Harrisburg is turning into a lonely place for Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
After getting rid of her 10th communications specialist in two-and-a-half years in office and spending months defending her embattled Chief of Staff, Kane has turned her attention to the governor’s mansion.
On Monday, Kane filed a request in the state’s Supreme Court asking it to nullify Gov. Tom Wolf’s moratorium on the death penalty, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional and a threat to the judicial system.”
“Never before has a member of the executive branch of government sought to unilaterally negate a criminal penalty across an entire class of cases,” the Attorney General’s office wrote. “Never before has a member of the executive branch affirmatively interfered with the proper administration of the law on the grounds that the judicial branch of government has not functioned in a way that meets a personal standard of satisfaction.”
The Governor is working on a response to Kane’s filing in the State Supreme Court, according to the Associated Press, but press secretary Jeff Sheridan said the filing “makes the same arguments as the arguments currently pending before the court.”
In April, Wolf defended Kane’s position after a grand jury recommended charges be brought against her for perjury and contempt of court. In a May survey, 71% of PoliticsPA readers said that Wolf should tell Kane to resign.
Since then, the Office of the Attorney General has continued to be mired in scandal after scandal, with a new one seemingly never far off.
Republican State Sen. John Rafferty has announced he will seek the office, while State Rep. Todd Stephens is actively exploring a run. With AG Kane’s popularity so low, she may even face a primary challenge, most likely from Montco Commissioner Josh Shapiro.
Gov. Wolf has been one of Kane’s only supporters throughout the first year of his reign in Harrisburg, but that could be about to change. And with a re-election fight looming next year – if she makes it that far – Kane could use all the friends she can get.
Loading ...
22 Responses
Gosh darn it … Now my “new” popcorn has also gone stale ….
CUFF TIME.
GET YOUR POPCORN READY.
THE END IS NEAR.
Anon, as you probably already know, this issue just not that cut-and-dried. For some intelligent discussion on both sides, explore http://web.law.columbia.edu/attorneys-general/ag-101-brief-introduction-world-attorneys-general/state-attorney-general-nondefense.
Busta Perv: It’s not the judgment of the Pennsylvania Attorney General that counts in determining the constitutionality of a law. Absent a legislative repeal or judicial decision reversing that law, we obey it. That’s what rule of law means. It’s a slippery slope to do otherwise.
I respect the SCOTUS decision–the new law of the land–but AG Kane doesn’t get to make a unilateral decision regarding the constitutionality of a law. That’s not her job.
Mr. APOLOGIST … I did not receive the pornographic e-mails that the Corbett Pervs sent from their work computers … during work hours … on the taxpayers’ dime. Word is that they also sent them to Judges they appeared in front of on criminal cases. that is HIGHLY UNETHICAL.
Has anyone in your camp been able to dispute the fact that Sandusky attacked another child (or children) while the Corbett Pervs distributed bestiality porn from their work computers? The Press has reported that Corbett’s AG’s Office got the Sandusky case in the March of 2009 and that there was at least one more victim who was abused by that monster in the Fall of 2009. True?
“Caught having sex on top of the roof top in Harrisburg”
What is your fixation with the pornographic? Latent pervert for sure.
Anonomous – What law was it that AG Kane refused to enforce? Are you talking about the one that the US Supreme Court just ruled was unconstitutional?
Looks like AG Kane got that one right.
I keep waiting for Craig & Angela to write an article suggesting it was AG Kane’s cousin caught having sex on top of the Courthouse in Harrisburg …
The “first year of his reign”? Reign??? Seriously? Are you saying that Tom Wolf is a king? Or that he acts like a monarch? Is that an intentional editorial comment? Or just poor writing? Governors and democratically elected officials have terms. So this is the first year of his term, not the first year of his reign.
This is going to be how Kathleen Kane gets her mojo back? Really?
Kill the innocent babies; spare the guilty adults. What a platform.
Typo … Meant to type: “You sure seem dumb”
As you know – my position is that AG Kane should be held responsible for any crimes they can prove she committed.
But – I believe she was the victim of a politically motivated smear campaign … and that the people behind an investigation into leaks of secret GJ material should not be leaking secret GJ material.
I also think that people who launch an all-out offensive on the Attorney General should be exposed for their motives for doing so.
Larry – You sound seem dumb. Have a great night.
So Kane makes one blunder after another, even breaking the law, and all you can point to is porn emails? Thought so.
Larry – LOL … Were Fina & The Corbett Pervs so singly focused on striking out at their political target that they leaked confidential grand jury materials to the INKY?!?
Also – are you referring to the “porn” that was sent by Fina & The Corbett Pervs to Judges in front of whom they appeared in criminal cases? That “porn?” … The “porn” that included graphic violence against women? The “porn” that included bestiality? The “porn” that they used their work computers to view and distribute? On the taxpayers’ dime? That “porn?”
Busta Perv, you’re right. I can’t believe Angela (now that you’re not blaming Fina and crying about porn emails) made Kane promote a guy who was feeling up subordinate employees in a bar and then fire the HR director who recommended against it. How dare Angela make Kane fire a well respected prosecutor who testified against Kane, despite a protective order barring Kane from doing exactly that? The nerve of Angela making Kane so singly focused on striking out at her political rivals that she leaked confidential grand jury materials to the Daily News!
“Since then, the Office of the Attorney General has continued to be mired in scandal after scandal, with a new one seemingly never far off.”
That is true … if, by “scandal,” you mean a hatchet-job by Craig & Angela at the INKY. I keep waiting for their article about how a recycling item was found in a trash-bag in front of AG Kane’s home. Of a story about AG Kane hanging up on a telemarketer.
BTW – it’s Thursday. Thursday. Thursday.
Wolf’s position is that it is not okay to inject toxic chemicals into prisoners, but it IS okay to inject toxic chemicals into aquifers and the environment for fracking.
If Kane is trying to nullify the moratorium on the death penalty, that can mean only one thing….. she’s got the goods on Fina to put him on death row. 🙂
Anonymous, well said. There is no other way to read this than that Wolf has communicated to Kane that he will be calling for her resignation when charges are filed. So Kane is preemptively firing a shot across the bow. I happen to agree with her argument, and it should be obvious to any lawyer who has read the case law on “reprieve” power. But Kane suddenly re-entering the public light and doing so in opposition to the one guy who she needs in her corner is very telling of what’s coming down the pike.
That’s interesting. The AG who once refused to enforce the law is calling the Gov. out for not enforcing the law.