Kane
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Legal Newsline) - A Washington, D.C.-based GOP group that aims to elect Republicans to state-level offices reportedly has pulled a television ad against Kathleen Kane, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general.
The Republican State Leadership Committee's ad describes the former Lackawanna County prosecutor as "soft" on crime.
In particular, the RSLC TV spot referred to Kane as the prosecutor to a "weak plea deal" in a 2007 rape case.
"A judge rejected a weak plea deal she made because of the brutality of the crime and the age of the victim," the ad says.
However, Kane's campaign, the prosecutor and the victim's father say the attorney general hopeful had no role in the case.
According to The Associated Press, Kane's campaign sent letters from Gene Talerico, the county's first assistant district attorney, and the victim's father to the RSLC demanding it withdraw the ad.
RSLC told the AP on Friday that it would pull the ad, which aired in Philadelphia.
However, a spokesman for the group said it will be replaced with another that still says Kane was soft on crime when she was a county prosecutor.
According to its website, RSLC is the largest caucus of Republican state leaders and the "only national organization whose mission is to elect down ballot, state-level Republican office-holders."
Since 2002, the group has been working to elect candidates for the office of attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state legislator, it says.
Kane, the first woman nominated to run for state attorney general, is facing Republican challenger David Freed in the state's Nov. 6 general election.
Freed, Cumberland County's district attorney, ran unopposed for the GOP nomination.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.