Corbett, down in the polls, may now have to face the porn

A BIG BATCH of porny emails may be the very last thing Gov. Corbett, trailing badly in the polls to Democrat Tom Wolf, needs to hear about right now.

Still, a judge yesterday said the state Attorney General's Office may release emails requested in the last two months by four newspapers, including the Daily News, which may have been sent or received by Corbett's top deputies when he was attorney general.

The newspapers, in requests filed under the state's Right-to-Know law, described the emails as "pornographic" in nature.

They have been described to the Daily News as sexually explicit and, at times, misogynistic.

One of Corbett's former top deputies, Frank Fina, asked Cambria County Common Pleas Judge Norman Krumenacker on Aug. 28 to block the newspapers' requests.

Krumenacker, who oversees a statewide grand jury, did so until issuing yesterday's order.

Fina, a former chief deputy attorney general, argued in his motion for a protective order that the emails were discovered during a review of the Attorney General's Office's handling of the child sexual abuse investigation that eventually sent former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to prison in 2012 for 30 to 60 years.

Fina, who prosecuted Sandusky, claimed the emails were covered by grand-jury secrecy laws.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat who in 2012 defeated Corbett's pick to take over the office, argued that the emails were not covered by grand-jury secrecy because they were not part of an active investigation.

Krumenacker yesterday split the difference, ordering that emails unrelated to grand-jury matters can be released while grand-jury materials must remain secret.

"Our lawyers are reviewing the judge's order," said Renee George Martin, Kane's acting communications director.

It was unclear yesterday when or if Kane will release the emails.

Krumenacker questioned in his order whether the emails are public records since they don't represent official activity by the Attorney General's Office. But he added he lacks the jurisdiction to block public records requests for non-grand jury materials.

Fina, who now works for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, did not respond to a request for comment yesterday about Krumenacker's order.

Chris Pack, communications director for Corbett's re-election campaign, said the governor has not seen the emails.

"He wouldn't tolerate that type of behavior," Pack said. "He'd be very disappointed."

Corbett's position on the emails has evolved in the last two weeks.

First he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review he knew nothing about them. Corbett's campaign told that newspaper two days later that he had been told about the "inappropriate" emails in May.

On Monday, Corbett said on Radio PA's "Ask the Governor" show that he does not know for sure if the emails exist.

The emails could further damage Corbett's bid for a second term in the Nov. 4 general election with female voters - a group that he already has trouble with.

A Quinnipiac University Poll last week found Wolf leading Corbett by 24 points, 59 percent to 35 percent, among likely voters. Corbett did worse with women, trailing Wolf 64 percent to 28 percent in that poll.

Kane and Fina have a long-brewing feud about the Attorney General's Office.

Kane was critical of the Sandusky investigation - speculating on whether politics played a role in what critics called its slow pace - as she campaigned for office in 2012. She vowed an investigation of how the case was handled if she became the state's first female attorney general.

A report released by Kane's office in June found no political motivation in the pace of the case.

The Inquirer reported in March that Kane declined to pursue an investigation, previously led by Fina, which used Philadelphia lobbyist Tyron Ali as a confidential informant to tape conversations with four Philadelphia state legislators and a former Traffic Court judge as they accepted cash or gifts.

Kane responded by saying Fina had dropped 2,033 criminal charges against Ali in an "extraordinarily lenient" deal that "crippled" the case. Ali was accused of stealing $430,000 from a state program meant to assist poor children and senior citizens.

Kane turned the case involving the legislators and judge over to Williams. His office now has a Philadelphia grand jury examining that matter.

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