Activist to ask Pa. court to force Kane from AG's office
HARRISBURG - A longtime Harrisburg activist is petitioning the state's highest court to force the governor and the Republican-controlled Senate to remove embattled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane from office.
HARRISBURG - A longtime Harrisburg activist is petitioning the state's highest court to force the governor and the Republican-controlled Senate to remove embattled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane from office.
Gene Stilp said he would file a petition with the state Supreme Court because the suspension of Kane's law license was to take effect this week. Without a license, Kane will no longer be able to make key legal decisions as the state's top law enforcement officer.
The suspension was set in motion last month as a result of criminal charges Kane faces in Montgomery County.
"The citizens of Pennsylvania will be paying 'General' Kathleen Kane - she will not be able to use the name 'Attorney' - $158,000 plus a myriad of benefits to not be the attorney general," Stilp said. "This will be unprecedented in Pennsylvania, and the citizens will not stand for it when the full force of this hits them."
Stilp is filing the petition under the high court's so-called king's bench provision, prompting Kane spokesman Chuck Ardo to quip, "Someone should tell Gene Stilp that we overthrew the king years ago."
A king's bench petition asks the high court for "extraordinary relief" in cases, but the court seldom accepts them. The name originated in English common law.
Kane, 49, the first woman and first Democrat elected attorney general, was charged in August with conspiracy, official oppression, perjury, and other crimes for allegedly leaking confidential information to punish a former prosecutor in her office with whom she was feuding.
She has pleaded not guilty and has vowed to remain in office while fighting the charges. She has said the criminal case against her was "corruptly manufactured" by angry Republican men trying to prevent her from exposing their years-long exchange of pornographic emails on state computers.
The suspension of Kane's law license is to take effect Thursday. Her license was suspended by the high court last month, but the justices stopped short of saying whether that means she could remain in office.
Kane has not said how she intended to deal with her curtailed legal powers. Attorneys general are responsible for signing key legal documents as well as approving criminal prosecutions and civil cases, among other duties.
Gov. Wolf has called for Kane to resign. Under the state constitution, he can remove Kane from office for cause after a two-thirds vote of approval by the Senate. Republicans who control the chamber have said they were researching how and whether to act on her removal.
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