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8/14 Ups & Downs

A combative primary, a trio of special elections and a press conference unlike any other. See who made this week’s list!

Down ArrowKathleen Kane. The Attorney General has had many bad weeks. This one, however, may have been the strangest. Of course, we must start with that press conference. Instead of delivering a detailed defense against what she has been charged with, Kane decided to construct a political narrative around her enemies. Seeking to shift the focus to Porngate, Kane called on Judge Carpenter to release all the emails only for him to respond that the AG never filed an official petition. Additionally, in the last few days, Kane’s driver was arraigned and her law license threatened. It’s gotten to the point where we’re asking our readers how this whole saga will end. Finally, watching her fight back tears as she addressed her sons on live television, we were left to wonder what went wrong.

Up Arrow1Possible AG Replacements. If you’re looking to be the next Attorney General, however, this was a great week. The only downside is that there are a lot of you. First of all, there is the question of what will happen should Kane not finish her term. We reported that ex-Philly DA Lynne Abraham is already lobbying for that assignment. Then, John Morganelli and Jack Stollsteimer emerged as 2016 Democratic candidates. They join State Sen. John Rafferty, State Rep. Todd Stephens and Montco Commissioner Josh Shapiro as presumed or declared candidates for the 2016 race.

Down ArrowSteve Santarsiero and Shaughnessy Naughton. Negative contests tend to hurt everyone involved. If that is indeed the case, then this was a tough week for both competitors in the PA-8 Democratic primary. The Santarsiero campaign went after Naughton through her top strategist (and fiance) Josh Morrow. Pointing to Morrow’s role in the Kane investigation, Santarsiero’s campaign manager Gabrielle Quintana Greenfield questioned Naughton’s judgment. It’s not exactly rare for political contests to get nasty but you don’t often see it happen this early. If this week was any indication, the two Democrats are in for a long eight months.

Up Arrow1Philly Dems. You might have missed it, but there were three special elections last Tuesday. The reason you probably forgot about it is because all three contests were in Philadelphia. The Democratic Party, though, still held onto the three seats despite the fact that two of them were open because of the infamous sting operation that Kane shut down and Seth Williams restarted. If Democrats didn’t face any difficulty in this situation, then it seems clear that Philly is still the party’s stronghold.

 

Up Arrow1Ed Rendell. Speaking of Philly Democrats, Ed Rendell also had a great week as he got to throw his support behind two close allies. First, he was named chair of Katie McGinty’s Senate campaign. That election gives him the chance to help out an old cabinet member and finally get revenge on Joe Sestak for beating Arlen Specter in 2010. He also formally endorsed Jim Kenney, the favorite to hold the job he once held, Mayor of Philadelphia.  

 

While we have your attention, we’re accepting applicants for interns this fall. Please contact us via the PoliticsPA contact form.

The tweet of the week goes to the account born from the Attorney General’s unfortunate flub during her news conference.

12 Responses

  1. Kathy Kane should start Investigations into all The Judges Involved in Porn Gate and all The Senators and State Reps in PA She should also Investigate Carpoenter for all the Leaks he has made on the case She could Tie up everyone and bring charges against everyone This could start to be really Fun stuff

  2. Pat Unger, I’ll take some of whatever you’re smoking. They have Kane red-handed leaking confidential Mondesire documents and lying to a grand jury. Her own closest advisors testified against her. She’s done.

    The disclosure of porn emails, which is old news, may make you feel better because you hate Tom Corbett and anyone associated with him. But porn email is completely irrelevant to the charges pending against Kane.

  3. Kane is going to end up being vindicated. Unlike the “sting” case defendants, she isn’t going to roll over and take some deal that makes it look like they won. That is exactly hat they have been hoping would happen.

    Kane needs to expose the truth about what was going on at the AG’s Office before she got there. Apparently, prosecutors were close enough with Judges that they felt comfortable e-mailing them racist and pornographic material. Think about that. These are prosecutors who appeared in front of these Judges on criminal cases. Doesn’t seem Kosher …

  4. Kathleen Kane COULDN’T get into details on the case as it is potential evidence. That would have been foolish on her behalf. How and why this is all happening is relevant which is why she talked about that.

    PP is trying so hard to be a leader in this story that they are missing their opportunity to report on it as it actually has occurred. Add the missing pieces to the puzzle that AG Kane added and you start to see what is really going on here.

  5. Why doesn’t Fast Eddie run for the senate? Then he could start working on a federal pension.

  6. The Courier wrote a story based on Morrow’s admissions to a grand jury that were disclosed in Kane’s indictment. I guess Santarsiero’s campaign could have pretended that the story, Morrow, and the disclosures about him didn’t exist. By your standard, that’s the only way they could have avoided “get[ting] nasty.” Presumably, you think that nothing Morrow admitted doing, and nothing else about his past, raises legitimate questions about a candidate who would pay him for advice, have him handle her money, and (according to sources only PoliticsPA seems to have access to) become engaged to him. If so, PoliticsPA is either an organ of Naughton and her friends, or has a very peculiar sense of right and wrong.

  7. Release the pornographic, racist, and religiously offensive emails. Let AG Kathleen Kane prove what is really going on. Then we can judge.

  8. Peggy, if not for the comic relief she brings what possible reason is there to cover Kathleen Kane any longer?

  9. How does PoliticsPA know that Josh Morrow is Shaughnessy’s wife? Seems like there are some secret connections here.

  10. Peggy, just admit that you are in a fringe element of about 7 people who still defend Kathleen Kane. And the Boondog Millionaire Twitter account is hilarious.

  11. Just when you thought Politics PA couldn’t sink any lower, they print that awful tweet.

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