Pennsylvania governor nominates replacement for convicted attorney general

MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews had always been a big admirer of now-former Democratic Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, so he was naturally beside himself on Tuesday night as he gave a news brief on Kane being found guilty of nine criminal charges stemming from a series of leaks to a grand jury concerning a legal and political rival.

Joshua Morrow, a former political consultant to Kane, could be regretting that testimony after word that acting Attorney General Bruce Castor released information saying that while Morrow’s testimony cannot be used against him in Kane’s trial, Morrow admitted that he was not truthful in previous grand jury hearings. Beemer would return to the attorney general’s office until a successor is picked by voters in November and sworn in January 17.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported then Beemer had “earned a reputation for being an independent voice within the increasingly dysfunctional Attorney General’s Office”.

Kane announced on Tuesday afternoon that she will resign her position as attorney general effective at the close of business on Wednesday. “I also want to thank Bruce Castor for his service to the office, and I wish him well moving forward”.

When she suspected a former office prosecutor had leaked a critical news article about her shutting down a statehouse probe, she chose to leak word that he had shut down an investigation into an NAACP official in 2009, the jury found.

Castor is a Republican former Montgomery County district attorney who has been a central figure in the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby.

Those sources say that lack of support stems from his decision to buck the party leadership in 2004 and take his bid for attorney general to the primary election. While Beemer was promoted into the top lieutenant’s job under Kane, he later clashed publicly with her and provided testimony that helped prosecutors convict her. Castor became first deputy attorney general last month. He took her place upon her resignation Wednesday. I have great faith in his ability and know that he will serve efficiently and effectively as Attorney General.

As authorities began building the leak case against Kane, she ordered the release of email chains, saying the misconduct allegations against her were concocted by a corrupt network inside law enforcement to stop her from exposing their raunchy exchanges.

“I thought making Mr. Cosby pay money was the best I was going to be able to set the stage for”, Castor testified, noting that the woman who brought the complaint could instead pursue a civil lawsuit, which she did.

Instead, Kane dragged the state through an expensive and embarrassing tenure, of which her resignation was likely the most appropriate step taken.

Beemer would need to be approved by the state senate. In late 2011, he was appointed Chief of Staff for the Office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania under Attorney General Linda Kelly and in 2013, he was appointed Chief of Criminal Prosecutions under Attorney General Kathleen Kane before being named First Deputy.

He entered Kane’s office amid her battles with top aides, spawned, in part, by the unprecedented situation of her law license being suspended by the state Supreme Court.