Lincoln Blog
July 22, 2010:
The Philadelphia Inquirer is calling upon Attorney General Tom Corbett to resign his position calling it a conflict of interest given Corbett's pursuit of the governor's office.
Corbett has rightfully rejected the suggestion.
First and foremost the Inquirer's call for Corbett's resignation is ideologically motivated. In its editorial calling for Corbett to relinquish his post as Attorney General, the newspaper cited his decision to join with other states in opposing the Obama Administration's heavy handed effort to overturn Arizona's new law seeking to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into that border state.
The Inquirer believes that Corbett's action is politically motivated, designed to appeal to voters. The newspaper also complains that since Corbett and Governor Ed Rendell disagree on this issue, that it is difficult to tell who speaks for Pennsylvania. (Guess which side the Inquirer takes on the Arizona case.)
Of course, it never occurred to the Inquirer editorial board that perhaps the person being ideological and out of tune with the electorate might be Ed Rendell. Further, it is the state constitution and the Commonwealth Attorneys' Act that empower Corbett, not Rendell to make the decision on whether or how to involve the state in such actions.
Simply put, Tom Corbett is acting within the constitutional power and scope of his office.
There have been periodic calls for Corbett to resign as attorney general, almost all of them from liberal newspapers, leftist interest groups or partisan Democrats.
But, the fact of the matter is Mr. Corbett is not required by the constitution to resign as attorney general to seek higher office.
Nor is he the first person to run for higher office while serving as attorney general. Two of his predecessors - Ernie Preate and Mike Fisher - ran for governor as sitting attorneys general. They did not resign and the commonwealth did not collapse because of their dual roles.
Resignation was not much of an issue in either of those past two races. It keeps popping up in this one. Perhaps because Corbett is on the cusp of doing something neither Preate nor Fisher did - win.
And it is that possibility, not the faux high-mindedness of Corbett's critics, which is really behind calls for his resignation.
