In Porngate, special prosecutor faces opposition from Kane aides
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane's newly appointed special prosecutor, charged with investigating the so-called Porngate scandal, is running into opposition from Kane's top aides.
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane's newly appointed special prosecutor, charged with investigating the so-called Porngate scandal, is running into opposition from Kane's top aides.
Letters made public Thursday revealed that Kane's second-in-command, Bruce Beemer, who has been increasingly at odds with her, has demanded that the special prosecutor return 850,000 emails that are central to his investigation.
The prosecutor, Douglas F. Gansler, a former attorney general of Maryland, has refused, the letters revealed.
Beemer contends that Kane, in turning over the massive cache of emails to Gansler, improperly gave him many messages with confidential details of secret grand jury investigations.
Beemer said anyone who reviews grand jury material must get permission from Judge Norman Krumenacker, a top grand jury judge in Pennsylvania, who has not given such authorization to Gansler.
In fact, Beemer wrote in a letter made public by the legislature, Krumenacker is taking "steps to investigate the possible unauthorized disclosure of secrecy-protected grand jury material."
The emails handed Gansler - which are only part of the supply he needs to complete his investigation - contain a relatively small set of offensive messages, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary work emails in which prosecutors discussed pursuing criminal and civil cases.
State prosecutors routinely rely on grand juries to investigate crimes, especially those involving corruption, drugs, and Medicaid fraud.
In rebuttal, Gansler wrote that he and his staff had signed secrecy oaths binding them not to disclose grand jury materials.
"I advised Mr. Beemer that there is no basis for the return of any emails received and that no violations of any rules, rule or regulation have resulted from the provision of these emails," he wrote.
In 2014, Kane discovered that her office's email servers had been a hub for the exchange of sexually explicit content and messages mocking women, minorities, gays, and others. Her exposure of the emails has cost several top state officials their jobs, and led to the retirement of a state Supreme Court justice and pending ethics charges against another justice.
Kane has argued that former state prosecutors, fearful of being exposed as having sent or received pornographic emails, "corruptly manufactured" the criminal case against her.
She is charged with perjury and other crimes for allegedly leaking grand jury material to strike out at a political enemy and then lying about it under oath. Because of the criminal case, the state Supreme Court suspended Kane's law license pending her trial - a step that, in turn, prompted the GOP-controlled state Senate to consider removing her from office.
While Kane selected Gansler, a fellow Democrat, for the post, he says he is independent of her.
For example, he has said he would look into why Kane's sister, a prosecutor in her office, was not disciplined for her involvement in the questionable email traffic, unlike 60 other staffers.
Some detractors say Gansler is too close to the attorney general. They point to his public remarks critical of both the high court's decision to suspend her license and the Senate's bid to remove her.
Earlier this month, Gansler met in Harrisburg with State Sen. Art Haywood, a Democrat who is on the committee considering Kane's removal.
Haywood said that they had a general discussion about the committee's work and that Gansler did not attempt to influence him.
On Thursday, Gansler acknowledged the meeting with Haywood and said he had also met with other legislators, but only to get their views on the email controversy.
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Staff writer Angela Couloumbis contributed to this article.