In midst of legal challenges, Kane won’t seek second term as Pennsylvania AG
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Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has decided against running for re-election. She is embroiled in a tangle of legal and political challenges. (AP file photo)
Pennsylvania’s embattled attorney general has decided not to run for re-election this year.
Kathleen Kane’s announcement Tuesday comes after a tumultuous two years in which she was charged with leaking investigative information to a newspaper to smear rivals and had her law license suspended by the state Supreme Court.
She began her news conference in Scranton by detailing her accomplishments, a litany that almost sounded like a stump speech for re-election.
“We have an innovative mobile street crimes unit that saturates the areas that they’re most needed in Pennsylvania and rid the areas of drug dealers and cartels and rid the areas of the violence that occurs there,” said Kane, 49. “We tried to make people’s lives better by doing that. We also re-created the child predator unit and because of that child predator arrests are up 800 percent in Pennsylvania.”
But then Kane talked about her trouble keeping up with the demands of the job while being a single mother.
“It’s not about me when I first started running, I said that over and over, this is not about me.” She said. “It’s about the people of Pennsylvania. You need a full time attorney general.”
Kane then finally announced she would not run again.
“This was not an easy decision, but the decision today I am comfortable with … I will sleep well with, and I am announcing I will not seek the Democratic nomination for attorney general.”
Kane was charged last summer by the Montgomery County District Attorney with leaking grand jury materials to the media and lying about it. Her law license is suspended, calling into question whether she can keep doing her job.
Kane vowed to continue in her job fighting corruption right up until her last day in office.
She did not answer questions after her announcement and with a quick wave she left the room.
Kane is the first woman and first Democrat elected Pennsylvania attorney general.
Her office has fumbled public corruption cases and she’s disclosed a government email scandal that critics say she’s used as a weapon against her perceived enemies. Meanwhile, the state House of Representatives is exploring her impeachment.
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