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AG Candidate Critical Of Corbett's Handling Of Sandusky Case

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pennsylvania will elect a new attorney general this year and the first step in the process is the April primary.

While only one Republican is running, two Democrats are seeking their party's nomination and one of them is the first woman to ever seek this office.

With the old attorney general now elected governor, the race is under way for his successor, and former Lackawanna County Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Kane says the office needs a prosecutor, not a politician positioning for higher office.

"I only want to be the attorney general," Kane told KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano. "To me it is not a journey, it's a destination. I have been a prosecutor almost my entire career. I loved being a prosecutor. I will pledge that I will not run for governor."

Kane, a former prosecutor from Scranton, is the first woman to ever seek that office.

She's challenging former suburban Philadelphia Congressman Patrick Murphy who, she says, has not been a prosecutor.

"I have prosecuted over 3,000 cases. I've specialized in elder abuse, child sexual assault and public corruption. And I believe the other element that separates my opponent and I is that I am not a politician."

Kane says she has tried hundreds of child sex abuse cases and is sharply critical of former Attorney General Tom Corbett's approach to the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State, especially Corbett's use of a grand jury.

"I have never once used a grand jury to investigate a case of child sexual assault for one reason – it takes too long. Your first priority is to get a sexually violent predator off of the streets."

Kane says had she been attorney general, the case would not have been delayed so long after knowledge of the first victim.

"We would have put as many investigators on as we needed to put on the case. I would not have waited as long as that case was delayed."

Kane says Corbett was just wrong in his belief that he needed more victims before prosecuting Sandusky.

In her view, one victim of child abuse is one too many and she would have acted a whole lot faster to get Sandusky off the street.

Kane and her Democratic opponent, Patrick Murphy, will face off in eight weeks.

The Republican candidate is Cumberland District Attorney David Freed.

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