Kane to decide whether to release state workers' racy e-mails

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane must decide whether to make public e-mails of current and former state employees - some sent over state-owned computers and accounts - that purportedly contain pornographic images, jokes, cartoons, and other private messages.

A state judge lifted a stay Friday that prevented release of the material that Kane discovered during her review of her predecessors' handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual-abuse case.

Renee Martin, a spokeswoman for Kane, said Friday that the office was reviewing the order by Cambria County Court Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III and would decide soon.

Several news organizations, including The Inquirer, have asked to see the e-mails under the state's Right-to-Know law.

Former Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank G. Fina, who led the Sandusky investigation, had argued to Krumenacker that because the e-mails were discovered during Kane's internal review of the investigation, which involved grand jury material, they should not be made public.

Kane's office countered that the information sought did not relate to grand jury matters and was not covered by strict grand jury secrecy rules.

It was not immediately clear why Fina was seeking a protective order. Fina, who now works for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Kane and Fina have for months been locked in an increasingly bitter battle, one that most recently has culminated in a special prosecutor's being appointed to investigate whether Kane's office leaked secret grand jury material in a separate case that Fina handled.

The special prosecutor has issued several subpoenas to Kane's office and others to explore how secret records became public this year about a 2009 investigation by Fina involving Philadelphia NAACP leader J. Whyatt Mondesire.

The e-mails have become an issue in the leak inquiry, with some Kane critics arguing that her office is using the threat of their release as a way to silence criticism, sources have told The Inquirer.

A person who violates grand jury secrecy rules may be found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to up to six months in prison.

Given the tangled nature of the leak investigation, Kane might be hard-pressed to release the e-mails.

Complicating matters are Krumenacker's own words in lifting the stay Friday.

The judge wrote that the e-mails being requested do not relate to grand jury secrecy and that he therefore had no jurisdiction over whether they can be released.

But he made it clear that he believes case law makes it very difficult for Kane to make the information public. He cited court decisions that the Right-to-Know law only covers official records and that e-mails of a personal nature do not fall under that definition.

"Here, the e-mails sought are described variously as being pornographic or sexually explicit in nature, and as such do not appear to document a transaction or activity" of the Attorney General's Office, Krumenacker wrote.

The Inquirer has reported that the e-mails circulated among scores of officials, from homicide investigators in the Attorney General's Office to state prosecutors and other officials, as well as top Pennsylvania jurists.

The e-mails were sent between 2009 and 2011, when the office was handling some of its biggest investigations, including that of Sandusky and several public corruption investigations involving the misuse of state resources for political gain.

Gov. Corbett, a Republican, was attorney general until early 2011. He was succeeded by Linda Kelly, also a Republican.

There is no indication that Corbett received or was aware of the e-mail exchanges, according to people familiar with the matter.