At first, second and third she didn’t succeed, but Kane is trying again

State Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane is aiming to revamp her damaged reputation.
She just announced she has hired Aaron Sadler as her director of communications. He was chief administrative officer for embattled Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. Before taking that job last year, he was Mr. McDaniel’s press secretary and director of media relations for five years.

“Aaron’s enthusiasm for public service and experience in state government and law enforcement communications make him an excellent addition to our senior staff,” Ms. Kane said in a statement.
Last month, Ms. Kane realigned her office by adding Blake Rutherford as chief of staff, the statement said. She also named a new legislative director, Mike Stefan, and an assistant press secretary, Cathryn Hinesley.
She needs help in her press operation because she’s been buffeted by lots of bad press for more than a year. She dropped a corruption case against five Philadelphia politicians, dared Philly DA Seth Williams to prosecute them, and watched as he charged three of them. Though she said the five were targeted for racial reasons, Mr. Williams, who is black, publicly scoffed at that notion. He accused her of dropping the case “out of pure incompetence, to gain political favor, or because of a grudge against other personalities.” Her spokeswoman said she and Mr. Williams simply disagreed on the merits of the case.
Ms. Kane is also under investigation by a grand jury looking into whether she illegally leaked information from an earlier grand jury investigation. She has testified before that grand jury.
Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Sadler have some experience in dealing with tough political environments. Mr. Rutherford left as chief of staff to Mr. McDaniel just after a sex scandal involving Mr. McDaniel unfolded in late 2012 and early 2013. Mr. Sadler stuck around, but the scandal derailed Mr. McDaniel’s planned run for governor last year.
Mr. Rutherford was Mr. McDaniel’s chief of staff from September 2010 to May 2013, when he was hired as a vice president at The McLarty Companies, a company owned by Mack McLarty, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.
It’s unclear how Ms. Kane hooked up with them, but Mr. Clinton, who used to govern Arkansas, is a close political ally of hers. He even called her the night she was elected to congratulate her.
Mr. Rutherford left Mr. McDaniel’s office just after a sex scandal involving Mr. McDaniel unfolded in late 2012 and early 2013, but Mr. Sadler stuck around. The scandal derailed Mr. McDaniel’s planned run for governor.
Mr. Sadler becomes the fourth person to head Ms. Kane’s media office. The four included former Deputy Attorney General Joe Peters, former WNEP-TV news director Dennis Fisher and Scranton native Ellen Mellody. Scranton Times-Tribune columnist Chris Kelly initially took the job after Mr. Peters left, but then changed his mind.
—BORYS KRAWCZENIUK