The State Senate will decide whether to remove Attorney General Kathleen Kane tomorrow.
Senate President Joe Scarnati announced the news with the following statement:
“After considerable discussion with members of the Senate it has been determined that a vote on the removal of the Attorney General will take place on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. A Senate Resolution will be introduced during session, which will be voted upon by the full Senate. Once again, I commend the Special Committee on Senate Address for their thorough examination of this matter. Prior to the vote, I strongly encourage my Senate colleagues to review all documents provided by the Committee.”
It was thought this method was losing steam, as the State House is currently considering impeachment as an alternative.
The removal process is spelled out in Article VI Section 7 of the PA Constitution:
All civil officers shall hold their offices on the condition that they behave themselves well while in office, and shall be removed on conviction of misbehavior in office or of any infamous crime. Appointed civil officers, other than judges of the courts of record, may be removed at the pleasure of the power by which they shall have been appointed. All civil officers elected by the people, except the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, members of the General Assembly and judges of the courts of record, shall be removed by the Governor for reasonable cause, after due notice and full hearing, on the address of two-thirds of the Senate.
Last December, Wolf stated that he would remove Kane if two-thirds of the Senate voted against her.
There are currently 49 Senators as Dominic Pileggi’s retirement leaves a district vacant. There are 30 GOP Senators and 19 Democratic Senators. If all thirty Republicans vote against Kane, just three Democrats would be needed to reach the two-thirds threshold.
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61 Responses
The pathetic retard troll knows ALL ABOUT places like the one in the movie. He may even live in one now!!! He probably fancies himself the Jack Nicholson character.
Rollo, it doesn’t take the mafia for people to be corrupt, as all of Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties prove every day.
Yeah, Scranton…and I’m sure you are just crazy about what tha mafia did to the little kids in your neck of the woods.
This back-and-forth between HaHaHa and Rollo seems like a scene out of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
H: You may recall that Alleg.Co. D.A.Junior Zappala lent his “expert” assistance to the Kane prosecutor, teaching her grand jury how to indict with meager evidence. Sonny’s expertise in grand juries is fairly limited to grandstanding, publicity seeking and prosecuting women who ran a statewide campaign based on the Luzerne Co. Cash for kids scandal where his brother, Greg, was the jail keeper. Joan Orie Melvin was elected on the issue then promptly punished for playing politics on the job when Junior put a mole in her sister’s Senate office who found what she was told to look for then reported back, first to Zappala garbageman turned A.G, Tom Corbett who duly turned it back to Zappala for prosecution. The idea of a Zappala returning to a statewide office has been a necessary goal since the old man left the high court. The mafia knows that city hall is where the money is and they are going there no matter who gets hurt.
How so Rollo?
Just another battle in the Bazzano-Zappala-Porter mafia’s war on women.
Kane can file suit against Every Senator that Votes against her and The Commonwealth of PA for throwing her out of office Under the Proision the Senate is using Kane would have to be convicted first then she would claim Double Jeopardy if they tried to remove her in the House . All those Lawyers in Harrisberg and they cant figure out that they are taking an unlawful action against Katniss Kane ?
Goodbye Kathleen.
Kane is being singled out for a prosecution while the crimes of others are being ignored. She could/should file a motion on the Selective Enforcement issue. It worked in the steaming pile of dung (sting) case. DA Williams was reduced to personally begging the accused to accept the plea deal. And why wouldn’t she!?! She got no punishment, got to keep her pension, and gets her record expunged so it is as if she was never arrested. All her lawyer had to do was play along with the charade.
She will also make sure that the credibility and bias evidence is brought to light. The people behind the charges (Fina and Castille) had a motive to discredit her. They have since committed their own crimes.
Don’t get me started on Josh Morrow. I will say that if Morrow is an honest guy, then the cooperator on the sting case is a liar and misled his handlers.
HaHaHa-
That’s what I meant. The judge could limit the perjury “evidence” due to the inconsistent statements by the witnesses against Kane, being one example.
Back when they had that Paula Jones case, the judge ruled against her, but said something very interesting in the rule. If EVERYTHING she said was true and Clinton had mounted no defense, the judge said there was still no case.
So, the case never should have been brought nor Clinton deposed. The entire case should have been dismissed once the plaintiff submitted her complaint.
Steele (not Castor)
DD – what are you talking about? Judges don’t control which criminal cases go to trial. The DA does.
A Judge can grant defense motions. A Judge can limit the evidence that will be introduced. But the Judge doesn’t have the control you suggest.
That said — this case is a dead loser that Castor would be an idiot to pursue further. The star witness has told two different stories. The perjury charges are bull-shit. And everyone who touches anything Fina is involved with gets BURNED. Look at Seth Williams. His career was going great until he got into bed with Fina. He’s bad news. So is this “case” against Kane.
Jessica Myers-
No legitimate judge would let this case come to trial.
Jessica, well said. I’ve said before that Diano could witness Kathleen Kane murder someone in the street and profess her innocence. Magically, however, if you change her political registration to “R,” Diano starts gloating about what a slam-dunk murder case it is.
DD — You are relentlessly ignorant.
Jessica Myers-
With Kane removed from office, the GOP judge has no reason to proceed with the farce any longer.
Back from 4 months in Italy and the last month in Florida. Hope I didn’t miss anything.
please just go home.
That MontCo trial is going to be so much fun!! The new 1st Assistant in DA will certainly not do anything to protect Frank Fina. The new 1st Assistant in MontCo knows the deal with Fina. He saw … and smelled … it first-hand when he was the 1st Assistant in Philadelphia. Word on the street is that he resigned when Seth Williams refused to fire that corrupt, dishonest, racist POS.
Don’t get me wrong though – I want him to try it. My POPCORN is on order!!
Steele would be a moron to try that case. He will also be labeled corrupt. After all – selective enforcement is a form of corruption. And – right now – there have been scores of illegal leaks. Only one person is being prosecuted. That is a form of corruption. You can look it up …
DD — Disagree. Not with your underlying premise but with your prognostication. Short of a guilty plea, Steele tries that case.
@ d2:
If they remove Kane by other means, there will be a trial anyway, because the only purpose of the trial in the first place was to determine her innocence/guilt regarding the charges…just like any other trial [and as per your previously-asserted yearnings].
Jessica Myers-
If they remove Kane by other means, there will be no trial at all.
(Because the only purpose of the trial in the first place was to remove her.)
@ d2:
“With an August trial, A CONVICTION right before the election is going to hurt the DEM AG candidate.”
@ Wait…:
“The provision upon which they are seeking removal simply does apply to this case” because “reasonable cause” exists, she has received “due notice and full hearing,” and [presumably] the action will be taken “on the address of two-thirds of the Senate.”
*fail*
570 Sucks — Sounds like you’re agreeing with me that the vote will, eh?
Unger — Trials never occur on their initially-scheduled dates.
Jessica – What makes you say there will be no trial in August?
I already bought my popcorn!!
The whole Kane mess just needs to go away. That said, the provision upon which they are seeking removal simply does not apply to this case. Read it. She has not been convicted of anything and deserves her day in court. In fact, if she was removed-which I highly doubt- the Supreme Court will overturn the action. What an embarrassment if the R controlled senate removes her and she is found not guilty. Than what???
Only someone as irrational as Kane would take a trial. She got caught red-handed and her only defense is “yeah, I broke the law, but look at these porn emails.”
The Senate won’t vote party line. There will be at least one Republican voting against removal and probably one or more Democrats voting for it.
DD — They will be no trial in August.
570 Sucks — They are cowards. They do not wish to earn the scrutiny of the courts.
Take it the bank. The vote will fail.
Scranton Sucks
With an August trial, an acquittal right before the election is going to hurt the GOP AG candidate.
Jessica, Kane is still good for business if she is removed. She will be in the news for her criminal case and any challenge she would bring to the Senate removal. She will be in the news when rulings are made on cases where she is being sued. Kane is a nearly endless source of bad news for the Dems.
SS — Kane is good for business. The longer she remains in office, the more likely they are to take back the office in November.
In like vein, by putting it up for a vote and having it fail, they get to have it both ways. They appear responsible and decisive on the one hand but do not have to worry about the courts overturning their action on the other.
[haiku]
If AG-Kane has any more
“goods”
on anyone else,
she had better file ASAP.
kraig — Council will also have some questions about the new position Seth Williams created for Bob Levant’s wife.
Levant is Tyron Ali’s lawyer. He negotiated a sweetheart plea deal with Frank Fina. In that deal, his client, Ali, did not have to plead guilty to anything. He just walked out of jail. Also in that deal, Fina let Ali keep the $400,000.00 he stope from PA taxpayers.
This deal between Fina and Levant occurred in the 11th hour – right before Kane was set to take Office.
Guess who one of Fina’s lawyers is? One of the lawyers who, with Fina, is suing the State of PA for more taxpayer $$$? Yep – Bob Levant. Fina (the racist prosecutor) and Ali (the con-man that got away scot-free with $400 large) have the SAME LAWYER.
And now that lawyer’s wife (Kathy Martin) walks off the street into a high-paying government job with Seth Williams (Frank Fina’s new best buddy). She has negligible prosecutorial experience and zero general counsel experience.
Is Williams going to say this is all just a coincidence? It just so happens that the unqualified person you hired off the street to a high-paying job just so happens to be the wife of Fina’s lawyer? It just so happens that they have a $$$-driven motive to discredit AG Kane? Is anyone going to ask him ahead of the Budget hearings?
Jessica, what makes you say that the Republicans wish for the vote to fail?
Unger–Straight party-line vote.
Jessica – What makes you say the vote will fail?
Interesting timing, 6 days before the filing deadline, as she has petitions circulating.
When does Philadelphia’s City Council get to decide on the DA’s Office’s Budget? That is the date I am looking forward to. After all – Williams continues to employ racists and woman-haters (Fina and his driver, Costanzo).
And now that the Superior Court has found that Frank Fina’s conduct in the Penn State case was “highly improper,” we know that he is morally bankrupt and also unethical as a prosecutor. He lied to a Judge. He got caught. He sent racist e-mails to his white male buddies. City Council must be chomping at the bit!!
For the second time ever, I agree with the TEA-guzzling mental patient:
“it’s not unreasonable to anticipate that at least three Dems” will vote to remove Kane.
After all – there are Repervlicans and Dumbocrats caught up in Hate-gate. I am sure that there are Ds that have close friends/associates that will lose a lot if they get EXPOSED as racists, perverts, woman-haters and/or corrupt ayy-holes. Those Ds will join the Clown Car.
This isn’t that complicated. The cross-hairs are on Kane because she has the goods on a TON of people … and they are NOT all Repervlicans.
The merits notwithstanding, the vote will fail.
Just as the R’s wish.
Natural gas comes from turdzai.
Senate should be investigating Turzai for bribery
http://www.ragingchickenpress.org/2016/02/09/pabudget-speaker-turzai-received-over-50000-from-natural-gas-during-since-killing-severance-tax-debate/
Or maybe the AG office should be (or already is) looking into this.
And it’s not unreasonable to think that Repubs may see an advantage to keeping in office until her term expires. After all, this all political anyway. The outcome (and the votes) may end up going quite differently than first conceived.
@ d2:
Senate votes tomorrow on AG-Kane Removal; it’s not unreasonable to anticipate that at least three Dems will want to end this abomination ASAP.