Yesterday, the State Senate assembled a special committee to investigate Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s competency to carry out the duties of her office. In August, Kane was charged with perjury, false swearing, obstructing the administration of law and abuse of office/official oppression, and her law license was suspended just last week.
All of this has called into question Kane’s ability to effectively serve as the State’s highest ranking law enforcement official, and whether or not she should be removed from office. The Pennsylvania Constitution provides two processes to remove a public official from office: impeachment under Article VI, Sections 4, 5 and 6, or removal by the Governor upon recommendation of the Senate under Article VI, Section 7.
Article VI, Section 7 provides that, “All civil officers shall hold their offices on the condition that they behave themselves well while in office and shall be removed on conviction of misbehavior in office or of any infamous crime. Appointed civil officers, other than judges of the courts of record, may be removed at the pleasure of the power by which they shall have been appointed. All civil officers elected by the people, except the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, members of the General Assembly and judges of the courts of record, shall be removed by the Governor for reasonable cause, after due notice and full hearing, on the address of two-thirds of the Senate.”
This process can likely prove to move much more quickly than the impeachment process, which requires an investigation by the House of Representatives, and then, a trial by the Senate. Articles of Impeachment have been filed against Kane in the House of Representatives, as is required under the Constitution, but no action has yet been taken by that body. (The impeachment process was most recently used to remove Justice Rolf Larsen from office in 1994.)
Consequently, President Pro Tempore of the Senate Joe Scarnati, by virtue of his authority provided for in the Senate’s operating rules, has assembled a “special committee on Senate address.” The committee includes three republican members – Sen. John Gordner (R-Columbia), who will chair the committee, Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne) and Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) and three democratic members – Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks), Sen. Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia) and Sen. Sean Wiley (D-Erie).
According to Scarnati, the committee is charged with “examining Ms. Kane’s ability to perform the functions of her position with an indefinitely suspended law license, as well as other possible areas that may impact her performance” and issuing a report to the full Senate within 30 days. The aim of the committee is not to recommend Kane’s removal from office, but to provide the full Senate with enough information to begin deliberating on whether or not to start removal proceedings under Article 6, Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
More from Scarnati can be found here: http://www.senatorscarnati.com/scarnati-announces-special-committee-on-senate-address/
Time will tell what the committee will find and how that will influence the full Senate taking any action to remove Kane from office. Stay tuned to this blog or follow us on Twitter @BuchananGov for updates.