Attorney General Candidate Profile: Kathleen Kane

Two candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General in Tuesday’s primary election.

Kathleen Kane from Lackawanna County is running against Patrick Murphy to be the Democratic candidate for the office of State Attorney General.

Kane has run her campaign on the idea of removing politics from the office, both now and if she is elected.

“I think that in our state and in our country, politics has crippled our country and has crippled protecting people and that, I believe, is very wrong,” Kane said. “I am not a politician. I never wanted to be a politician …  I want this job and it is an elected position and so I have to do that in order to fulfill this seat.”

She has pledged to not run for any higher office until after her second term if she is elected.

“I think that when you have political ambitions like that in an office for attorney general, it colors your prosecutions, and we have seen too much of that in Pennsylvania, and it is time that it ends,” Kane said.

Kane has prosecuted over 3,000 cases focusing on child sexual assault, elder abuse both financially and physically, and public corruption. She said she sometimes feels the only priority of the office is crime, but she will focus on consumer protection and dealing with the mortgage, student loan, and banking crisis.

Following the primary election on Tuesday, April 24, the Democratic nominee will take on Republican candidate Dave Freed to be the state’s next chief prosecutor. The current attorney general, Linda Kelly, is serving out the term of now Governor Tom Corbett.

Kane resides in Clarks Summit, PA with her husband Chris and two sons, Christopher and Zach.

Essential Public Radio's Mary Wilson interviewed Kathleen Kane for this story.