The ongoing explosion that is mushrooming around Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has now begun to implode within her own ranks, as well.

Top lawyers in her office sent her a letter saying that they disagree that she can do "98 percent" of the job voters elected her to do even though her law license has been suspended by the state Supreme Court.The letter was signed by first deputy Bruce Beemer and executive deputies James A. Donahue III, director of the public protection unit; Robert A. Muller, head of the civil division, and Lawrence Cherba, chief of the criminal division.They also sent a memo to Kane and all agency attorneys saying that her interpretation that anyone who sends an email to the agency gives up their right to privacy. The memo was in response to Kane's justification as to why she released the private emails of state Supreme Court justice Michael Eakin in October.In typical fashion, Kane's spokesman Chuck Ardo brushed off the memo as a "difference of opinion." Nothing more.In a related matter, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said he had been contacted last week by a high-ranking member of Kane's office asking his help in removing Kane from office. He declined to name the official.Morganelli, a Democrat like Kane, had announced earlier this year that he will be running for attorney general in 2016. He said the Kane staff member wants him to issue a quo warranto, which allows a district attorney to remove an unfit public official from office. Morganelli said he told the person he would not initiate proceedings. Still, he characterized the attorney general's office as "a mess."In a statement, Morganelli said he finds it "alarming" that high-ranking officials within the office find the situation so serious that her own employees are looking to stage "a coup.""Public confidence in the office of the attorney general, as well as in our judges and courts, is being eroded," Morganelli's statement said. "I never imagined that it could get so bad."We have been saying this for weeks. Despite her insistence to the contrary, the evidence is mounting that she is a deceptive, vindictive and largely incompetent public official in whom the public and voters have lost complete confidence.The honorable course would be for her to resign, but she refuses. Instead, we are seeing the painful, inexorable death by a thousand cuts, which inevitably will result in her removal from office or a realization on her part that continuing to fight is futile.The state Senate last week set up a bipartisan committee that could result in Kane's removal under a constitutional provision never used in modern times. The committee must report its findings and recommendations within 30 days.The Montgomery County District Attorney's office has charged Kane with felony perjury and other crimes for allegedly leaking secret grand jury information to a Philadelphia newspaper, then lying about it. Kane denies the charges.In September, five state Supreme Court judges ordered that Kane's law license be suspended; the order took effect last month. So now we have an attorney general, whose election was contingent upon her having a law license, who cannot practice law. It boggles the imagination.Despite calls from Gov. Tom Wolf, former Gov. Ed Rendell and other high-ranking Democrats for Kane to resign, she refuses.We have been calling for Kane's resignation for months. In light of her refusal to do so, we demanded that the Legislature and the governor find a mechanism to force her ouster. That is what is happening now, and we applaud this action to bring this unsavory business to a timely conclusion so that this important office can begin to function normally again with a new and ethical leader.BRUCE FRASSINELLI |

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