While the Post-Gazette’s endorsement of Stephen A. Zappala Jr. as the Democratic nominee for state attorney general was not unexpected, the rationale expressed was wrong on the facts and politically incredible (“Zappala for the Dems,” April 17) .

The attorney general is the top law enforcement official in the state, and any individual, corporation or other group that violates the law should be identified, charged, prosecuted and punished. But as everyone in the legal community knows, the actual prosecution of criminals constitutes a small part of the attorney general’s daily agenda — which is just one reason why nearly half of the nation’s attorneys general aren’t prosecutors. To suggest that Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro does not appreciate the basic concept of that office is insulting and incorrect.

The Post-Gazette fails to understand, unlike Mr. Shapiro, that thousands of Pennsylvanians have been hurt because we’ve had too many attorneys general who haven’t enforced our laws against significant problems such as consumer fraud. Such criticism reflects an alarming lack of understanding by the PG Editorial Board. Protecting our elderly population, the fourth-largest in the United States, from fraudulent practices should be a major objective of this powerful office.

The pursuit of lawbreaking frackers, gun traffickers and drug dealers, re-establishing a strong ethics code, diversifying law enforcement, ensuring education equity, protecting the rights of women and minority groups — these are noble endeavors that need attention from the attorney general and require us to elect someone who is intelligent, sensitive, progressive, articulate and intellectually dynamic. Josh Shapiro possesses all of these qualities.

I know from long personal experience that Mr. Zappala does not have those attributes. During the second 10-year period that I was coroner (1996-2006), Mr. Zappala was appointed district attorney — to fill a vacancy — by a vote of the Allegheny County Common Pleas judges, even though he had virtually no experience as a criminal trial lawyer. It was no coincidence that his father was a state Supreme Court justice at the time (and soon to become chief justice). Most relevantly, in 18 years as district attorney, Mr. Zappala has never tried a single case.

In all those overlapping years, when I repeatedly spoke out about drug-related deaths, conducted open inquests on all police-related deaths and addressed other tragic scenarios involving possible criminal violations, I do not recall a single instance in which Mr. Zappala ever expressed similar concerns. Indeed, it is well-known that he engineered a federal prosecution of me — all charges eventually were dropped — because he was infuriated by the inquests I conducted involving police-related deaths.

It is unfortunate that the Post-Gazette passively accepted Mr. Zappala’s rewriting of history and published his retrospective embellishment and blatant distortion of documented facts as the basis of its endorsement. Such a whitewash is a disservice to the citizens of our commonwealth.

I would have expected a factually correct and more knowledgeable analysis by the Post-Gazette. Your readers are entitled to journalistic honesty and integrity, rather than false statements piled upon condescending, dismissive comments about a much more highly qualified candidate.

Cyril H. Wecht served for more than two decades as Allegheny County coroner and medical examiner.

First Published: April 21, 2016, 4:00 a.m.