Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s term has been awash in scandal and lawsuits, which has poisoned the atmosphere of the AG’s office.

The staff members who remain deal with an atmosphere of trepidation, reports Wallace McKelvey of the Patriot-News.

“There was almost this sense that every day, they’d shoot another hostage,” a former staffer told McKelvey. “You never knew if they’d come for you.”

According to court filings in the criminal case and lawsuits from ex-staffers, the office was defined by a “culture of paranoia,” as Kane fought against enemies both real and imagined.

As a result of this atmosphere, many employees have left while those remaining worry about their job security.  

“I joked with people initially that I was suffering PTSD,” one ex-staffer stated. “But I think that was actually true. When people [at my new job] would compliment my work product or thank me for working hard, I was looking over my shoulder all the time to see if there was a knife in my back.”

Kane does not often show up to the main office in Harrisburg, instead choosing to work in the Scranton office closer to home. Although she apparently still has eyes and ears in the state’s capital.

For his article, McKelvey was touring the office with Kane’s spokesman Chuck Ardo when Ardo received a call. The Patriot-News reporter could hear Kane from several feet away. The office is now “off limits” to the press.