Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, described as being on a “high-speed political train,” may be angling to run for governor already. Regardless, her attempt to attach criminality to a limited impact incident that was either an innocent error, or a case of vandalism, is shameless.

Kathleen Kane is described in a Philly.com piece as a “high-speed” politician, one whose campaign slogan, ironically, was ”I’m a prosecutor, not a politician.” That article details a long list of actions already taken by the relatively new Pennsylvania Attorney General (in office for only a matter of months) that were obviously tailored to get her attention with key special interests in her party, possibly with a view toward running for Governor already. Her new slogan, the piece suggests, seems to be “Flag down a hot topic. Hop on board.” Her recent filing of criminal charges against XTO Energy, for a 2010 spill of gas well wastewater in Lycoming County, shows a lady that “doth protest too much” when she was using the first one in every campaign ad.

Political prosecutions, of course, are hardly new. Elliot Spitzer got to be initially famous by using his office as New York’s Attorney General to launch all sorts of high-profile prosecutions as tools to get attention. It eventually got him the governor’s office until his arrogance and role as Client No. 9 took him down. It’s a bi-partisan problem though and one addressed quite thoroughly in a compelling article in the Huffington Post, where the author concludes such prosecutions have “increasingly made us a nation ruled not by laws, but by politics (and by aspiring politicians). And once criminality is influenced primarily by politics, we’re all just potential criminals.”

http://naturalgasnow.org/kane-goes-political-against-xto/#more-1355