Wednesday, February 18, 2015

ANOTHER leak in Kane case: "Clintonista" Edition

2/18/2015

Lanny J Davis Jr.



The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is angry that the leak case before it has sprung yet another leak.
The high court has asked the agency that oversees lawyers to consider disciplining Lanny J. Davis, one of state Attorney General Kathleen Kane's lawyers, for making public a sealed order from the high court last month.

"This is some definition of leak," Davis said. "I did it on the record, during a press conference, with all of the media."

Davis gave reporters a copy of the court's Jan. 21 order that blocked a Montgomery County prosecutor from bringing criminal charges against Kane. The court froze any action until it rules on Kane's legal challenge to a special prosecutor's investigation of her for allegedly sharing secret material.

Davis said Tuesday he had apologized for the disclosure, but said he had acted in good faith

. He released the document only after a reporter had sent him a copy of a high court order unsealing documents in the case, leaving Davis to assume the ruling had been made public by the court.

Though the two-sentence Jan. 21 order was placed under seal, the court had not made a secret of its contents. The court authorized a court spokesman to alert journalists and the public to the stay.

Davis, who has served as Kane's chief public advocate in the leak matter, went a step further and e-mailed a copy of the order, stamped in red with the word SEALED, to reporters.

This prompted the Supreme Court to make the referral to the Office of Disciplinary Council late last month.

Though not by name, Davis was also sharply criticized in a newly released legal filing by Thomas E. Carluccio, the special prosecutor who led the grand jury investigation into Kane.

The grand jury in December voted to recommend that Kane be charged with official oppression, perjury, and other offenses in connection with a leak apparently aimed at embarrassing one of her critics. Kane has denied any wrongdoing, and her four lawyers are arguing that Carluccio lacked legal authority to pursue her.

Carluccio wrote in the new filing that:

"Improper and unauthorized press conferences and press releases have been held and issued by outside persons placing a spin on the actual facts of the underlying matter thereby disseminating misinformation resulting in a disservice to the general public."

He provided no examples of the "misinformation."

Davis has been critical of Carluccio and the investigation, calling him one of a number of "male Republicans" who have been attempting to "railroad" Kane.

"I say that Mr. Carluccio owes a public explanation for what appears to be - maybe I'm wrong - a targeted, double-standard system of justice," Davis said last month.

On Tuesday, Davis said he was again calling upon Carluccio to investigate leaks from his own grand jury.



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