Jackass of the Year 2016

Kathleen Kane courtesy of the AP/Matt Rourke

Kathleen Kane was the Democrat rising star in Pennsylvania, a rarely elected state attorney in the aftermath of the trial of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, convicted on 45 of 48 sex abuse/molestation charges in mid-2012. Kane was convicted on 9 charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and oppression and sentenced to 10-23 months in jail and 8 years of probation. This was a clear abuse of power undermining the integrity of  her political office; Through a political consultant, Kane had leaked confidential grand jury testimony on Frank Fina, who had declined to file charges in a corruption case before leaving office, and then tried to frame others for the leak.

Kane had tried to divert attention from her own scandal by revelation of a high-profile email scandal involving high-level state officials who had shared pornography and/or made politically incorrect jokes or comments.

No doubt the Sandusky legacy has helped Democrats take over state leadership, including the governor's mansion; US Sen. Toomey (R) barely won reelection, maybe helped by Trump's unexpected victory last month. But Democrat Josh Shapiro, a county commissioner, succeeded Kane and her appointed successor in last month's election as well. This reminds me of how the Democrats have dominated state leadership since the Gov. George Ryan scandal (corruption involving motor licensing during his tenure as Secretary of State) despite the conviction of subsequent two-term Gov. Blagojevich. Other than Topinka and lame duck US Sen. Mark Kirk, the GOP, who had dominated gubernatorial elections since the 1970's, had been shut out until Rauner won a close race for governor a couple of years ago; the post-Ryan Democrat wave included the US Senate election of an obscure state senator, Barack Obama. The Democrats have dominated the state legislature in Illinois for decades including House Speaker Mike Madigan, whose daughter is the state attorney general. (Lisa Madigan would have easily won Obama's seat in the 2010 election: Kirk had announced that he would not file if she did. But she decided to remain AG; I suspect that she eventually intends to run for governor, probably after her dad retires.) Illinois and Minnesota have become the most reliably Democrat states in Middle America.