There have been numerous legal filings concerning the actions of state Attorney General Kathleen Kane, including criminal charges against her. In addition, there have been many disclosures that employees and former employees of the Attorney General’s Office have been sending and receiving obscene emails with many others, including members of the judiciary. Many of the senders were employees on staff of the attorney general prior to Kane taking office.

In this flurry of charges and counter-charges, the bar and the courts have side-stepped a major issue. There is substantial evidence that employees of the attorney general have been communicating privately with the judiciary. This includes attorney general personnel and judges involved in both civil and criminal cases. A number of people have been dismissed from employment, or have retired. There are many others still employed in the Attorney General’s Office or in other prosecutors’ offices. What was the extent of these communications? How many attorney general personnel and members of the judiciary were involved? These figures, and the identity of the people involved, have never been fully disclosed. The fact that such people may no longer be employed by the attorney general or are no longer a member of the judiciary should not be a reason for not making an inquiry. What effect has the private communications had on what should be the arm’s-length relationship between the prosecutor and the court?

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