Raising Kane
Nearly 3½ months after former state Attorney General Kathleen Kane resigned, a House subcommittee has issued a report that she misbehaved in office.
Of course, we did not need a four-month-long legislative investigative to tell us the obvious. After all, she was convicted of leaking secret grand jury information, then lying about it. That was just the tip of the iceberg, but certainly the most damning and the one that sealed her fate. Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail, but she is in the process of readying papers for an appeal.The five-page House subcommittee report essentially said that her conviction accomplishes the objectives of impeachment.State Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery, chair of the subcommittee investigating Kane's behavior while in office, said that the criminal conviction, for all intents and purposes, not only removed her from office but also prevents her from holding another public office. A successful appeal by Kane's attorneys might change this.Stephens said it would not be a wise expenditure of taxpayer dollars to push the impeachment proceedings at this time. He did allow, however, that it might be appropriate to do so at some point in the future in the event that Kane becomes eligible to run for public office.You may recall that we called for Kane's impeachment last year if she did not give up the office willingly because of her many indiscretions and incompetent behavior. We were delighted when the Legislature moved forward with the process after Kane decided to hang tough, but then the issue became moot with Kane's trial, conviction and resignation.The subcommittee also listed recommendations which it would like the General Assembly to consider. We agree with these ideas, which include requiring the attorney general to possess a valid law license at all times. (Kane was stripped of her law license last fall when she was originally charged. This severely compromised the legal but not the administrative duties she could perform.) Another recommendation would require attorney general office contractors and employees who provide legal services to possess a valid Pennsylvania law license.Other recommendations would:• Prohibit the Attorney General's office attorneys from having private law practices.• Clarify that the first deputy should be first in line to take on any duties that the attorney general can't fulfill.• Provide for greater legislative oversight over government agencies.• Create a mechanism for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing outside of their agency and provide greater protection for whistleblowers.• Provide explicit protection for individuals who cooperate with a legislative investigation.• Review grand jury secrecy laws.• Review nondisclosure provisions in legal settlements.We're hopeful that newly elected attorney general, Democrat Josh Shapiro, will restore confidence and integrity to the office once he takes his oath next month. This is the second time in 21 years that an elected Pennsylvania attorney general has been convicted of a felony.Republican Ernie Preate was elected attorney general in 1988 and re-elected in 1992, but resigned in 1995 after being charged with federal racketeering and corruption. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud involving a $20,000 campaign contribution and served a year in federal prison. He was succeeded as attorney general by Tom Corbett, who later became governor of Pennsylvania.In a bit of irony, Preate, just like Kane, was a product of Lackawanna County. Preate was the county's district attorney, while Kane was an assistant prosecutor in that county's district attorney's office for 12 years. They didn't serve there together, however.Kane came out of seemingly nowhere to win the Democratic nomination in 2012, then went on to win the general election over Republican David Freed by a whopping 800,000 votes.After her first successful and highly visible year on the job, she was being mentioned for bigger and better things, possibly even a race for governor. She was the first Democrat and first woman elected attorney general.Given the results we have had with elected attorneys general, perhaps we should go back to appointing them, as was the case until 1980, before Preate.By Bruce Frassinelli |