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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; With a 5-2 vote Wednesday, the Special Committee on Senate Address voted to move forward with the process of deciding whether to remove Attorney General Kathleen Kane from her office due to the suspension of her law license.</p><p>A few hours after the announcement, Kane said she may seek criminal charges in a scandal involving public officials exchanging explicit or offensive emails.</p><p>Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, sat on the Special Committee on Senate Address and voted for the action that will ask the full Senate to consider removing Kane from office.</p><p>&#8220;We have met the 30-day time-line and it has been a fair and bi-partisan, wide-ranging inquiry,&#8221; Baker said. &#8220;The question is whether the attorney general, acting as chief law enforcement official for the commonwealth, can serve without a legal license. This is an unprecedented situation.&#8221;</p><p>Baker said the committee now has 15 days to present what the process for the full Senate hearing will include.</p><p>Baker said the committee&#8217;s decision was based on &#8220;the thoughtful and responsible individuals who appeared &#8212; district attorneys, constitutional legal experts, ethics experts and four deputy attorneys general who appeared under subpoena.&#8221;</p><p>The committee looked at the statute governing the Attorney General &#8212; the Commonwealth Attorneys Act.</p><p>&#8220;We looked at the rule governing a lawyer under suspension and what they can or cannot do and how it impacts the commonwealth,&#8221; Baker said. &#8220;We decided the full Senate should decide whether action on removal is warranted.&#8221;</p><p>Baker said removing Kane from her office would require a two-thirds majority vote (34) in the Senate.</p><p>A Democrat, Kane is currently running her office with a suspended law license and is fighting perjury and obstruction charges for allegedly leaking secret investigative material to a newspaper and lying under oath about it.</p><p>Senators still must vote on whether to start a formal process that could result in Kane&#8217;s removal. The committee rejected Kane&#8217;s argument that the Senate lacks the authority.</p><p>Kane was the first Democrat and first woman elected as attorney general. All four of the panel&#8217;s Republicans voted to pursue an inquiry into Kane&#8217;s removal; two of the panel&#8217;s three Democrats voted against it.</p><p>Republicans control the Senate, 31-19. Should it accept the recommendation, the Senate would hold a hearing to give Kane a chance to defend herself and could ultimately vote on whether to remove her from office.</p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, has urged Kane to resign, but she has resisted.</p><p>Kane won the office in a landslide in 2012. Her term expires in January 2017.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Baker </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Baker-Lisa1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Baker </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle. The Associated Press contributed to this report.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Committee moves forward with process of removing attorney general from office