It’s difficult to accept state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe’s stated objective for his one-sided impeachment hearing Tuesday against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

Metcalfe, R-Cranberry Township, chairman of the House State Government Committee, presided over nearly two hours of testimony supporting his case for removing Kane, a Democrat, from office.

In July, Kane refused to defend the state’s same-sex marriage ban against a federal court challenge because she believes it is unconstitutional. Metcalfe contends Kane’s refusal was a breach of duty, an act that he believes was unconstitutional.

The hearing seemed more bent on browbeating than fact-finding. Kane was not invited to testify, nor was anyone sympathetic to her point of view invited.

“I was seeking out people who would talk about her violating the law and the Constitution,” Metcalfe told reporters after the hearing. “I’m not interested in somebody trying to create a facade to try and distract people from understanding.”

Democrats on the committee made a powerful statement when they walked out of the hearing; one of them, Rep. Michael O’Brien of Philadelphia, remarked, “Happy kangaroo court, pal” to Metcalfe.

Metcalfe predictably called the walkout “a dereliction of duty,” even though the walkout was precipitated by his call for security to remove one of the Democratic legislators for questioning the propriety of Tuesday’s proceedings.

And the propriety is indeed questionable. Metcalfe proposes to present his articles of impeachment in a rewritten amendment to a resolution originally drafted by Democrats in praise of Kane. That’s hardly proper; as the ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Marc Cohen, pointed out, the impeachment proceedings have an established protocol: petition; committee investigation and report; House action; Senate trial.

“We have no investigation,” said Cohen, D-Philadelphia. “We have no report. We have no basis to proceed with this hearing.”

Cohen was right to add: “Surely, we have better things to do than waste time and tax dollars on a political witch hunt.”

Metcalfe must know this is true. It might be why he said after the hearing he has no immediate planes to file articles of impeachment. He must know the House won’t pass his resolution, and the Senate wouldn’t find Kane guilty anyway.

Kane’s actions and inactions have been questionable and politically divisive, but so are a multitude of actions and inactions committed in Harrisburg. She has committed no impeachable offense.

The political witch hunt should stop now.