Attorney General Kathleen Kane was notified this morning that the state Supreme Court’s suspension of her law license does not take effect for 30 days, her spokesman said. In this case, that will be October. 21, he said.
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NORRISTOWN The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order on Monday placing a temporary suspension on embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s law license.
“The hearing officer did not consider the wider policy implications of releasing these emails and how that might affect the privacy rights of every commonwealth employee”, Mr. Ardo said.
Ardo said Tuesday that Kane’s decision to release the emails was not revenge for the suspension of her law license or the charges against her.
Kane has said, however, that the criminal investigation into her was spurred by former state prosecutors who were afraid that she would reveal the existence of the pornographic emails. And while Pennsylvanians might not have a fully-functioning attorney general, he said “people should understand they continue to have a fully-functioning attorney general’s office even though she is not the one making the legal decisions”.
“I don’t think anyone will notice anything different with the operation of the office”, says attorney Mike Gianetta of Scott Township.
Ardo gave no timetable for the messages’ release. She faces a felony perjury charge for allegedly lying about the ordeal under oath.
At a hearing in Commonwealth Court on Wednesday, Kane’s attorney argued that only emails relating to government business must be released under the state Right-to-Know law.
But that scrubbing effort, Ardo said, will let all names of participants stand, in furtherance of Kane’s intention to put everything associated with the office’s once-secret, pornographic e-mail club out there for public scrutiny.
Recently, the Supreme Court obliged a request from Kane to release emails she had submitted to the court that show her top foes, including former state prosecutor Frank Fina and Marc Costanzo, were involved in the raunchy email chains. Those included email conversations about criminal investigations.
New York Attorney Gerald Shargel, who is the head of Kane’s defense team, declined to comment when called on Tuesday.
Kane, as a result, was known to have anxious that those orders might leave her exposed to contempt of court citations, or fresh charges of intimidation or retaliation against witnesses. The images ranged from graphic sex acts to scantily clad women to pant-less men.
In addition to not practicing law, Kathleen Kane’s suspended law license means she cannot serve on the boards of legal or public organizations.
Ms. Kane has pleaded not guilty and vowed to remain in office, despite calls from top Democrats, including Gov. Tom Wolf, for her resignation.
So for the moment, Kane will press on, proclaiming her innocence while she complies with an order that renders her the nation’s first-ever AGINO-attorney-general-in-name-only.
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Agents raided her office in Harrisburg on Thursday.
