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| Ernie Preate | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ernest D. Preate Jr. |
| Birth date | 1944 |
| Birth place | Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Attorney, politician, jurist |
| Office | Attorney General of Pennsylvania |
| Term start | 1989 |
| Term end | 1995 |
| Party | Republican Party (United States) |
Ernie Preate Ernest D. Preate Jr. is an American lawyer and former politician who served as the 41st Attorney General of Pennsylvania. A native of Scranton, he rose through local and state legal ranks, became a prominent Republican statewide official, and later became the subject of a high-profile federal corruption investigation that led to conviction, imprisonment, and subsequent release. His career intersects with figures and institutions across Pennsylvania and national law, shaping debates on legal ethics, electoral politics, and federal prosecution.
Preate was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, into a family rooted in Northeastern Pennsylvania civic life. He attended local schools in Lackawanna County before matriculating at regional colleges and law programs that produced many Pennsylvania jurists and public officials. During his formative years he encountered legal and political figures who had served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and municipal offices in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. His education connected him with networks that included alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, and legal scholars linked to the American Bar Association and the National District Attorneys Association.
Preate began his professional life in prosecutions and municipal law, serving in prosecutorial roles that placed him alongside county district attorneys and municipal judges across Lackawanna County and adjacent jurisdictions. He worked with local Republican Party operatives and ran campaigns that drew comparisons to statewide contests involving figures such as Governor Tom Ridge and Governor Robert P. Casey. As his profile rose, he engaged with Pennsylvania legal institutions including the Pennsylvania Bar Association and appeared before panels related to appellate advocacy and criminal procedure, aligning with prosecutors from Philadelphia, Allegheny County, and other counties on shared initiatives. His political activity involved interactions with members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania state legislators, and municipal leaders, situating him within networks connecting Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh political circles.
Elected Attorney General in 1988, Preate assumed office amid issues confronting the Commonwealth such as organized crime prosecutions, white-collar investigations, consumer protection actions, and multi-jurisdictional litigation that required coordination with the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state attorneys general from New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. In that role he managed a large staff of prosecutors and civil attorneys, interfaced with the Pennsylvania General Assembly on statutory enforcement, and participated in national forums with counterparts from California, Texas, and New York. His tenure involved public safety initiatives, litigation against corporations in matters similar to cases handled by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, and collaborations with law enforcement agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Midway through his second term, Preate became the subject of a federal investigation conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation into allegations of bribery and extortion related to his official duties. The probe included witnesses and document production often seen in public corruption matters handled alongside prosecutors from the Office of the Inspector General and grand juries in federal courthouses. Indictments led to criminal trials where evidence and testimony called upon familiar legal doctrines adjudicated in federal district courts and considered in appeals practice before the United States Court of Appeals. Following conviction on charges arising from the investigation, he resigned the Attorney General office, a transition that involved successor officials in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and drew commentary from prominent Pennsylvania politicians and legal commentators.
After conviction, Preate was sentenced to federal custody and served time in the federal prison system, a period that paralleled other notable incarcerations of elected officials prosecuted for corruption. His incarceration involved the Bureau of Prisons and interactions with attorneys experienced in post-conviction relief and clemency petitions before presidential and gubernatorial authorities. Appeals and motions for sentence reduction engaged appellate judges and defense counsel versed in federal sentencing guidelines and prosecutorial discretion. Eventually, through legal maneuvers, cooperation considerations, or compassionate release mechanisms that have been used in other high-profile cases, he was released, reentering civilian life after completing terms of supervised release and probation supervised by United States Probation Officers.
Following release, Preate remained a figure of public interest in Pennsylvania law and politics, drawing reactions from scholars of legal ethics, commentators from media outlets in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and former colleagues in the Pennsylvania Bar Association. His career is cited in discussions of public trust, the regulation of elected officials, and reforms advocated in state legislative proposals and ethics codes. His story is often referenced alongside other state attorneys general and elected officials who faced legal jeopardy, contributing to scholarly and journalistic examinations of prosecutorial conduct, campaign finance norms, and institutional responses led by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the judiciary, and civic organizations. Category:Living people