AG's Office asked to review Sen. Wagner's scuffle with campaign tracker
HARRISBURG – York County prosecutors have asked the state Attorney General's Office to decide whether last week's confrontation between Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner and a campaign tracker for a liberal group warrants criminal charges.
Joe Grace, spokesman for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, said Tuesday that the matter was referred to his office this week and that the office would work with police in the central Pennsylvania town where the dust-up occurred.
Grace would not say why York County District Attorney Tom Kearney referred the matter. Kearney told the York Daily Record last week that he and Wagner, a state senator from York County, are longtime friends and that handling the matter would constitute a conflict of interest.
Kearney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The confrontation between Wagner, who is seeking to challenge Gov. Wolf in next year's election, and the tracker occurred last week at the Country Club of York. Wagner, a member, was speaking to a group of lawyers and accountants when he noticed the tracker in the audience recording his remarks.
Telling the audience it was "about to see your senator in action," Wagner strode over to the tracker and took his camera and its memory card. Later, he shoved the tracker's handheld cellphone camera.
The incident was recorded and posted online.
Wagner has said that the tracker was trespassing on private property and that he was within his rights to take the camera. The tracker has not been identified but works for American Bridge, 21st Century, a group based in Washington started by activist David Brock.
An American Bridge spokeswoman has said that while the camera has been returned, the memory card has not.
Trackers have become staples on the campaign trail over the last decade. They usually work for the opposing party, and part of their job entails trying to catch politicians saying something controversial or embarrassing. Even so, confrontations are uncommon.