By John Celock
A new poll shows that most Pennsylvania residents want the state’s indicted attorney general to resign.
A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday shows that 49 percent of Pennsylvanians surveyed believe Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) should resign. Kane, who faced a preliminary hearing Monday, was indicted earlier this month on perjury charges related to allegations that she leaked confidential grand jury information. Kane has vowed not to resign, saying that she is the victim of a conspiracy to force her out of office to prevent pornographic emails from coming to light.
The poll showed that 27 percent believe Kane should not step down, while 24 percent do not have an opinion. The poll also shows that 20 percent of those surveyed approve of Kane’s job performance, while 54 percent disapprove of Kane’s job performance.
Kane, the first woman and first Democrat to be elected as Pennsylvania’s attorney general, skyrocketed from obscurity in Scranton to win the attorney general’s office in 2012. She was viewed as a rising star in the Democratic Party and a potential 2016 U.S. Senate candidate before the criminal allegations against her surfaced last year.
Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has called on Kane to resign, while state lawmakers have floated the idea of impeaching her. There have also been reports that the state Supreme Court could suspend her law license, which would make her ineligible to hold the attorney general’s office.
Kane used a press conference earlier this month to say that pornographic emails she found sent by prosecutors in her office and state judges could make the case on why the charges should be dropped. The emails, which have been sealed, she says are something that those against her trying to keep hidden. She has called on the emails to be unsealed, which has been denied. During a preliminary hearing Monday, her attorney made similar calls.
Kane has said her opponents want to keep the emails and their involvement in them hidden and that the charges against her are a way to remove her from potentially exposing them.