HARRISBURG — State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe said Wednesday that he plans to introduce legislation to impeach state Attorney General Kathleen Kane in early November.

The Cranberry Township lawmaker didn’t back down from claims he made earlier this week, bashing Kane for her refusal to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging a 1996 law banning gay marriage.

Kane responded with heated words in a statement Tuesday, calling Metcalfe a bully with “loud, arrogant and misguided claims” about her work.

According to Metcalfe, R-12th, he never read Kane’s rebuttal. But from what he’s heard, it “never addressed the substance of why I am advancing for her impeachment.”

“In some of the feedback I got from some folks from the Capitol, they used words like childish and unprofessional,” he said about Kane. “I think it was more of a campaign type of response rather than an attorney general currently in office kind of response.”

Metcalfe on Wednesday maintained that under law Kane must defend the state in all matters and can’t pick and choose which cases to litigate.

“It’s very clear in state law that you have a duty to perform, and then you rebelliously in the face of taxpayers refuse to do your job because you think it’s unconstitutional?” Metcalfe said. “You don’t get to determine that if you’re an attorney general. Only a judge can.”

Metcalfe further railed against Kane and said the attorney general’s sister, who works in her office, received a promotion and a recent 20 percent raise. He also alleged Kane recently hired a cousin to serve as a personal assistant.

He said it appears as if Kane is “running a family business instead of an attorney general’s office,” Metcalfe said.

And Metcalfe accused Kane of trying to make the issue a political one since she is a Democrat and he is a Republican.

“She’s trying to make this a partisan-type issue,” he said. “This has nothing to do with parties. It’s just about the rule of law.”