Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane must resign. She has been mortally wounded by a series of allegations including the leaking of grand jury testimony, and she is prolonging the turmoil and chaos by her obstinacy in hanging tough. It seems as if everyone knows the ending of this sordid tale except her.

The Montgomery County District Attorney filed charges against Kane. Last week, Kane claimed that the allegations are politically motivated to try to cover up pornographic emails at some of the top levels of state government. She called on a judge to release these emails.But even here Kane wound up with egg on her face. Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders unsealed recently undermined her claim that a judge's order prevents her from disclosing these pornographic emails shared through government email accounts. The judge said it is entirely within Kane's power to release them on her own.Gov. Tom Wolf and other prominent Democrats have publicly and privately urged her to resign, but she continues to maintain her innocence despite mounting evidence to the contrary.Newspapers across the state are calling for Kane to quit and restore a semblance of order to the state's chief prosecutorial office. Pennsylvania residents have lost their trust in her and deserve better. After all, this is the second most important elective position in the state, next only to the governor.It seems that with each passing day there are new and disturbing disclosures and allegations against Kane.The irony of this smarmy episode is that Kane had burst on the political scene with such promise. From growing up in a tough section of West Scranton, she persevered despite a broken home and made a mark by allying herself with the downtrodden and underrepresented.After an impressive first year in office, she was being touted as a potential gubernatorial candidate to succeed Wolf after his two terms. Hardball's Chris Matthews even mentioned her as presidential timber.Last year was a catastrophic nightmare for the former Lackawanna County assistant district attorney. It exploded with the grand jury's recommendation that she be prosecuted over leaking information to the Daily News about an important case she accuses nemesis Frank Fina of letting go cold while he worked for the attorney general. She was also charged with lying to a grand jury to cover her actions. She also could be charged with contempt of court for firing a prosecutor in April as retaliation because he had testified to the grand jury against her wishes. Although Kane denies it, her obsession with defeating Fina and making him pay for his public and vocal criticism of the job Kane has been doing has turned into a personal vendetta.Kane is in over her head. She has not proven herself capable of running a large statewide office.Pennsylvania voters in 1978 decided to switch from an appointed to an elected attorney general. The feeling was that an elected prosecutor would be independent of the governor and other political forces.Now there are calls to return to an appointed attorney general. We are not ready to go that far just yet, but we do know that Kathleen Kane needs to do the right thing and resign - now.If she doesn't, the General Assembly should act to initiate impeachment charges against her.BRUCE FRASSINELLI |

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