Calling for Dann to resign

[MeDeMax]

The top law enforcement officer of the state has to be squeaky clean.

Spitzer resigned, so must Dann.

This is NON-NEGOTIABLE.

[AnOhioan]

1. Agreed

[AngryOldDem]

2. What? You don't want to give him a do-over?

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/05/marc_dann_admits_to_affair_wit.html

<<He said he would appoint Jim Friedman, a Cleveland lawyer and lobbyist who served as chief of staff to former Gov. John Gilligan, to identify management problems. "I envision this as a second transition," Dann said a news conference at his office in Columbus.

Asked why he won't resign, Dann replied: "Because I was elected by the people of Ohio. We're doing great legal work in this office ... there is nobody who has raised a single concern about the delivery of services from this office."

Dann's affair with an employee may have violated his own office policy, but he said admitting to the affair was "adequate punishment in my mind."<<<
_________________________________________________________________

What allegedly happened in his office over a period of months is intolerable, and for him to see this as a "never mind, move along, nothing to see here" moment, or if he thinks a contrite press conference is enough to restore the dignity and integrity to this office, then I'm afraid he is sorely mistaken. The fact that he fired four staffers for basically the same conduct is indeed a double standard. Basically he has admitted that he is not up for this job. Therefore, I agree that this IS non-negotiable and he should resign. It sounds to me like the AG's office was the equivalent of Animal House since he took over -- enough.

I thought I saw a post over in GD that said Strickland could not ask for Dann's resignation. I don't see why not -- Dann is ultimately answerable to Strickland.

This "second transition" crap is beyond galling, and is making Dann even more of an embarrassment than he already is. Please Marc, go. Now.

[MeDeMax]

3. I'd say Animal House behavior sounds perfect...

They were having a frat party at the AG office in columbus, only problem is female state employees are a poor substitute for intoxicated sorority girls-gone-wild.

Dann is doing an ok job at best. We would lose this office in 2010 if Dann stays on, not to mention the collateral damage to other races this year. And possibly a serious R challenge to Strickland in 2010 for failing to maintain order in the ranks.

Time to make a replacement with a high caliber lawyer, the likes of a David Boies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boies

[dsc]

56. No he isn't responsible to Strickland

he is elected in his own right. Maybe Ohio should have an appointed cabinet but currently it doesn't.

[Kukesa]

4. I'm so glad you posted this, Max.

I quickly read this morning's paper and headed out shortly afterward for a full day away from any news sources.

Do you think Strickland and Redfern will call Dann in and have a heart-to-heart with with him?

This cronyism sounds all too familiar to this gal who's hometown is Youngstown; hard to believe it's still going on.

After screaming about Noe and Taft, we Dems can't allow this kind of behavior in Columbus. Dann needs to resign.

[MeDeMax]

5. if Dann were a prominent public servant

with a superb long standing record in Columbus or DC, and he had made a few slip ups with a non-subordinate, people might see things differently.

As it stands, he has been on the job for a year and 3 months and 10 days, he is an easy R target in 2010.

Keeping him in Columbus will cost us several - local, state & congressional races. Strickland will end up spending more time defending Dann & explaining why he is still in office, over campaigning for the dem nominee.

At that point, even if Dann resigns, it will be too little too late and it could cost us several close races.

Read more on "Pajamagate" from Cleveland Scene Magazine :

http://blogs.clevescene.com/cnotes/2008/05/pajamagate_attorney_general_ma.php

[ckimmy57]

34. Strickland

did sit down and talk to Dann and he still refuses to step down. I saw this on Columbus news last night. It said Strickland was very disappointed that Dann isn't stepping down. Dann acted like a little boy that was restricted by mommy's rules and regulations and when he got out on his own just went wild. I agree with Max....talk about your Animal House. Grow up Dann!!!!

[geiger]

35. We set our leaders up as saviors, and then when they fail, we wail

I have no doubts that Dann should resign, but if we aren't about compassion, as human beings, or as a Party, then none of it is worth it.

The Party was so desperate for candidates to run this last go-round, this is what we end up with. It's time to fix it and move on. It's time for someone to make sure Dann "gets it." Both his personal and professional life had obviously become unmanageable, and he needs help. Scandalizing someone as its own end is not constructive in any regard.

[MeDeMax]

38. rhetorical question

poli wrote :

Scandalizing someone as its own end is not constructive in any regard.

No doubt you are a deep thinker and that is a very profound statement.

But I ask you poli, looking back, if we dems had aggressively sought clarification from Bill about his indiscretions, as we are doing with Dann right now, do you suppose we would have cut the oxygen supply from the R-W smear campaign that reached fever pitch in the late 90s and resulted in us being distracted from Osama & Al Gore not securing a decisive victory ?

I can't dispute the morality of your statement, but when we clean our own house aggressively it puts the other side on notice to do the same and the issue at hand ceases to be a political football.

Don't you think ?

[Kukesa]

39. Agreed. We need to clean our house

otherwise, we're not credible.

Have you read post #28 by BillORightsMan? Do you think there's something (even more) sinister going on?

[MeDeMax]

42. I did read post #28 and I think there is much going on that we are not finding out

other than Conyers, who has demonstrated remarkable persistence, everyone else has turned the page past Blackwell.

I think his election rigging criminal A** belongs in jail.

But the public at large has no appetite for a Blackwell prosecution, they are worried about their future and they excited that who ever the dem nominee is, will get us on the right track.

In my humble opinion.

[Kukesa]

44. "public at large"

Ya know, Max, we DUers are not normal. Political junkies, we.

I spoke to both my next-door neighbors who didn't even know who "Dann" was until I filled them in.

I also phoned my old high school chum in Youngstown (!) and she wasn't concerned at all. Said something like Gutierrez has always been a hood, what's new? And Dann's a nice guy; my daughter worked for him during summers off from college. He should stay in office because all politicians are crooked.

Head, meet wall.

[MeDeMax]

45. are you saying ?

VJ worked for Dann during summers off from college ?

OR

Your friend's daughter worked for Dann during her summer off college ?

:think:

:think:

:think:

Oh wait ! it had to be your friend's daughter.

If VJ had worked in Dann's office, he would be sharing a cell with Trafficant :rofl:

[Kukesa]

49. No, Jen never worked for Dann.

It was my friend's daughter who worked for the jerk.

BTW, this old high school chum is best friends with Tish Trafficant and says Jimbo is one wonderful guy. Tish used to be my hairdresser, a long time ago.

You're right about Jen; she'd blow the whistle for sure and enjoy doing it! When she was in high school she worked at K-Mart and was harassed by a male manager. Well, you can imagine what the two of us did -- Jen kept a meticulous record and, after a few weeks, showed it to the guy. No more harassment from him. If he had continued I would have smacked him silly.

Funny, Jen had just finished a month-long backpacking trip through Europe and never once felt unsafe or harassed. Then she gets back to Dayton and has to put up with that kind of garbage.


Speaking of garbage, it's awfully quiet in Columbus today, no?

[geiger]

46. Geeeeeeeez......

[MeDeMax]

47. please forgive me poli...

Can I plead momentary lapse of judgment ? :dilemma:

[geiger]

48. max, we all should plead a momentary lapse of judgment from time to time

we D's take ourselves way too seriously....

anyways, we're all friends here.

[geiger]

40. It is perhaps an amoral issue that you highlight, but I still think that how we handle

is just as important as "handling" it period. I don't think being aggressives precludes being compassionate.

[Kukesa]

36. Welcome to our Ohio forum,ckimmy. Glad to have you! n/t

[ladym55]

6. I agree

Dann's gotta go. He has run his office HORRIBLY.

It is also scary to me that when I checked out the Cape Cod Times on-line this morning, DANN WAS THE LEAD STORY. And the story was filled with quotes from self-righteous and squeaky clean Republican lawmakers :sarcasm: from Ohio expressing their moral outrage.

The Dems are still in a precarious position in this state, and having aging frat boy behavior in the AG's office will not help the party over the long haul.

[Kukesa]

7. And, what about those two women who are filing a sexual

harassment suit, Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout? Are they entirely blameless?

If you go out with your boss for drinks, drink too much, end up in bed at his apartment, you're asking for trouble. If your boss gives you a sex toy as a gift and you fail to report the fact, you're asking for trouble. If you play practical jokes on your boss and exchange suggestive email messages, you're asking for trouble.

Stankowski is hired in August, 2007, goes out for drinks and an apartment visit in September, and waits until March, 2008, to make a sexual harassment complaint? Doesn't sound right to me.

Link here for "Dayton Daily News" article:

http://tinyurl.com/5rt7mm

:crazy:

[AngryOldDem]

8. No, they're not, but Dann is the boss and Dann is responsible.

They all should go, if you ask me. Dann's excuse basically is, "I didn't know the job would be this hard. I didn't know being in charge of a bunch of people would be this hard. But I've learned my lesson. Please give me a second chance." Uhh...no. If things were so blatantly outrageous in that office for months, Dann has no excuse to ignoring it as long as he did.

The Dems need to contain this right now before it gives the GOP any more ammunition than it already has. You already have an AG who has admitted that he can't do the job.

[Kukesa]

9. "The Dems need to contain this right now". Yes, we do. Now. n/t

[MeDeMax]

10. echoing AOD & K. Yes, we do. Now. n/t

[BillORightsMan]

28. Yeah Kukesa check their VOTER REGISTRATION CARDS

Interesting how there's that SEVEN-MONTH lag, eh?

When you're finished checking out their voter reg cards,
check out who their attorneys are and THEIR voter reg card!

Then see HOW MUCH they DONATED to WHOM via OpenSecrets.org or other public info.

Remember who owns the peedee, the dayton daily, the cincy inquisitor, the columbus dogpatch
and the myriad teevee/radio interests.

CLUE: Not Democrats.

All is not what it seems, fellow DU buckeyes.

What about
A Special 2008 Subpoena For Blackwell From Conyers
by Paddy Shaffer February 1, 2008

Why is it that Ken Blackwell is still walking the streets of this nation? Why is it that the election officials, for which citizens have documented the alleged election crimes of 2004 (and more since then) are still running our elections?

Former OH SoS Snubs Congressional Invitation, May be Subpoenaed by U.S. House Judiciary Committee
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 2/1/2008

Last week, Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), both of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the former Ohio Secretary of State and Co-Chair of the state's Bush/Cheney '04 campaign committee, J. Kenneth Blackwell, inviting him to appear next week at a subcommittee oversight hearing on voter suppression issues.

To the surprise of almost nobody, Blackwell has refused the invitation to testify, claiming his "schedule not permit" him to attend the hearings.

This seems on its face a mountain-out-of-a-molehill story, blown WAY OUT OF PROPORTION
by the SAME INTERESTS that brought us the fallacy of "values voters" and the "religious right"
that "won" the 2004 re-selection of gwb.

WAKE UP DU BUCKEYES!!!!

Where is the skepticism of our so-called "free" press?
Why is the ODP so willing to sacrifice Marc Dann BEFORE ANY legal charges have been brought against him?
Especially after THEY BACKED DANN 100% over a WAY MORE QUALIFIED Subodh Chandra in 2006?
And you're buying into the ORP storyline HOOK LINE AND SINKER?

Something SMELLS and it may be the ROT Redfern, Strickland and their ilk brought on themselves, eh?

imbillorightsmanandiapprovethismessage
:patriot:

Mini-violin weeping for the so-called Ohio "Democratic" leadership.
Crocodile tears pouring across the state :-/
Yo Zack Space: watch yer back.

[Kukesa]

37. Your post blows me away.

I will do some checking. Thanks for the heads-up.

[geiger]

43. chickens coming home to roost eom

[Kolesar]

50. There were some "interesting" threads about the ODP leadership a few years ago

Is that what you are referring to?

[geiger]

51. mm hmm.

[AngryOldDem]

11. The Plain-Dealer agrees with us.

An excellent, well-written editorial.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/05/dann_should_resign_a_plain_dea.html

Also, Dann was the lead story on a local Dayton station tonight, and...are you ready for this? Apparently there were PAJAMA PARTIES at Dann and Gutierrez's condo.

Words just fail me. And I really don't see how he can keep his job -- I don't see how (or why) the party would allow him to do so.

ON EDIT: Almost every major Ohio blog and newspaper has also called for his resignation. One blog even identifies him as "Dann (D-Pajama Party)." :rofl:

Any comment from Redfern yet?

[MeDeMax]

12. I am also pissed at these frat boys for one other thing

Many poor & middle class families in distress, reached deep into their hearts, and their pockets, to get dems into Columbus in 2006.

Once elected, the new office holders got to hire their office staff.

Dann's office also showed poor judgment when they passed over older experienced candidates, to hire the twenty some year olds. If this were Dann's private law practice he could do whatever he wanted, but when you put someone on the state payroll, please have the sense to give the taxpayers the best bang for their buck (I won't touch the pun there :-)

Clearly, choosing the right staffers was important to facilitate the PAJAMA PARTIES.

[Kukesa]

13. Here's the part of the editorial that bothers me:

"Dann may be right that, based on what's known right now, there are no grounds to impeach him. Nor is there any way for a "very disappointed" Ted Strickland to force him from office."

So that means he stays in office if he wants to. Even if his staffers have no respect for him.

And, didn't he take a state plane to Cleveland for the interview? We taxpayers paid for that.

Still waiting for Redfern to do/say something.

[MeDeMax]

14. true, it bothers me too

He had the smallest margin of the statewide races in 2006.

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/ElectionsVoter/results2006.aspx?Section=1842

He received a little over 200,000 votes more than Betty. If he stays on, he will have a primary opponent in 2010.

I am more concerned with the collateral damage we are likely to see this year. It is one thing if this were a one time slip up, but that is not the case.

The frat boys from Youngstown went to Columbus and jointly rented a frat house. Then they went about recruiting twenty some impressionable young women to join their pajama parties, using employment with the state as bait.

I suspect there is another dimension to this soap opera that is yet to unfold...

[geiger]

23. collateral damage?

do you mean Strickland campaigning for Clinton?

[MeDeMax]

24. no poli, I meant potential loss of some close races

when a race is close, if the R candidate can point out to the voters how the Dems cannot be trusted (because of Dann staying in office), she/he could pick up a few votes that tip the election.

[geiger]

41. and that, too. yes.

[geiger]

15. Mary Jo Kilroy would make a competent and squeaky clean replacement. eom.

[MeDeMax]

16. she sure would, isn't she running for congress though ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jo_Kilroy

She is defintely someone that we can be proud of.

[geiger]

17. since Pryce is retiring, maybe someone else should take it on, maybe Denny White, previous ODP Chair

he was great at grassroots organizing and party infrastructure building. Fran Strickland could attest to that.

[Kolesar]

18. Subodh Chandra got *all* of the newspaper endorsements in 2006

Although, I think that he will end up becoming an aide or an officer in the Department of Justice for President Obama. Subodh has been working for candidate Obama for a long time.

Subodh used to dismiss Marc Dann as being merely a divorce attorney whereas Chandra was a highly regarded city attorney for Cleveland. "Divorce attorney", huh?

[geiger]

20. Chandra should have been the nominee and was systematically marginalized

as a candidate by powers that be(were). Worse, I think it was racially based. Dann always seemed an arrogant hothead to me; perhaps he needs to get some psychological help.

Ironic about the divorce part; I didn't remember that.

[Kukesa]

21. Dann may need his own "divorce attorney" before long. n/t

[Kolesar]

19. Dann was the only one representing us on the Lake Erie shorline issue after Gov. Strickland sold out

The issue is that landowners want to claim ownership of the entire beach and out into Lake Erie. Governor Strickland sold out on that issue during his governor's race. (this may look familiar to some of you).

[Rick Myers]

22. The minute Dann associated himself with Leo Jennings, he was TOAST

No one has EVER had a good thing to say about Leo Jennings.

[BillORightsMan]

25. CALL in to WCPN 90.3 on Tue 5-6-08 9 am on the Dann situation

Dial up www.WCPN.org at 9 am for a discussion of Marc Dann's situation.

Call in during the program:
Local 216-578-0903 or toll-free 866-578-0903

(Full Disclosure: I was an adamant Subodh Chandra backer for AG in 2006)

MY ONE QUESTION:
Did Mr. Dann violate any laws serving as an Officer of the State?
Which one(s)? Be SPECIFIC.

CALL IN!

The ORP are already sharpening their knives for a potential IMPEACHMENT of Mr. Dann
on the grounds (from what I can infer) tantamount to PERHAPS having an extra-marital affair
with a STAFFER!!!! OMG

And the ODP in their ZEST to SWEEP Dems into the Statehouse in 2006
BACKED 100% Marc Dann for the AG spot.

NOW, they're so willing to toss THEIR HAND-PICKED GUY to the wolves,
when very little is known about the ACTUAL ALLEGED LAW-BREAKING?
WHY?

Does this NOT sound like ANOTHER IMPEACHMENT of ANOTHER MORE FAMOUS DEMOCRAT? Hmmmmmm?
Oh, I know, Dann LIED about his ALLEGED extra-marital affair, RIGHT?

Ah but NOTHING has happened to former SoS J. Kenneth Blackwell for ELECTION FRAUD and I have YET to hear
ANYTHING about how 56 counties' Boards of Elections VIOLATED A FEDERAL COURT ORDER TO PRESERVE
ELECTIONS MATERIALS from 2004! Where is the ODP on THAT?

(insert cricket sounds here)

WHAT IS UP WITH THE ENTIRE ODP, top to bottom, TURNING ON ONE OF THEIR OWN????
:wow:

imbillorightsmanandiapprovethismessage
:patriot:

Oh yeah, go read up on how the GOP RAILROADED DEM Don Siegelman here:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/timeline_don_siegelman_1126.htm

Why would the ODP CHEER ON throwing Marc Dann "under da bus" so quickly?

Subodh Chandra would have been The Peoples' Lawyer.
But the ODP pushed Dann on us, even tho' Subodh was/is WAY MORE QUALIFIED.
We're all being DUPED

[MeDeMax]

26. my response

WHAT IS UP WITH THE ENTIRE ODP, top to bottom, TURNING ON ONE OF THEIR OWN????

Timing unfortunately, we are 6 or 7 short of a majority in the Ohio house, we need a majority so Strickland can turn Ohio around.

Dann's behavior was conduct unbecoming of a _________________ (fill in your choice).

The nation is on the brink of an economic catastrophe, Dems & Independents across the country and across the state are looking to the dems to get us out of this mess.

This joker has turned the AG's office into a spectacle.

[MeDeMax]

27. in summary

issues of paramount importance confront us today, this is not a distraction we can afford.

[AngryOldDem]

29. Moreover, it should not have had to come to this.

Everyone from Sherrod Brown on down has now been sucked into this mess, because this clown is either so stupid or so egotistical not to see what is in the best interests of not only the integrity of the AG's office, but of the entire state government as well.

In addition, no one seems to know for sure what the process is RE: impeachment. As has been pointed out, if Strickland is threatening it, then there must be a lot more that we don't know. Just how more sordid is this story?

Marc, please. Go. Now. You cannot conduct business as usual anymore.

[BillORightsMan]

30. "NOT a distraction we can afford"

MY POINT EXACTLY!

This is ALL A RUSE, modeled after the GOP Atty General "serves at the whim of the commander-in-chief" scandal,
tied in with the Siegelman conviction and the Rove plan to make a GOP permanent majority, when, in fact,
the whole of the US mass media is IN THE TANK for the continuation of dismantling of the US Constitution,
ONE BIG DISTRACTION AFTER ANOTHER EVERY NIGHT, from "24" to Idol to mindless game shows and teevee dramas.
/rant

My teevee serves mostly as a sports monitor (sports yet another distraction - discussion for a different time).
I watch c-span, linktv, democracynow! and BBC when I have the sound up, mostly. I'm no longer interested
by talking heads telling me what THEY think.

This attack on Dann is so much a set-up.
The Dems won HUGE in 2006 because of the GOP blatant corruption
(raise yer hand if you remember the stories of Bob Ney or Tom Noe).
Now we see the corporate-owned (gop-leaning) media pushing the Dann story BIG-TIME.
How many of you watch teevee stations owned by Sinclair, famous for taking heat for not airing Ted Koppell reading the names of the war dead or for trying to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" during prime-time hours two weeks before the Nov. 2 election?


What distraction? :crazy:

:patriot:

[geiger]

31. I think Dann's judgement was compromised by a number of things

but that nothing good can come out of the resulting situation.

He has always come across to me as a hostile person, and now we know that as a manager his actions engender an unfriendly workplace and effectively "wink" at inappropriate behavior, for whatever his needs are, perceived and otherwise.

I agree that there are more "important" issues, but, in effect, his actions have also compromised the Party's ability to move forward on them, fairly or unfairly.

[geiger]

32. harrassment charges keep "rolling in"....

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/05/06/copy/CAP_NOTES.ART_ART_05-06-08_A6_91A4FN7.html?sid=101

[MeDeMax]

33. check my post #14

remember I said :

I suspect there is another dimension to this soap opera that is yet to unfold...

that was what I meant, that each frat boy was engaging on consensual activity with more than one of these women around the same time frame.

We have yet to find out if Dann also behaved this way.

[Kukesa]

52. Majority of folks who work in Dann's office want him to resign.

Have a look at Buckeye State Blog:

http://www.buckeyestateblog.com/

[geiger]

53. I can't begin to imagine how toxic that work atmosphere must be. My hearts go out to them.

[rg302200]

54. What scares me is that the ReThugs will use this in Nov

if Dann does not step down...to think we could have had Chandra(sp?) its sad to see how old school/backroom politics throws lesser candidates on us when we could have had a great one.

For shame Dann....for shame!

[Kukesa]

55. Damn right they will. And we'll deserve it unless Dann resigns. n/t

[Kukesa]

57. Email Article from "Youngstown Vindicator"

This was on Google's home page this morning. The AG's office is a mess and it goes on and on and on . . .

Link here:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/may/13/e-mails-show-disorder-in-office/