Who Is Kathleen Kane? Pennsylvania Attorney General Will Not Seek Re-Election Amid Scandal

Dogged by criminal charges and the suspension of her law license, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not seek the Democratic nomination for a second term this year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday. In August, Montgomery County prosecutors charged Kane with perjury, obstruction of justice and other crimes for allegedly leaking secret grand jury material to a reporter and lying about it under oath. In October, the state Supreme Court suspended her license to practice law, and her trial is scheduled to begin in August.

At a press conference Tuesday, however, Kane cited her obligations to her two sons as a reason for bowing out.

“While I love Pennsylvania, I love my sons first,” Kane said, the Post-Gazette reported. “I am a mother first and foremost, because at the end of my life, I hope that history judges me well, but that's for time to tell. I hope more that God and my sons judge me well.”

Kane denies the allegations against her, saying she is being targeted by an old boys club that is threatened by her work exposing the exchange of obscene and objectionable emails by employees of her agency, judges and others. Her critics say she used the email scandal as a weapon against her enemies, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia reported. During her news conference, Kane promised to keep fighting the culture of corruption in Pennsylvania.

"I told you I would fight corruption, and I'm fighting corruption, regardless of the personal cost to me," she said, WPVI-TV reported.

While Kane barely survived a state Senate vote last week to remove her from office, the state House of Representatives approved an investigation that could lead to impeachment.

Kane was elected Pennsylvania’s attorney general in 2012, becoming the first woman in the post. She was born and raised in Scranton and studied at the University of Scranton and Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. Kane began her legal career with civil litigation in Philadelphia, and then became an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County.