HARRISBURG
Any way you cut it, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has had several good weeks since March 1.
Her comprehensive statewide grand jury report on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown brought to light decades of sexual abuse of minors by priests and alleged cover-ups by bishops. There are critics to be sure.
“How common is it that such a probe would extend back to World War II? Most important, why is it no other organization in the state has been subjected to such an investigation, when the problem is raging elsewhere?” wrote Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York. He questions why there's no probe of abuse by teachers, public officials or non-Catholic ministers.
Kane is Catholic. She says her effort is about protecting kids.
Thirty-four priests were named in the 147-page report. None were charged for a variety of reasons, mainly the time gap. Hundreds of children allegedly were abused, the grand jury report said.
Whether you agree or disagree, this report had punch.
“It sent shock waves through the community,” said Rep. Frank Burns, D-Ebensburg. It is being used as a rallying cry by those seeking to eliminate criminal and civil statutes of limitations, including Kane, for child sexual abuse.
Never mind that Kane dissed the whole notion of using grand juries in sex-abuse cases when she ran for office in 2012. Forget that her office had a still-pending complaint against a priest when she took office in January 2013 and the grand jury wasn't convened for 14 months based on another case.
Still, the report brought 250 hotline calls related to child abuse that might or might not result in a more recent case being prosecutable.
Then last week, she issued a grand jury presentment stemming from a two-year investigation of the late Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan friar, who might have abused as many as 100 kids. Charges of child endangerment were levied against three former Franciscan “ministers” who were accused of overlooking the allegations and re-assigning friars. Baker killed himself in January 2013.
What's different now: Kane, who faces 12 criminal charges in Montgomery County and has a suspended law license, has been attending these events and she's been doing the talking. She had said and done very little publicly since the charges were filed last August. Is she engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by directing such events? Senators were looking into that before a vote to remove her failed. While under that scrutiny, AG staff changed the news releases by taking Kane out the first paragraph and subbing in the “Attorney General's Office.”
Since Kane announced she is not seeking re-election, no one seems to care. She is back to personally announcing the cases in the first paragraph.
But take Kane and her antics out of it. Any objective analysis of her efforts since March 1 would yield high marks.
Brad Bumsted is Trib Total Media's state Capitol reporter (717-787-1405 or bbumsted@tribweb.com).
