PENN LIVE COLUMN: …Backlash against Gov. Tom Corbett: Kane was a beneficiary of the backlash against Gov. Tom Corbett for his prosecution in the Penn State-Sandusky scandal. [Attorney General Kathleen Kane]made that prosecution a major part of her campaign asserting that “Corbett probably played politics with the Sandusky investigation,” charging that he dragged out the investigation to avoid raising the ire of Penn State supporters.
Performance in Office: Kane’s first year has stamped her unique style as a cautious but aggressive prosecutor. Early on she appointed a special prosecutor to review Corbett’s handling of the Sandusky case. Later she stopped Corbett from carrying out an unpopular plan to privatize the Pennsylvania lottery. Among other things she refused to prosecute a Montgomery County official who issued marriage licenses to same sex couples and agreed to prosecute a woman who aided her father’s death in a nationally observed case involving the right of terminally ill patients to end their own lives.
Charisma in a charisma-starved state: Lastly but certainly not least, Kane has brought some style, poise and aplomb – in a word charisma – to a state not known for it. Her charisma together with an inclination to cautious rhetoric helped her in the attorney general’s race to overcome a lack of experience and familiarity in state politics. In office that same style has helped her navigate the sometimes treacherous shoals of state politics while giving her a distinctive persona among statewide politicians. It’s likely to continue to help her enormously in the years ahead–already building heady expectations that she will soon run for major state office… (more)
