Pennsylvania- It’s not unusual for aspiring local politicians to grab the national limelight to further their political careers. And such is the case of Montgomery County [Pennsylvania] D.A. Bruce L. Castor [R] who’s apparently using the Natel King murder case to further his chances in the race for Pennsylvania’s Attorney General seat.

When the news of King’s disappearance first broke earlier this year, it was D.A. Risa Vetri Ferman who appeared to be in charge of the investigation and who furnished the media with all the appropriate sound bites. Although it was quite obvious at some point that the chip on Ferman’s shoulder relative to the adult industry-at-large was growing by leaps and bounds.

But as soon as the King case escalated and became an evident murder investigation, Castor stepped in and became the obvious point man. It’s Castor who’s pushing the venue of King being a victim of a snuff film, though Castor’s race for Attorney General has pretty much taken on all the aspects of one.

The Pennsylvania media has politely suggested that Castor’s campaign is no less than “messy.” Castor and his opponent former U.S. attorney Tom Corbett are working off huge campaign chests to attack one another with a vigor that will soon be apparent in the Bush-Kerry presidential race. But try as he might, Castor’s mud-slinging shows him with 16% of the vote to Corbett’s 13% with 71% undecided. Which probably means that Castor’s got to sling more mud.

Meanwhile Corbett says Castor’s credentials as a prosecutor are compromised by the appearance that he went easy on a wealthy GOP benefactor in a drunken-driving case. He also says Castor’s experience is not broad enough for the attorney general’s many duties.

A look behind-the-scenes shows that Drew Lewis, the former Reagan cabinet official, is backing Castor and kicked in $600,000 to Castor’s campaign.

For his part, Castor’s Christian right agenda appears in the fact that he created his own personal task force as district attorney to investigate Internet crimes against children – “in four years, we’ve locked up 30,” Castor has said. And he pledges to bring that model to the Attorney General’s Office. Castor has also come out against gay marriages in Pennsylvania and calls them illegal and subject to prosecution.

Meanwhile, Castor said he had no problem accepting more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from Lewis – who was convicted of drunken driving by Castor’s office in 2002. Lewis, Castor’s neighbor, was convicted of his second DUI in six years in 2002. He avoided the minimum 30-day jail confinement – often served in the county jail – by entering into an expensive rehabilitation program in Connecticut.

While local lawyers said that many second offenders are allowed to serve their sentence in rehab programs, the huge campaign contribution from Lewis opened Castor to complaints from the Corbett camp.

“How can Bruce Castor not understand the appearance of an impropriety?” said Corbett’s campaign manager, Brian Nutt. He said Castor should return Lewis’ money and apologize to the voters for “the appearance that the top law enforcement office in Pennsylvania is for sale.”

“Why would someone give an attorney general candidate over $600,000?” Nutt, continued. “Is it because they are expecting something in return? Or is it in return for a favor already performed?”

“The amount of this contribution is staggering and should seriously concern all Republicans across Pennsylvania,” state Republican chairman Alan Novak said in a news release. “Do you want an attorney general who is beholden to one individual?”

The King case, meanwhile, came up with more interesting revelations last week including the fact that Jennifer Mitkus who’s implicated in the crime, is also an escort.

Likewise, DNA clues and a scrawled reference to a snuff video linked Anthony Frederick, a local photographer to the murder of KLing, a Canadian porn actress.

Castor also introduced several pieces of forensic and circumstantial evidence last Thursday including evidence of a handwritten note that detectives said they found in a camera bag in the Eagleville townhouse that Frederick shares with his wife and young son.

The note – which Castor described as a contract between photographer and subject – enumerated various types of video or photo shoots, including the phrase snuff vid.

That could bolster Castor’s theory that King may have been killed during the making of a so-called snuff film, in which a killing is simulated during sex.

DNA evidence also links Frederick to the killing, Castor said.

Detectives said they retrieved several bloodstained items from Frederick’s Honda Element and from a basement apartment in Conshohocken that matched his and King’s blood. The Conshohocken apartment also contained shackles hanging from the ceiling and jars of fake blood.

Police said that they also found in the Honda a compact disc containing digital images of another woman. They showed a model before a patterned backdrop that was apparently identical to the one wrapped around King’s body when she was found.

Frederick’s attorney, Daniel-Paul Alva, insisted that his client had nothing to do with snuff films. He said there was no evidence in a case that amounted to “the commonwealth’s theory.”

“We don’t know who killed her,” Alva said. “What we do know is that my client is in the unsavory business of photographing women in very compromising positions. But that kind of business was entered into voluntarily by the victim.”

Mitkus, 29, was also in court before District Justice Deborah A. Lukens.

Mitkus, who has described herself as an escort and as Frederick’s photography assistant, was present during the Feb. 29 bondage shoot with King and has been charged with lying to police.

Lukens reduced Mitkus’ bail from $100,000 to $10,000.

Frederick said nothing during last week’s hearing and grimaced slightly after seeing a police photo of King’s body.