As is evident to regular visitors and especially from Keisling on Pennsylvania Politics, we despair over the long term corruption in Pennsylvania government and we believe that both parties have joined together in many circumstances to exploit the taxpayers. Moreover, the attorney generals with the aspiration of being elevated to governor have been lap dogs to special interests.
Therefore, whom we elect as the next state attorney general is of crucial importance to the state and, since no Democrat has served since the position ceased to be made by appointment in 1981, the election of a reform minded Democrat is highly desirable.
A couple of months ago we inquired of a distinguished Democrat observer concerning the qualifications of rival Democrat candidates Patrick Murphy from suburban Philadelphia and Kathleen Kane from the Scranton area. Our advisor said both were qualified, but former Congressman Murphy likely aspired to be governor while Kane was solely interested in rooting out corruption.
We met with Kane, had three meetings with her top managers, exchanged ideas by e-mail and phone, and made contributions to Kane’s campaign.
It became at times painfully evident that Kane’s mantra “A prosecutor, not a politician” is accurate, because the effort lacked the experience and sophistication that would be expected for a state wide campaign. Rather it relied heavily on donations from Kane’s wealthy family (they describe it as “a one time shot”) and then spent almost all of the funds on television and billboards, a questionable approach for a primary, as opposed to spending a significant portion for radio and print advertisements targeted at potential Democrat voters.
But we see this amateurism as a virtue. Here is a devoted, experience prosecutor, not a professional politician. She said she was not interested in running for governor at a later date… and even if she did run for another office, she pledged to resign rather than remain in office, something that Tom Corbett infamously refused to do. From what we understand, Murphy has only made such a pledge for his first term in office, which is tantamount to making no pledge at all because running for governor in 2014 is impractical.
President Bill Clinton come to Pennsylvania to give Kane a ringing endorsement: “Kathleen Kane would make a great Attorney General. She’s smart and tough. She’s prosecuted more than 3000 cases, protected senior citizens, and put child molesters and violent criminals behind bars… Kathleen is a great Democrat who understands that an Attorney General’s job is to stand up for consumers and people…She is the only candidate who has literally spent years—years— using the power of law to protect women and children from abuse, to protect seniors from financial scams.”
If Kathleen Kane wins, she will not be beholden to any special interest, only to the public. She should be a heavy favorite to win the fall general campaign since her Republican opponent has a very vulnerable record.
In summary, we endorse Kathleen Kane largely for two reasons:
1) She will investigate and prosecute both Republican and Democrat culprits, no matter who they are and what offices they hold or have held;
2) She is a prosecutor, not a politician. She will not bend to political expediencies.
