Rendell testifies about Kane before Senate panel

Former Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday urged a Senate panel to abandon any effort to remove Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane from office, at least until the state Supreme Court decides whether to reinstate her law license, as she has requested.

The panel is considering a recommendation that the full Senate oust Kane as the state's top law enforcement official because she does not have an active law license.

Rendell the state would face a "chaotic" situation if the Senate were to remove Kane and the Supreme Court later reinstated her license.

The Supreme Court, Rendell noted, has three new justices, none of whom participated in last fall's decision to suspend Kane's license after she was charged with leaking confidential information and later lying about it under oath.

"To remove her on this issue . . . would be the wrong thing to do," Rendell told the seven-member bipartisan committee.

Rendell testified at Kane's request at the last hearing the committee will have before deciding whether to recommend that the full Senate formally vote on her removal. The panel is expected to make its recommendation before the end of this month.

The committee is examining whether Kane can effectively carry out the responsibilities of her office with a suspended law license. The state constitution requires the attorney general to be a member of the bar.

The Supreme Court suspended Kane's license last fall after she was charged with perjury, official oppression, and other crimes for allegedly leaking confidential information in a plot to discredit a critic and then lying about it in testimony before a grand jury.

Kane, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty.

This week, she filed court papers asking the high court, on an emergency basis, to reinstate her law license. She contends that one of the justices who voted to suspend her had a conflict and should have recused himself.

Several legal and constitutional experts testified at previous hearings that the majority of an attorney general's work requires a law license.

Kane has said that "98 percent" of her job is administrative and that the office has been functioning smoothly.

Rendell echoed that position Tuesday.

He said that when he was Philadelphia's district attorney three decades ago, "95 percent" of what he did was administrative, was policy-oriented, or involved public relations or public outreach.

"I acted as an elected official. I acted as a policymaker," Rendell said, adding that such work did not require him to function as a lawyer.

Several senators questioned that assertion, seeking to learn why there should be a constitutional requirement for attorneys general to be lawyers if they don't need to use their legal judgment and training in their day-to-day work.

Rendell, a Democrat like Kane, urged the panel not to recommend Kane's removal.

Impeachment and trial by the legislature, he said, is the proper route, although he stopped short of agreeing with Kane that the Senate's removal process is unconstitutional.

"Your complaint with Kathleen Kane isn't that she has a suspended law license. Your complaint is her conduct," he said, adding: "Do it the right way. Impeach her."

Kane declined to appear before the panel. Instead, she designated Rendell and two others to testify on her behalf.

One witness, former acting Attorney General Walter Cohen, decided not to testify, senators said.

Jonathan Duecker, Kane's chief of staff, told the committee the attorney general continues to be an effective leader, despite having a suspended law license.

Duecker said Kane focuses mostly on policy work, not legal decisions, in running her office. He ticked off a lengthy list of policy and personnel changes made on her watch that he said had improved the office and made Pennsylvania safer.

His position contradicted testimony at previous hearings from other top Kane aides, who said they believed she could not effectively run the office with a suspended law license because so much of the job involved making legal decisions.

"I'm here to correct the record," Duecker said in taking the opposite view.

He said most legal decisions in the office, such as whether to prosecute cases or offer plea deals, were made by line prosecutors, not Kane.

Several senators appeared skeptical - and their questioning of Duecker over two hours turned testy at times.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) pressed him about whether his boss even showed up for work.

Duecker told him Kane often worked out of her Scranton office.

When asked when the attorney general last came to work in Harrisburg, Duecker could not answer.

"You can't be this effective, worldly, well-respected attorney general . . . but you don't come to work, nobody knows what you're doing, you can't make [legal] decisions, and if you do make decisions, it's in violation of the law," Scarnati said. "You can't have it both ways."

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