Metcalfe Again Attempting to Impeach Kane

Pennsylvania Rep. Daryl Metcalfe — of Butler County in Western Pennsylvania — is again looking for cosponsors on a resolution to impeach Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

In a memorandum circulated to all House members this morning, Metcalfe told his colleagues he was going to introduce the resolution again next session.

“I believed then, as I believe today, that she has displayed a blatant disregard and disrespect for the law,” he wrote. “One of the primary differences between a year ago and today is that there are even more alarming incidents and allegations that call her ability to perform the duties of her office into question.”

Here is more of Metcalfe’s memo:

My previous resolution, in the form of an amendment to HR 578, was the subject of a State Government Committee public hearing on May 6, 2014. During the hearing Michael Bekesha, an attorney with Judicial Watch in Washington, D.C., pointed to the Attorney General’s failure to perform duties given to her under the Commonwealth Attorneys Act. His comments rang true then, in regard to her refusal to defend Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and they ring true today, in regard to her refusal to defend Act 192 of 2014, my legislation to crack down on copper wiring theft and prevent illegal local government gun control ordinances. […]

Over the course of the past year, as new revelations have come to light regarding the Attorney General’s misbehavior in office, more Pennsylvanians are questioning her ability to perform the duties of her office and some are calling for her to resign from her position. This week Congressman Bob Brady called her performance into question, suggesting that she has been “asleep at the switch.” Despite the passage of time and the evolution of this issue, the core concerns regarding her performance in office remain the same.

The Attorney General has failed to perform the duties of her office on a number of occasions and she has engaged in misbehavior in office. Attorney General Kane is not above the rule of law and the very troubling pattern of abuse she has displayed during her tenure as the Commonwealth’s chief law enforcement officer makes impeachment the most appropriate tool to rectify her repeated abuse of power.

If you’re wondering, the contentious part of Act 192 is not the part that cracks down on copper wiring theft. (Late in the session, the bill was gutted and made into a gun bill, primarily.)

Metcalfe attempted to introduce the bill that would impeach Kane in May. He ordered security to remove a Democratic senator 10 minutes into a hearing on this bill, causing Democrats to walk out. “Have your kangaroo court, pal,” State Rep. Michael O’Brien said as he left the room.

Although Kane’s popularity has waned in recent months, Metcalfe’s first impeachment attempt in October 2013 caused Democrats to rally around her. At the time, Kane said Metcalfe was “loud, arrogant and misguided.”

[via Melissa Daniels]