrast that to me, a person of color. I grew up poor and know what it means to be hungry. I have continued to overcome adversity as a single parent living in a row home who worked to support my kids."

"Although I have faced these challenges," Vega said, "I will not cry nor pretend to cry."