Corbett win could pose problems
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – If Tom Corbett holds onto his lead in the polls and gets elected Pennsylvania’s next governor in November, he will get the power to fill thousands of jobs. One of them is the position Corbett currently holds, attorney general.
That scenario raises the prospect of his nominee having to go door-to-door in the Senate to seek support from a legislative chamber that for several years has been a target of Corbett’s wide-ranging public corruption investigation.
The nominee would need votes from 34 of 50 senators to serve as a full-fledged attorney general, and it’s no secret that many lawmakers are critical of how that investigation has been conducted.
Those critics might think twice about broaching the subject with the hand-picked successor of a new governor with whom they will have to work for the following four to eight years.
“Are they going to say, ‘Yeah, they want my vote, drop the investigation’? Boom, you’ve got a subpoena to the grand jury to explain that remark,” said Ernest D. Preate Jr., who was attorney general until he resigned in June 1995 as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty to a federal mail-fraud charge.
“The reality is there’s going to be so much intense scrutiny from the media and legislative groups and political parties that Corbett’s going to have to appoint someone with stature,” he added.
The nominee could always respond with a prosecutor’s standard “That’s under investigation” form of “No comment.”
In a July 12 interview with The Associated Press in Philadelphia, Corbett dismissed as “cynical” a suggestion that his investigation of the Legislature might make it harder to get his nominee for attorney general through the Senate.
“I would find somebody who is very well qualified to continue the mission of the office of the attorney general,” Corbett said. “I would expect the Senate would confirm somebody like that.”
The succession process for attorneys general is laid out in the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, which made it an elected position as of 1980, in part to increase the office’s independence from the governor. The law states that until a nominee is confirmed by the Senate, the duties will be performed by the first deputy attorney general.
In Corbett’s case, that is Bill Ryan, a veteran prosecutor who has been with the attorney general’s office since 1997, and before that was a two-term Delaware County district attorney. Corbett won’t say if Ryan will be his choice.
“He has not discussed that at all, because he’s focused on continuing his job as attorney general and winning the election,” Corbett campaign spokesman Kevin Harley said a few days ago. “That would be a decision he would make after Nov. 2nd, if he’s successful.”
If Corbett’s nomination stalls – or he never makes one – Ryan would perform the duties through 2012, when Corbett’s term ends. Ryan would assume the position once Corbett resigns, which Harley said he plans to do immediately before the Jan. 18 inauguration.
Corbett’s Democratic opponent, Dan Onorato, has little to say on the topic other than that he expects to win the election, making it a moot issue.
Only one elected Pennsylvania attorney general has served the full two four-year terms allowed by law – the first one, LeRoy S. Zimmerman. He was followed by Preate, and Preate’s term was completed briefly by Walter Cohen and then by Corbett, chosen by Gov. Tom Ridge.
Mike Fisher stepped down as attorney general during his second term to accept an appointment to the federal appeals bench. Jerry Pappert, nominated by Gov. Ed Rendell, succeeded him in a deal in which he agreed not to run for a full term, after which Corbett was elected.
All of Pennsylvania’s elected attorneys general have been Republicans.
If the next attorney general owes his job to Corbett, he or she will undoubtedly feel gratitude to the new governor, although Preate said the office carries legal and ethical responsibilities that would be paramount.
“It’s like somebody that’s a friend of the president who becomes a Supreme Court justice,” Preate said. “Once you’re an attorney general you’re an attorney general, and you have to start doing things differently.
“Even if it’s your good friend, the governor.”
Mark Scolforo covers courts and the state Capitol for The Associated Press in Harrisburg. He can be reached at mscolforo@ap.org.