Pennsylvania Senate panel to consider
removing attorney general
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[November 09, 2015]
By David DeKok
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A special
committee of the Pennsylvania Senate will begin a series of hearings on
Monday on whether the Senate should remove Attorney General Kathleen
Kane from office because of the indefinite suspension of her law
license.
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The hearings center on the state constitution's requirement that
the elected attorney general should have a law license, as well as
whether it allows the Republican-controlled Senate to directly
remove officeholders through a two-thirds vote.
Kane, a Democrat, had her license suspended on Oct. 22 by order of
the state Supreme Court in a ruling related to allegations that she
leaked secret grand jury information. But in doing so, the court
stressed that its decision should not be construed as effectively
removing her from office.
Kane has said she can run the 700-employee attorney general’s office
as a pure administrator, leaving the legal work to others.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Nov/09/images/ads/current/stacy_sda_121014.png) Unlike impeachment, which requires indictment by the House and trial
by the Senate, direct removal of a state officeholder only requires
a two-thirds vote in the Senate after “a full hearing.” The
procedure was last used in 1891. Kane contends that the Republican-controlled committee has no
authority under the constitution to remove her. She says she will
not turn over documents and emails requested by the panel.
“It is clear that this Senate committee is subverting the process of
impeachment and/or trial by jury and attempting direct removal based
upon an administrative action that relied largely on newspaper
articles,” Kane wrote on Friday in a six-page letter to John
Gordner, chairman of the Senate committee.
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Kane has not been asked to attend the hearing and will not send a
representative, spokesman Chuck Ardo told Reuters on Sunday.
On Monday, the committee will hear from several county district
attorneys on “issues” they have had in referring cases to the
attorney general because of her license suspension.
(Reporting By Frank McGurty; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
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