Pennsylvania
DePasquale and Sunday square off in first Pennsylvania attorney general debate • Pennsylvania Capital-Star
For the first time ahead of the general election, the Democratic and Republican candidates for Pennsylvania attorney general faced off in a debate on Thursday.
Former Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, a Democrat, and York County District Attorney Dave Sunday, a Republican, discussed a wide range of issues for an hour on WGAL.
“Number one, we must make sure that we protect our democracy,” DePasquale replied in an answer to what his top priority would be if elected. “It has clearly been under threat, and we also have to make sure that our democracy is working for everybody.”
DePasquale said the next attorney general will be tasked with litigation to protect everyone’s right to vote. He also listed protecting communities, abortion rights, seniors, and children as priorities.
“I can tell you right now, if our community’s not safe, nothing else matters,” Sunday responded. “Our children are facing a brutal epidemic in fentanyl that kills 15 Pennsylvanians every day.”
Sunday also added keeping children and seniors safe as top priorities.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michele Henry is not seeking reelection, making the race to become the state’s top law enforcement official the only statewide open seat this cycle.
DePasquale, who served as the state’s auditor general from 2013 to 2021, highlighted his office’s work leading investigations finding over 3,000 untested rape kits, and 58,000 unanswered phone calls to the child abuse hotline, while highlighting personal experiences that he says will prepare him for the office.
“I’m the only one that’s run a complicated statewide agency,” DePasquale said. “That’s the type of leadership we’ll need on day one.”
Sunday, who is in his second term as York County District Attorney, detailed his 15-year record as a prosecutor and overseeing an office that has seen crime rates decrease.
“Only one person standing here has ever been a prosecutor. Only one person standing here has ever been in front of a jury. Only one person standing here has ever conducted a criminal investigation,” Sunday said.
Both candidates promoted endorsements they’ve received during the debate. DePasquale touted having the support of Gov. Josh Shapiro and Planned Parenthood, while Sunday pointed to endorsements from the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police and the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association.
Although the debate remained heavily focused on policy, the two did direct some direct shots at the other over experience.
Gun Control
DePasquale said the state is “pretty good” at cracking down on those who pull the trigger, but called for holding the person accountable for selling the gun illegally.
He also said he’d advocate the state Legislature to implement universal background checks, close the gun show loophole, and red flag laws.
Sunday said that the “group violence initiative” in York County has helped reduce shootings and holding people accountable, while also saying that “constant communication” with the Black ministers association, nonprofits, and block leaders also helped improve outcomes.
Abortion
The candidates offered different responses when asked if they would prosecute a person or a doctor for performing an abortion, should a ban take effect in Pennsylvania. Under current state law, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“I want to be very clear. I will never prosecute a woman or a doctor that performs an abortion. If you want someone that’s going to put a woman in jail that has an abortion, you’re going to need another attorney general, because it’s not going to be me,” DePasquale said. He also added that he’d protect any woman coming to Pennsylvania for an abortion from one of the states that has a ban.
DePasquale highlighted his family’s personal experience, saying his wife had an ectopic pregnancy that was “technically an abortion,” that saved her life and allowed her to give birth to two kids later on.
Sunday said he talks about the issue on a regular basis with his wife and mother and added that “like I would every other law, I would absolutely enforce and defend the abortion laws in Pennsylvania,” citing the state’s current laws.
In regards to potential future legislation to ban abortion in Pennsylvania, Sunday said “it would never happen.”
DePasquale referenced Republicans in the state legislature who support a constitutional amendment that would create the ban and reemphasized his position. Sunday responded by saying “as a prosecutor, as a district attorney, we follow the facts and the law,” and said “there’s no scenario that exists where I would ever prosecute a woman for having an abortion.”
Death penalty
The candidates discussed the serious nature of capital punishment and shared slightly different positions.
DePasquale said he has “serious concerns” about the death penalty, saying he believes life in prison is a “very tough sentence,” but said “it is the law and we will enforce the law to the fullest extent.”
“But I want to make it clear I have deep reservations about capital punishment, as does Gov. Shapiro, and I do support the legislature making it illegal in Pennsylvania,” DePasquale said.
Sunday cited the work on the issue he’s made through the district attorneys association, calling those cases “some of the absolute most sad, tragic, terrible cases you could possibly have.”
“The legislature has made it clear that there are certain factors that if they’re at play, then the jury could have the ability to render a verdict of death. When you talk about some of the brutal, violent murders of police officers, the just sad, brutal murders of children, if the death penalty is called for in those cases, then I will support it and I will seek the death penalty,” Sunday said. “But we have to be very cautious about it. We have to be thoughtful about it, and it has to be the last resort, not the first.”
Immigration
Sunday detailed how important legal immigration is to society and mentioned that his wife moved to the United States from Sri Lanka, but that the current situation of migrants crossing at the U.S. Southern border was affecting those in the Keystone State.
DePasquale also reiterated that the United States is a nation of immigrants, but said “it should be legal immigration.” He also called for compassion to those who are already here, particularly the children born in the U.S.
Elections
The debate moderator, WGAL’s Brian Roach, referenced Gov. Josh Shapiro, the state’s previous attorney general, being tasked with pushing back on lawsuits following the 2020 presidential election and asked the candidates how they would uphold results in “future free and fair elections.”
“As attorney general, regardless of who we vote for, our job is to make sure that any voter that is legally allowed to cast a vote and cast that vote legally has that vote fairly counted,” DePasquale said. “And the person that loses that election that happens to be a sore loser and files election lawsuits based on that, we cannot let that distort our judgment. We must defend Pennsylvania’s law.”
Sunday said he would handle such a case “just like I’ve handled everything that’s come across my desk, in a nonpartisan fashion. It is very simple, you apply the facts to the law. It doesn’t matter what your political party is. It doesn’t matter if you’re right, left, up, down, middle, none of it matters because our Constitution and our country is what comes first.”
Marijuana
The two candidates also shared different views when asked about the benefits or drawbacks of legalizing recreational marijuana.
Sunday believes there has to be a voice in the discussion about safety, citing DUIs as examples.
“And so, because of how serious this is, you know, once you put the toothpaste out of the tube, it’s not going back in,” Sunday said. “We have to at least consider the public safety impact of this as we progress.”
DePasquale has supported the legalization and taxation of marijuana since 2017 and said it would be smart policy and smart safety to the communities if it is legalized.
“By legalizing it, you would actually make it harder for children to get it. You’d also make sure that the product is safer. You would also make sure that law enforcement is involved in the drafting of it. And certainly we need to make sure that we have the technology available for that anyone that’s driving under the influence, whether it be alcohol or marijuana, is prosecuted fully on that.”
A Franklin & Marshall College poll released in April showed that 62% of registered voters in Pennsylvania think recreational marijuana should be legalized in the state.
Racial disparities in criminal justice
Both candidates said they take the matter seriously, although had slightly different responses to how they currently view the matter.
“Do I believe that there are times when people have racist intentions out there? The answer is yes. Do I believe that there are times that there are two justice systems for people of color and for people that aren’t? Yes,” DePasquale said. “And do I also think there are sometimes two justice systems for people that have economic means and people that don’t. The answer to that is yes.”
“I can tell you that there’s no one that would not acknowledge that at some point in the past, there were racial disparities in our criminal justice system,” Sunday said.
“What I can say is that as we’ve moved forward, we have embraced things like procedural justice,” Sunday added, and discussed the education and training he’s embraced in his position to take the matter seriously.
Both candidates also referenced the wrongful conviction unit as important to the office of attorney general.
Unlike the race for president and U.S. Senate, there have not been as many public polls made available for the race for attorney general, however, an AARP-commissioned poll that was released on Oct. 1 showed DePasquale with 47% and Sunday at 44%, within the poll’s margin of error.
While DePasquale and Sunday were the only candidates on the stage on Thursday and are the frontrunners in the race, they are not the only candidates on the ballot for the statewide office. The Constitution Party’s Justin Magill, the Forward Party’s Eric Settle, the Green Party’s Richard Weiss, and Libertarian Party’s Robert Cowburn are also seeking the seat.
DePasquale and Sunday will face off again for a 60 minute debate on Oct. 15 at 7 PM, hosted by ABC27’s Dennis Owens, which will broadcast statewide.
Oct. 21 is the last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania for the general election. The deadline to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot ballot is Oct. 29.
The Pennsylvania general election is Nov. 5.
HARRISBURG — A new task force under Pennsylvania’s Department of State has been working since February to hunt down AI chatbots that may be misleading users into believing the bots are licensed professionals.
Last week, the Shapiro administration filed what it said was the first lawsuit to stem from its AI investigations and the first enforcement action of its kind announced by a governor in the United States. Pennsylvania officials indicated there could be more to come.
The high-profile litigation comes as lawmakers across the country are pursuing, and in some cases enacting, legislation to address concerns brought on by the growing artificial intelligence industry — from banning the creation of sexual images of minors to requiring age verification for all users. A number of proposals from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s most recent budget address await action in the legislature.
The administration’s lawsuit alleges that software known as Character.AI, which creates fictional personalities for users to interact with, posed as a licensed doctor and offered medical advice to a state investigator, violating state law governing the practice of medicine. The suit was filed by Pennsylvania’s State Board of Medicine.
“We will continue to take action to protect the public from misleading or unlawful practices, whether they come from individuals or emerging technologies,” Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said in a statement following the Character.AI lawsuit.
Shapiro made a similar promise in a statement, saying Pennsylvania will continue “holding bad actors accountable and setting clear guardrails so people can use new technology responsibly.”
The lawsuit says it stems from an investigation in which an employee with the Department of State created an account with the service and began a dialogue with “Emilie” — an AI-generated character the software described as a “Doctor of psychiatry.”
The character allegedly claimed it went to Imperial College London, had been practicing for seven years, and is licensed in Pennsylvania.
“In fact, I did a stint in Philadelphia for a while,” it told the investigator, according to the lawsuit.
The software also provided what the lawsuit said was a fake license number.
Those claims, the Shapiro administration argues, trick users into believing they are receiving medical advice from a licensed practitioner.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to know who — or what — they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health,” Shapiro said in a statement. “We will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional.”
The lawsuit seeks for Character Technologies Inc. (developer of Character.AI) to “cease and desist from engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery.”
A Character.AI spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the company’s “highest priority is the safety and well-being of our users.” The spokesperson said that before the lawsuit, Character.AI already featured disclaimers warning that its AI characters are not real, and that they “should be treated as fiction.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Pennsylvania’s lawsuit is not the first Character Technologies has faced. At least one case was brought by the parent of a minor who died by suicide. The company last year adopted a policy to ban minors from engaging “in open-ended chat with AI on our platform.”
The Federal Trade Commission last year also opened an inquiry into the company, along with six other chatbot providers, regarding how they “measure, test, and monitor potentially negative impacts of this technology on children and teens,” according to an agency news release.
It’s unclear what led Pennsylvania regulators to specifically investigate Character.AI. A Department of State spokesperson said the source of the complaint was “confidential.”
Shapiro told CNN, one of several national media outlets that covered the novel lawsuit, that his administration “challenged” the Department of State to conduct these types of investigations “to go and use this technology and see what kind of risks it posed” to Pennsylvanians.
Some details about the effort, which Shapiro first teased in his February budget pitch, are not yet public. Members of the task force are not disclosed online, and the Department of State did not answer questions from Spotlight PA asking for their names or how they were selected. A Department of State spokesperson said the task force consists of 12 of its employees.
As part of the AI fraud initiative, Pennsylvania is crowdsourcing tips on what software the state should investigate through its “Unlicensed Practice by a Chatbot” complaint system and hotline. According to the Department of State, it has received 18 complaints since it launched in February.
Pennsylvania’s moves against AI companies come as they rapidly grow their user bases nationwide, especially children and teenagers.
According to a survey last year from Common Sense Media, a California-based child safety nonprofit, more than half of teenagers access AI platforms at least a few times per month. One-third said they use or view the software as a tool to socialize, including for conversation or relationship practice, emotional support, role-playing, friendships, and romantic interactions.
At least five states have enacted laws restricting chatbots or requiring disclosures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California, for example, requires companies to disclose to children that they are interacting with AI. Pennsylvania is not one of them, but the state medical board alleges Character.AI’s actions violated existing law.
In his February budget address, Shapiro called on the General Assembly to take action on artificial intelligence. He urged lawmakers to prohibit chatbots from creating sexually explicit or violent content of minors, mandate that developers require age verification from users, and detect when children mention self-harm or violence. He also wants companies to frequently notify users they’re not interacting with a human.
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Lawmakers have not yet adopted those proposals.
House Communications & Technology Committee Chair Joe Ciresi (D., Montgomery) said the body’s staff is “constantly” meeting with Shapiro’s office to discuss how lawmakers should address growing concerns from the public regarding AI.
Ciresi’s counterpart in the GOP-controlled state Senate, Tracy Pennycuick (R., Montgomery), did not respond to questions about the Character.AI lawsuit, Pennsylvania’s AI Task Force, or her staff’s coordination with Shapiro.
Two years ago, Shapiro signed a bill banning ownership or distribution of AI-generated sexual images of children and non-consenting adults, which Pennycuick had sponsored. Last year, he signed another Pennycuick bill criminalizing the use of AI to create a nonconsensual “digital likeness” (including deepfakes) to “defraud or injure” another person.
Pennycuick’s now pushing for legislation that would require disclosures and restrictions for chatbots when they interact with children. In the legislative memo, Pennycuick pointed to past lawsuits filed against chatbot developers to argue “heartbreaking cases underscore the urgent need for safeguards to protect children from unsafe and unvetted AI systems.” Her proposal passed the state Senate in March but has not advanced through committee in the House.
Lawmakers have also been working to address another aspect of the AI industry, the growth of data centers and backlash to them in some communities. In Shapiro’s February budget address, he said, “no sector of our country’s economy is growing faster than data centers and artificial intelligence.” He announced incentives for data center developers to follow stricter environmental and transparency standards.
BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. This story was funded in part thanks to the support of the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund. Learn more about how we are supported here.
Hersheypark in Pennsylvaniacould be forced to close this summer amid a dispute between the site’s operators and union employees, according to a report.
The amusement park is scheduled to open seven days a week starting May 21 in a shift from its weekend-only operation before the summer, despite a looming vote among employees about whether to go on strike.
Over 200 union maintenance employees at Hersheypark, The Hotel Hershey and Giant Center rejected a contract offer from Hershey Entertainment & Resorts on May 7, according to Inside the Magic. The park’s operators described the proposal as their “last, best and final” offer.
Over a three-day period this week, employees will vote on whether to strike after rejecting the offer, which is the third from the park’s operators. A strike could close the park just in time for the start of the busy summer season when families head on vacation.
The list of employees considering going on strike includes ride mechanics, electricians, plumbers, welders, painters, machinists, utilities technicians, carpenters, garage auto mechanics and sign artists.
In mid-March, the union and Hershey Entertainment & Resorts agreed to extend a former contract for 60 days to allow for continued negotiations.
According to Inside the Magic, union workers are seeking fair wage increases, more affordable care plans and higher pay premiums for less-desirable shifts. The union has also said that it will reject new contract offers that lower professional standards, devalue skilled trades or open the door to lower wages in maintenance roles in the future.
The Independent has contacted Hershey Entertainment & Resorts for comment about the possible strike.
Hersheypark, located 15 miles east of Harrisburg, is the largest amusement park in Pennsylvania. Founded in 1906, the 121-acre site boasts more than 70 rides, a water park with 17 water attractions and an 11-acre North American Wildlife Park, according to Hersheypark’s website.
It’s named for and themed in conjunction with the popular candy company.
However, a different park in the Keystone State was named as the top amusement park in the U.S. on TripAdvisor’s Best of the Best list.
It was Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, 42 miles north-northeast of Harrisburg, that topped the list. In doing so, the little-known park was ranked higher than Dollywood, Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure that also made the top 5.
“It’s got it all: roller coasters, kid-friendly rides (bumper cars, a haunted mansion), swimming, camping, a mining museum, and even a championship 18-hole golf course,” TripAdvisor wrote. “The accommodating staff, clean facilities, and fun attractions make for a memorable family-friendly visit.”
Knoebels is the U.S.’s largest free-admission park, although tickets for individual rides cost a fee.
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