Pa. governor urges top prosecutor to resign


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's attorney general faced growing pressure to resign today, hours after her conviction on charges she abused the powers of the state's top law enforcement office to smear a rival and lied under oath to cover it up.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who first called for Democrat Kathleen Kane to resign when she was charged a year ago, said in a statement shortly after the verdict that Kane needed "to do what is right."

"As I have made clear, I do not believe Kathleen Kane should be Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I believed this when she was charged, and today, after conviction, there should be no question that she should resign immediately," Wolf said.

Kane's lawyers vowed to appeal the case. Kane is not running for a second term in office, and she is not required to resign immediately. She could potentially stay in office until Jan. 17, when a new attorney general selected by voters in the November election will be sworn in.

But if Kane doesn't resign soon, the state Senate's Republican majority leaders have threatened a vote to order her removal from office under a constitutional provision never used in modern history. A prior vote in February narrowly failed as all but one of Kane's fellow Democrats stood by her.