In her statement, Kane claimed to be the victim of a political witch hunt. Without mentioning names or specifics, Kane's statement alludes to her being targeted by Republicans, including Gov. Tom Corbett, and former prosecutors who worked under Corbett when he was attorney general.

"They have fought me all the way, including an effort to impeach me," Kane said in her statement. "Since taking office, I have torn up their questionable contracts, cleaned up their investigations, broke their pornography ring and prosecuted corrupt officials.

"I will continue to clean up Harrisburg, despite these attacks that seem to be more about politics than the merits."

Corbett, who leaves office this month, has stayed above and out of the fray for the most part. While Kane has been pitted in a heated battle with one of Corbett's former top prosecutors, Frank Fina, who ran the agency's public corruption unit. Fina ran the investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on child sex abuse charges.

Kane won election in 2012 in large part by vowing to investigate why it took several years for authorities to arrest Sandusky.

Fina, who now works in the Philadelphia district attorney's office, had been a vocal critic of Kane's vow to look into Sandusky, who is serving a 30 to 60 year sentence. When she took office, Kane also tried to stop Fina and another prosecutor from speaking before other state prosecutors about the Sandusky case.

In July 2013, the Inquirer reported that Kane was involved in a "bitter and secret legal fight" to oust a judge from his grand jury duties involving corruption investigations Fina prosecuted such as Sandusky and Bonusgate involving the Legislature.

The questionable contract reference in Kane's statement could refer to her February 2013 decision to reject as unconstitutional a contract that Corbett had sought to privatize management of the state lottery system. Part of the attorney general's duties is to review all government contracts.

A Penn State alumnus who is doggedly pursuing information about the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse scandal has hit a legal brick wall while seeking documentation on Attorney General Kathleen Kane's probe of Tom Corbett's handling of the Sandusky investigation.

A Commonwealth Court panel ruled Wednesday that Ryan Bagwell cannot have access to emails and other information that underpinned Kane's 16-month review headed by special investigator H. Geoffrey Moulton Jr.

Bagwell, operator of the Penn State Sunshine Fund, filed a request under the state Right to Know Law asking Kane's office to turn over all emails, letters, reports and other documents that were reviewed in the course of Moulton's investigation.

Kane tasked Moulton with examining how then-Attorney General Corbett handled the criminal probe that ultimately led to Sandusky's conviction and imprisonment. Based on Moulton's findings, Kane announced in June 2014 that there was no evidence to support claims that Corbett stalled the Sandusky case for political gain while he ran for governor.

The dispute over Bagwell's request for the Moulton documents went to Commonwealth Court after Kane's office rejected his request for access to the information in September.

Kane's open records officer concluded the request was "disruptive" and "insufficiently specific," and that the data being sought was exempt from disclosure because it involved a criminal investigation and was protected under attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrine.

In the opinion denying Bagwell access to the Moulton info, Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Rochelle S. Friedman agreed that the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product protections shield the documents from public disclosure.

Bagwell has filed so many court actions seeking access to Sandusky-related data - with mixed results - that Friedman cited her court's ruling in one of his earlier cases as grounds for blocking release of the Moulton records.

One would have thought the pope had come early to Montgomery County, given the horde of media that descended upon Norristown on Thursday.

That swarm, however, was gathered not for an early visit by the pope, but for a news conference at the county courthouse during which county District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, a Republican, announced the filing of perjury-related charges against Democratic state Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

A lawyer for Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Republicans and "angry men" are running a "railroad train" over Kane's reputation in an attempt to ruin her career.

Kane, the first woman and first Democrat elected to the office, is the victim of a vendetta by Republicans angry with her for investigating her Republican predecessor's delay in bringing child molester Jerry Sandusky to justice, attorney Lanny Davis said at a news conference in Philadelphia Saturday.

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"This railroad train seems to me to be driven by some men with grudges, men who are bitter and angry at being exposed and professionally embarrassed," said Davis, who made his name as a crisis manager for President Bill Clinton.

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Kane won election in 2012 in large part by vowing to investigate why it took several years for authorities to arrest Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant coach now serving 30-60 years for sexually abusing 10 boys.

Frank Fina, who ran the attorney general's public corruption unit, led the investigation. Fina, who worked under then-Attorney General Tom Corbett and now works in the Philadelphia district attorney's office, had been a vocal critic of Kane's vow to look into the Sandusky case.

He is at the center of the grand jury investigation that could lead to charges against Kane.

Corbett, who became governor in 2011, has stayed out of the fray swirling around Kane and Fina.

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