Is Kathleen Kane the Next Public Official to File Suit Involving the Inky?

NBC10 reports that PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane has hired a law firm to represent her in a possible defamation suit, following this week’s Philadelphia Inquirer report that she abandoned a sting operation in which several Philly Democrats were caught on tape taking cash payments. Attorney Tom Sprague told the station he has been hired, along with his father, Richard, to represent Kane in the matter:

Sprague and a source at the Inquirer confirm Kane and the attorneys visited the paper’s editorial board on Thursday afternoon.

During that meeting, which was scheduled before the attorneys were hired, Dick Sprague informed the editors that he and Kane are concerned about potential defamation issues related to their reporting.

Citing the defamation concerns, the attorney told the editors the attorney general would cease to answer any questions from the Inquirer, Tom Sprague confirmed.

Kane said she shut down the investigation because it was flawed, and possibly racially targeted. She said information was shared with federal prosecutors, who also declined to bring prosecutions based on the investigation.

She is the second Pennsylvania public official this month to raise the prospect of a suit against the Inquirer. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery filed notice earlier this month that he would sue the paper over stories that appeared in 2013, regarding referral fees his wife received for steering cases to law firms.