Editorial: Time to step away

Attorney General Tom Corbett should quit his day job and focus on running for governor.

It's nearly impossible lately for the public to separate Corbett's law enforcement duties from his role as the GOP nominee for governor. Increasingly, his actions as attorney general are tinged with political ramifications for the November election.

For example, Corbett decided last week to pit Pennsylvania against the Obama administration's effort to overturn Arizona's new stop-on-sight immigration law. He joined several other state attorneys general in filing a court brief, arguing that the federal government's action violates state authority.

Corbett's move came without any consultation or warning to Democratic Gov. Rendell, who happens to disagree with Corbett.

As the independent and elected attorney general, Corbett is under no obligation to seek the governor's approval. But this constitutional arrangement raises a question of whether the state's chief executive should be left out of the loop entirely on such big issues.

When the players belong to opposing parties and the case is a hot-button issue in the forthcoming election, it's impossible not to view Corbett's decision as driven partly by politics. And that undermines public support for the attorney general's role.

The same goes for Corbett's decision in March to file a lawsuit to block the new federal health-care reform law from taking effect in Pennsylvania. Again, the state's top elected official was opposed.

Corbett argues that requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. But it just so happens that most of the state officials mounting legal challenges to the law are Republicans.

A spokesman for the attorney general said Corbett would be remiss if he allowed political considerations to stop him from taking the actions he believes are necessary. He said the governor's office and the attorney general confer on a wide range of issues.

But it's no longer possible to distinguish between Corbett's roles as top cop and candidate for governor. The time needed by Corbett to prosecute officials in Harrisburg in a wide-ranging corruption case also raised accusations that it has served his political ambitions, by carrying into the election year.

Elected officials frequently run for higher office without giving up their current post. But a prosecutor's job is very different.

Republican former U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan quit his post in 2008 before running for Congress this year. Republican Christopher J. Christie quit as the federal prosecutor in New Jersey before running for governor, although he was unlikely to have been reappointed by an incoming Democratic president.

Law enforcement should be as free as possible from the taint of political motivations. That's why Corbett should resign.