Pennsylvania Attorney General, Critic of Sandusky Probe, To Be Indicted for Perjury

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane
(Image: philly.com)

Kathleen Kane, the first Democrat elected to Pennsylvania's attorney general office, faces a perjury rap. It's an interesting cautionary tale into power politics and the muscle certain institutions wield to defend what they consider their turf.

A few years ago, Ms. Kane took on some of the Keystone State's most formidable and entrenched forces. According to a New York Times article on her current legal troubles, she "criticized her Republican predecessors in the state's attorney general office of stalling during their investigation of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State University (PSU) assistant football coach, who was eventually convicted of sexually abusing children." The investigation took "about three years before charges were filed," the Times noted.

The Sandusky-Joe Paterno scandal did more than simply rock Pennsylvania's political apparatus. Penn State, as an institution, has tremendous influence. Its research programs and other university initiatives generate hundreds of millions in revenue. What became evident during the investigation of Sandusky was the PSU administration's moral bankruptcy. Only when the US Department of Education hinted that Penn State's federal millions would be in jeopardy did the Penn State Board of Trustees and shameless top U execs surrender to decency.

Joe Paterno

Kane's crime in the eyes of many connected to Penn State was her hostility toward the Joe Paterno cult. The late football coach's backers, who remain a potent juggernaut in Pennsylvania, continue to attempt to rehabilitate Paterno's reputation to its once saintly status. They have succeeded in part, thanks to the NCAA's recent, shameful retreat regarding PSU football program's punishment for the Sandusky affair. (The litigation against the NCAA ruling was spearheaded by Pennsylvania's Republican Senate majority leader and the Republican state treasurer.) However, the NCAA knows Penn State is a big bucks football program, with an extensive alum network and political clout.

The current Pennsylvania AG, according to the Times,  also smoked out state employees who thought it appropriate to send unwanted, sexually explicit e-mails to others in state government. A state Supreme Court justice was among those who left their jobs in disgrace.

Whether Kane is innocent or guilty of perjury is almost a sideshow. How the Empire -- the Paterno cult and Keystone State poo-bahs -- strikes back is the more intriguing story.