Experts warn that Kane's inquiry into Corbett's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse case could damage Corbett's administration, demoralize career professionals in her own office, and complicate the prosecutions of the three remaining defendants in the Sandusky case, all former officials of Pennsylvania State University.
And if those risks aren't high enough, the investigation also could damage one of the state Democrats' brightest stars if Kane appears to be a partisan with a vendetta against the Republican governor.
"I just think she needs to be careful," Corbett said last week in an interview with Inquirer editors and reporters. He said Kane had a right to review his office's actions and has promised to cooperate, but added, "I don't know how you would risk an investigation."
Kane's pointed portrayal of Corbett as slow-footed in pursuing Sandusky was a major message in the campaign that made her the first Democrat and first woman elected to Pennsylvania's highest law-enforcement post.
It fit into Kane's broader theme that Harrisburg is run by a "good-old-boy" network that takes care of itself.
Kane, a former Lackawanna County assistant district attorney, has contended that Sandusky should have been arrested as soon as the first young accuser came forward - the better to get a dangerous predator off the street, rather than taking the slower route of convening a grand jury, as Corbett did.
Corbett, a career prosecutor before he ran for governor, has bristled at this critique. He said in the Inquirer interview that use of a grand jury was crucial to building a strong enough case to stand up against Sandusky, a popular coach in the revered PSU football program who also was held in high regard for his charity that helped troubled boys.
The explosive Sandusky case first came to the Attorney General's Office early in 2009 when a teenage boy told authorities he had been molested repeatedly by the former coach. It was referred to Corbett's office because the Centre County prosecutor had a conflict of interest.
The grand jury investigation inched along for months, Corbett said, until an anonymous tip led investigators to former assistant coach Mike McQueary. His account of having seen Sandusky sexually assault a boy in a locker-room shower "led to everything else," as Corbett put it. But by then, Corbett had been elected governor and the case was proceeding under his handpicked successor, Linda Kelly.
Thirty-three months elapsed between the first complaint and Sandusky's being charged in November 2011.
Democratic critics have contended that by kicking the matter to a grand jury, which typically takes longer to bring charges, Corbett avoided having a controversial case play out when he knew he would be running for governor.
Corbett, in the Inquirer interview, said that was ridiculous. He not only defended the use of a grand jury as a proven investigative tactic in sex-crime cases; he said that politically, he would have benefited if Sandusky had been convicted during the gubernatorial campaign - and that, Corbett said, would have led critics to rip him for exploiting the case.
