The case against Kane

With about 700 employees and a budget of more than $80 million, Pennsylvania's attorney general is responsible for prosecuting organized crime, public corruption, drug trafficking, child predation, insurance fraud, and more; enforcing consumer protection and antitrust laws; representing state agencies and employees in litigation and constitutional challenges; reviewing state contracts and regulations; and serving as a member of the Board of Pardons and other panels. In short, this is a full-time job and then some.

Given Kathleen Kane's evident struggles to handle these considerable duties even in more placid times, she would be hard-pressed to continue serving as the state's top law enforcement official while facing criminal charges. And according to documents unsealed Wednesday, a state grand jury has recommended that Kane be charged with perjury, false swearing, official oppression, and obstruction for a leak of secret grand jury information meant to embarrass a rival.

Whether to charge Kane will be up to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, whose careful review is welcome given the case's magnitude and the attorney general's long list of political enemies, deserved and otherwise. Under the circumstances, Kane should consider delegating her office's operations to a qualified deputy until the matter is resolved. If Ferman decides to proceed with criminal charges against her, Kane should step down until the case is over.

A representative of the Democratic attorney general has portrayed her as the victim of a conspiracy of Republican "men with grudges." The appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the leak was requested by the grand jury's supervising judge, William Carpenter, and approved by the state's recently retired chief justice, Ronald Castille. While both these men are Republicans, Kane's conspiracy claim sounds too much like a series of other unsupportable allegations she has leveled.

Kane's original feud with Republicans - namely, her predecessor as attorney general, former Gov. Tom Corbett, along with his top deputy, Frank Fina, and others - dates to her 2012 campaign criticism of their investigation of Penn State predator Jerry Sandusky. An independent review commissioned by Kane eventually failed to back up her most sensational claims.

When The Inquirer reported in March that Kane had killed an investigation of several Democratic officials also led by Fina, Kane dismissed the case as tainted by racism and unprosecutable. It's now being prosecuted by Seth Williams - Philadelphia's African American, Democratic district attorney.

The first woman and first Democrat elected to her job, Kane certainly stood to make enemies by virtue of her position and allegiances. But she can't and won't be charged with a crime just for being a trailblazer. If a fellow prosecutor finds cause to agree that she broke the law, Kane will have led herself far off course.