Kane, without law license, says panel lacks legal basis
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Friday that a bipartisan Senate committee looking into the possibility of removing her lacks authority to obtain documents from her office, and she asserted that the only way she can be removed from her elected position is by impeachment.
Kane contends that the Republican-controlled committee has no authority under the constitution to remove her. She says she will not turn over documents and emails requested by the panel.
The Senate committee is to report its findings later this month.
Kane, a Democrat, had her license suspended on October 22 by order of the state Supreme Court in a ruling related to allegations that she leaked secret grand jury information.
This raises the question of whether Kane will accept the judgement of the Senate and Governor and increases the possibility of even more legal action. Or she could press her case against their authority in court.
“There is no evidence to my knowledge that I have become senile or mentally incompetent to hold office”, she said. Top lawyers in her office and across Pennsylvania disagree.
“The contentions that she makes in the letter are not grounded on our interpretation and the historical analysis that we’ve done”, he said.
Kane has said she can run the 700-employee attorney general’s office as a pure administrator, leaving the legal work to others. While she might wish that the constitution had listed her job as one of those exempt from the removal clause, it did not, he said.
The committee’s role is to see if there is enough evidence for it to recommend to the full Senate that it needs to vote to remove Kane.
Like Kane, both men pointed out that they had not been convicted of any wrongdoing, only accused of it. In the end, the Senate voted by 28-19 not to remove them.