The Kathleen Kane scandal no one talks about

Still, and despite Kane's many well-documented failings, I felt a twinge of disappointment as the story blew up across my Twitter. Well, I felt it more as a "political observer" than as a Pennsylvania citizen. As Kane's stunning fall accelerated, she was determined to take down a chunk of the Pennsylvania political establishment -- a.k.a., "the old-boy network" -- down with her, and what could be more overdue? An April primary could have been a fireworks finale worthy of the Fourth of July, a hidden bonus verse of the Jeannie C. Riley classic ode to small-time political hypocrisy, "Harper Valley PTA."

Oh, well, Here's a couple of small thoughts on today's news -- and one bigger one:

-- There's an old saying that just because you're a lousy attorney general doesn't mean there's not a boatload of misogyny in the world. I was stunned this afternoon watching journalists from publications where any bias is normally strictly forbidden openly tweeting their unbridled glee over Kane's downfall. What the hell is that all about? I'll continue to maintain that ethically challenged male politicians simply aren't held to the same standards around these parts. Example? Ten months ago, a sitting U.S. senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, was indicted on corruption charges; not only is there little or no clamor for Menendez to leave, but his alleged wrongdoing is rarely even mentioned. Also, it's complicated, but every journalist I know thinks that whistleblower leaks are part of a healthy democracy, which makes the Kane-must-go cheers from journalists -- in a case that centers on her role in leaking grand jury info -- baffling to me.

-- This effort in Harrisburg to impeach Kane? Just stop it, already. We now know for certain, as of today, that Kane will be out of office in 10 months, while her guilt or innocence will be decided at a criminal trial. Given that, this impeachment process, which will consume a decent chunk of those 10 months and waste God-knows-how-much of our tax dollars, is a farcical waste of time. It's a way to give lawmakers something to do while they're NOT adequately funding our schoolchildren and NOT making rich donors who own oil-and-gas companies pay their fair share. It's ridiculous.

-- Here, in my book, is the real scandal of Kathleen Kane's one term...the scandal that no one is talking about. Pennsylvania's first elected Democratic attorney general (the job was appointed, as it still is in New Jersey, before 1980) frittered away a golden opportunity to reinvent her job, to become a real advocate for Pennsylvania's everyday citizens.

Some quick background: The reinvention of the state's top prosecutorial job coincided with that year's "Reagan Revolution" and the rise of the modern law-and-order state. No doubt, crime rates -- especially in Philadelphia -- were at historical highs in the 1980 and early 1990s; the initial slew of GOP attorneys general were pretty much elected solely on the crime issue, and they played a part as Pennsylvania's incarceration rates rose a staggering sixfold.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in states bordering Pennsylvania -- New York or Maryland, for example -- took a much more expansive view of the job. They aggressively went after polluters, established tough consumer-protection units, and even cracked down on white-collar crime, including (especially in New York, home to Wall Street) financial fraud. In 2012, much was made of Kane's election as the first female AG, but you can argue it was more important that she was the first Democrat, with a chance to show she could still take street crime seriously while keeping citizens safe from other abuses.

In this, she failed. Even in the first couple of years, when the press was good and Kane was touted as a possible future senator or governor, she had a knack for doing the right thing the wrong way. He two best actions -- stopping then-Gov. Tom Corbett's lottery giveaway and not defending the state's gay-marriage ban -- looked a little too political, and her big pollution case against XTO Energy felt like a "one-off." Then came the paranoia, the narcissism, and the feuding that resulted -- fairly or unfairly -- in the criminal charges and all the other craziness.

I'm on the email list for Kane's office and so I was flooded with their self-congratulatory press releases for going after child predators and assorted bad guys -- important, but also the stuff that any attorney general would go after. In a state rife with corrupt politicians, her contribution was leaking their smutty emails, which is something, I guess, but not nearly enough. She arguably did a little more on consumer protection than her predecessors -- because the bar was so low. But mostly her office picked the low-hanging fruit -- especially after her own scandals became the main focus.

Even though 2016 is a presidential election year, which usually boosts Democratic voter turnout, I strongly suspect that Kane's fumbles will hand the AG's job right back to the Republicans, which also means we can go back to protecting big business and big-time pols over protecting "the little guy" in Pennsylvania. That may not be an indictable offense, but to me Kane's missed opportunity is practically criminal.