Pennsylvania's 'Porngate' Scandal Is an Insane Mess That Proves Politicians Should Not Have Internet Access
A bizarre controversy is erupting in Pennsylvania politics, with the state’s Attorney General at the center, drowning in a pool of terrible memes.
In a series of dumps over the past year, the state’s Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, has been releasing email after email sent and received by Pennsylvania state employees and officials. The main themes of the emails are: racism, homophobia, sexism, bigotry, misogyny, pornography and, of course, memes. You can see some of them at the link below.
The content of the emails, of which some 10,000 have been released so far, is nothing short of jaw-dropping, according to The Washington Post:
A small sampling: A photo of a pantsless woman on her knees performing oral sex on a man is captioned “Making your boss happy is your only job.” A picture of a white man fending off two African American men while carrying a bucket of fried chicken reads “BRAVERY At Its Finest.” The sender of the email that shows a group of men engaged in sex included this message to friends, “How friggin gay are you?”
The ongoing scandal is large and scale and multifaceted: Kane herself is currently facing a criminal indictment for felony perjury, as well as more than one misdemeanor charge in another case—that one for allegedly leaking embarrassing information about a political enemy.
At the same time, the released emails have come back to bite her: several disturbing emails, including one that made light of domestic violence, were sent and received by her twin sister, state prosecutor Ellen Granahan Goffer.
Kane has been pressured to resigns, but maintains her innocence and says that she is the victim of a political “old-boys’ network,” according to The New York Times. So far, six other state officials have resigned.
There is much more to the controversy, including ties to the Jerry Sandusky investigation, politicians caught taking bribes and a bitter political rivalry. Most of all, the scandal should serve as a warning to every one who uses the Internet: stop sending memes.
