As of today, the recently endorsed Republican district attorney Tom Hogan has himself a challenger for the county DA position. At Saturday’s Chester County Democratic Convention, West Chester attorney Sam Stretton was endorsed as their party’s district attorney candidate. He will oppose Tom Hogan for the district attorney position.
What do we know about Sam Sretton? We know that he has been practicing law in Pennsylvania for 35 years and has his own law practice in West Chester. Stretton handles many trials in Philadelphia and the surrounding area but his primary office is located in Chester County. According to his website, his practice emphasizes trail and appellate work at the state and federal levels, juvenile law, criminal law, judicial and attorney disciplinary proceedings, election law and first amendment cases. There is some other interesting local news about Stretton, showing his penchant for community activism.
If you are like me, and have followed the ongoing saga of the Barnes Foundation, you may have noticed that the art gallery is back in the news. Hoping to turn around the 2004 decision to move the Barnes Foundation from Merion to Philadelphia, a petition was filed this week with the Montgomery County Orphan’s Court Judge Stanley Ott. Representing the ‘Friends of the Barnes Foundation’ is the newly endorsed Democratic district attorney candidate, Sam Stretton. Stretton seeks to examine information that was unavailable to Judge Ott during the 2003-04 hearings. He claims that there are indications of misconduct on the part of the then PA Attorney General Michael Fisher. The details of Stretton’s petition can be found in the Friends of the Barnes Foundation press release.
The Chester County district attorney race just became more interesting. A few days ago, I was thinking that Republican candidate Tom Hogan would not have any opposition. The Chester County Democratic Convention changed that scenario today.