State AG race: One Dem tops another with her own cash

A Pennsylvania political mystery has been solved. Just how much family money has Kathleen Kane, a former Lackawanna County assistant district attorney, put into her campaign for state Attorney General? The answer: $502,000 in donations and a $1.75 million loan.

Kane had $2,009,911 in the bank as of Dec. 31, according to a state campaign finance report due today. That's just about double the tally for her opponent in the April 24 Democratic primary election, former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who reported having $1,043,016 in the bank.

Kane put in $2,000 of her own money while her husband, who helps run his family's trucking company in northeastern Pennsylvania, put in $500,000 and loaned the campaign $1.75 million. Family and friends who also work at the company put in another $50,000.

Kane's campaign issued a news release earlier this month, saying she had $2 million in the bank, just moments before local attorney Dan McCaffery was to receive the endorsements of several political big-wigs in City Hall. Kane's camp refused to even respond that day to the obvious question: How much of that was her own money. McCaffery dropped out of the race last week, saying he had too late of a jump at campaign fund-raising.

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