House Judiciary Committee Majority Chairman Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin) will move legislation today to authorize the Judiciary Committee to investigate the conduct of Attorney General Kathleen Kane to determine impeachment at the committee’s regularly scheduled meeting.
“Rep. Garth Everett will introduce a resolution today authorizing the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the conduct of Attorney General Kathleen Kane to determine whether her actions in office merit impeachment,” said Rep. Marsico.
The House is charged with the constitutional duty to investigate whether inappropriate conduct by public officials, including the attorney general, merits impeachment. Recently, Kane has been the subject of a grand jury investigation and subsequently has had several criminal charges filed against her.
“It is obviously not our intention to interfere with any ongoing criminal proceedings. However, it is imperative that we fulfill our constitutional oversight responsibility,” said Rep. Marsico.
In 1993, the House of Representatives authorized the House Judiciary Committee to conduct an investigation into whether then-Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen should be liable for impeachment.
During the investigation, the opportunity was made for the presentation of both incriminating and exculpatory evidence to the committee, so that a reasoned decision could be made concerning whether to recommend the impeachment process go forward.
“With regard to Attorney General Kane, I believe the Judiciary Committee should initiate a similar investigation in order to determine if the House should proceed with articles of impeachment,” said Rep. Marsico.
The process Rep. Everett is proposing is distinct from the process currently being used by the Senate. There, a bipartisan group of senators has been convened as a special committee to determine whether Kane should be removed pursuant to a process referred to as “direct address,” which is different from the impeachment process.
Importantly, the Senate’s initiative is confined to exploring whether the suspension of Kane’s law license is sufficient cause for her removal from office. The impeachment process being proposed would not be subject to any such limitation on areas to be investigated.
“I believe the same deliberative process used to investigate Rolf Larsen now should be used with regard to Attorney General Kathleen Kane, which is why I decided to put Rep. Everett’s resolution on the committee’s voting meeting agenda for today,” said Rep. Marsico.
The House Judiciary Committee meeting will take place at the call of the chair today, Tuesday, Jan. 26.
Rep. Joseph Petrarca (D-Westmoreland) serves as Minority Chair of the Committee.
