Get Off the Cross...We Need the Votes

Aaaahhh, springtime in Ohio. The crazy politicians are in full bloom.

Our idiocy and corruption isn't limited to Republicans, no, we are equal opportunity incompetents here.

In case you haven't met our Attorney General, Marc Dann, let me introduce you. He proudly assumed office in January of 2007 on the campaign pledge to clean up corruption. It seems his plan has hit a snag.

Mr. Dann made his first foray into incompetence with ill advised analogies involving, well, The Crucifixion. When a local newspaper wrote a story some voters responded with unkind comments about Leo Jennings, Dann's head of communications (more on Leo in a moment.)

In an obvious effort to console his friend Mr. Dann told him 'Christ had it better on Good Friday'. Hhmm, lets see, public official who has been disagreed with, versus well, the torture and murder of the world's Savior. Yeah, thats just about the same, if you're a bit narcissistic.

Did I mention Mr. Dann is Jewish? Ouch. The Christians weren't very happy, then or now.

Did I mention this all unfolded about 10 months into his term? And only after a newspaper took him to court to get public records from his office?

Yeah, he got off to a rocky start.

But we are all about second chances in Ohio, if by second chance you mean internal investigation. Seems Mr. Dann had a condo outside of Columbus that he shared with 2 of his buddies, Leo, mentioned earlier, and Anthony Gutierrez, a section chief at the AG's Office. By the way Dann's wife and 3 kids are snuggled safely at home in Youngstown while he is shacked up with his buddies. How convenient.

Seems Dann's scheduler, a young woman in his office, was often a guest at the condo. In her pajamas. Umm yeah. In the last week Dann has admitted to an affair with an unnamed staffer. You don't say? I'm shocked. I wonder who it might be?

A couple months ago 2 women in their 20's came forward and made claims of sexual harassment, against the aforementioned Leo and Gutierrez. Claims include Gutierrez telling one woman she 'owed' him sex for getting her a job. He's a sweet talker, that one.

Did I mention that Dann and his friends are in their 40's and all the women involved are in their 20s? Thanks for reinforcing that stereotype that powerful men are also dirty old men.

The internal investigations that have ensued describe the AG's Office as a 'frat house atmosphere' and say it was difficult to work among the voluminous piles of 'foul language, sexual come-ons, heavy drinking and intimidation'.

So extreme is the sexual din in Marc Dann's office that one Columbus network has included this warning in its on-line story that lets you link to his e-mails;

Please be advised that the page that you would like to view is intended only for mature audiences and may include content that is not suitable for children. If you are 18 or older and are not bothered by such mature content, please click here

To be fair I read the e-mails, they are mostly about bagels. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Anyway, where are we now? Well several of the top officials in Dann's office have been fired, including friends Leo and Gutierrez. And one other high ranking person who tried to get people to lie about all this in the investigations.

On May 4th, led by Democratic Governor Ted Strickland and the head of the Ohio Democratic Party, a letter was issued to Dann telling him in no uncertain terms to resign or be impeached.

To that I say 'awesome'! I applaud their swift and certain response. But I have to wonder if it would have been that swift and certain if they didn't feel the need to deliver Ohio up to the Democratic Presidential hopeful, whoever that ends up being.

Oh, while Dann saw the need to fire his friends, the good news is he sees no need to resign himself. He says he is sorry and deeply diappointed, but he's not going anywhere. After all, he needs to get back to the business of cleaning up all that political corruption.