DN Editorial: OUR SICK STATE

A FEW WORDS come to mind while reflecting on the state porn scandal, which erupted recently when Attorney General Kathleen Kane exposed a ring of state officials exchanging pornographic emails via state computers:

Stupid. Maybe "stupid" is not quite right, since these are all relatively high-ranking people, most of whom served under Tom Corbett in the Attorney General's Office. Maybe "arrogant and contemptuous" is better. But "stupid" does cover the notion of anyone working in the 21st century who doesn't understand - or remember - that workplace computers are not private and should not be used for questionable personal reasons. Then again, these are work computers provided by taxpayers, so maybe "arrogant and contemptuous" are more accurate words after all.

Underemployed. We know of no one in the modern workplace who has the leisure or time to be viewing much of anything of a nonwork nature. We don't buy that porn provides a healthy break from a stressful work environment, either. Next time, do what the rest of us do, and take a walk, or drink too much coffee. And the fact that such time was spent on the state taxpayers' dime, aside from being outrageous, suggests that too many state officials are underworked.

Maybe it's time to streamline state government.

Vile. The fact that many of the emails in question were distributed during an investigation of Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on charges of child sexual molestation is unspeakable.

Misogynistic. Porn is not illegal. But in the workplace, it's more than "inappropriate." Most of it objectifies and demeans women, and according to the Daily News Philly Clout column, many of the hard-core emails in question do that in spades.

In the context of a workplace investigating sex crimes, among other things, this business is sickening. One isolated incident would be disturbing enough. But a ring of highly placed officials, which might even include a Supreme Court justice, sending and forwarding pornographic emails is not exactly going to be spending much time building a workplace where women are going to feel comfortable.

Imagine you are an ambitious young man or woman who finds out his or her supervisor regularly looks at porn in the workplace. Young women especially would have little reason to have faith that supervisor is interested in creating a workplace that respects her, or is going to treat claims of sexual harassment seriously.

Kane's road to exposing this behavior has been a bit bumpy - she first said she wouldn't release the emails because they weren't public records, then changed her mind and let some reporters visit her office to view them. And according to a recent Inquirer report, former state prosecutor Frank Fina, now working for District Attorney Seth Williams, has managed to get a judge's ruling to prevent Kane from using his name publicly, so his role in the email scandal is officially unknown. But Kane is to be commended for bringing to light this disturbing behavior.

In some ways, this should not be such a big surprise - the anachronistic state of Pennsylvania has far too few women in elected positions, and could use plenty more in positions of power.

There's a way to change that: Let's start by replacing every person who resigns or gets fired over this email business with a woman.