Lawmaker Renews Effort To Impeach Kane

By Andrew Staub | PA Independent

A state lawmaker Monday renewed efforts to impeach embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, tried to impeach Kane in the past legislative session and held a lopsided hearing about it earlier this year, but he has plans to update his articles of impeachment and file another related resolution in the new legislative session.

“I believe then, as I believe today, that she has displayed a blatant disregard and disrespect for the law,” Metcalfe said in a memo. “One of the primary differences between a year ago and today is that there are even more alarming incidents and allegations that call her ability to perform the duties of her office into question.”

Metcalfe’s efforts have focused on Kane’s refusal to defend the state’s Defense of Marriage Act, eventually struck down by a federal judge. She has also refused to defend a new law allowing the National Rifle Association and other membership groups to challenge local gun laws, further irritating Metcalfe.

The lawmaker highlighted Kane’s decision to shut down an investigation that caught several public officials in Philadelphia accepting cash and gifts from an undercover agent.  Kane contended she couldn’t prosecute the case, claiming it unfairly targeted black politicians and was “half-assed.”

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has since renewed the investigation. He has filed charges against a Philadelphia judge, as well as two state lawmakers from the city.

Kane is also the subject of an ongoing grand jury investigation into whether she leaked grand jury information. But she has not been convicted of any crime, leading G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College, to wonder whether Metcalfe’s impeachment efforts are solid.

Questions of judgment aren’t typically impeachable offenses, Madonna said, which, rather, are reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors, such as treason and bribery.

“I just don’t think at this point there are grounds for it,” Madonna said, adding that he hasn’t seen anybody other than Metcalfe clamoring for impeachment.

Plus, Madonna said, Republicans in control of the state House and Senate still want to push a challenging agenda that includes liquor privatization and public pension reform.

Democratic lawmakers didn’t welcome Metcalfe’s past impeachment efforts. They walked out of his hearing, which featured testimony overwhelmingly critical of Kane.

“Have your kangaroo court, pal,” state Rep. Michael O’Brien, D-Philadelphia, said as Democrats filed out.

Metcalfe’s previous impeachment resolution never made it to a House vote.

Kane’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. Metcalfe also did not return an interview request left with his office, but his memo outlined where he stands.

“Attorney General Kane is not above the rule of law,” Metcalfe said, “and the very troubling pattern of abuse she has displayed during her tenure as the Commonwealth’s chief law enforcement officer makers impeachment the most appropriate tool to rectify her repeated abuse of power.”