By Tony Romeo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Pennsylvania’s new attorney general made big waves this week for what she said – and what she wouldn’t say – about a contract to privatize management of the state Lottery.

It was a big announcement. Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, was declaring that a contract to privatize management of the Lottery, negotiated by the Republican governor, violated the state constitution (see previous story).

But Kane refused to take questions; reporters were told to submit questions via e-mail to be answered later. Franklin and Marshall College political analyst Terry Madonna says the move was unusual, to say the least.

“Public officials owe it to the citizens of the state to hold press availabilities to answer questions from the press particularly when they render important decisions with huge implications; fiscal, as well as political.”

Meanwhile, a British firm has extended through Friday its bid to manage the Lottery while the Corbett administration mulls its options.