If the McCain camp thinks they are going to get away with this quick turn of the economy page, think again:
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Posts tagged as:
scandal
This could be fun. This is a pretty good overview of the trouble Sarah Palin may be in up in Alaska. Trouble that could indeed derail her as a VP candidate. If John McCain only ever met her once and talked to her on the phone once before picking her as his running mate, what are the chances they’ve fully vetted this matter?
It could get ugly:
John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate is somewhat baffling given that Palin is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Alaska state Legislature for improper use of her office, and as recently as two weeks ago was forced to change her tune after the emergence of a potentially incriminating audiotape.
It’s inconceivable the McCain’s team was not aware of the investigation, so they must have concluded that it’s not a political liability for Palin—or McCain himself.
But that determination seems somewhat hasty considering that the probe is ongoing as we speak.
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About a dozen investigators from the Ohio inspector general’s office showed up at Attorney General’s Marc Dann’s office in the Rhodes Tower in Columbus to begin an independent investigation.
They have already confiscated computer equipment, and State Highway Patrol officers are on the ground floor of the tower checking people’s badges and belongings as they leave. Apparently patrol members are targeting employees of the attorney general’s office for bag searches.
Lt. Jim Wernecke of the patrol confirmed that the patrol is there at the request of the inspector general. He would not comment further.
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I’m hearing Ted just signed the bill to allow the IG to move forward with a special investigation of the AG’s office immediately.
So Ted says no dice.
Next…
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It’s now being reported that Marc is backing away from resigning because the legislature won’t commit to not investigating his office fully. They refused this condition and he is now capitulating on resigning. Apparently there is much more to find and Dann could be in more trouble than we know. I hope they stick to this and Marc gets what’s coming to him.
The story is developing for sure. I’d not be sure of a Dann resignation until you hear it from him.
Just go away, Marc.
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Dann Remorse: That feeling you get when you know you were right to oppose a political candidate from the start but gave them the benefit of the doubt because they were on your side and you come to realize how right you were! Similar to the popular phrase “Buyer’s Remorse”.
I’ve been suffering from Dann Remorse for some time.
…but at least I have this collector’s tee!
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Not that it’s the first time I’ve ever disagreed with Brian Rothenberg, but it’s time to do so again. Brian and I are famous for our squaring off over a dinner with Barack Obama. We even had a few roundabouts in the office when I worked at ProgressOhio.
So here we go again.
Brian’s latest Shadows on High column reads like a defense of Marc Dann. The argument? It’s just SEX (and the media are obsessing over it).
Well, it’s not just about sex. The lurid details about pajamas or no pajamas aside, this story is about inept leadership and replacing a Culture of Corruption with a Culture of Caligula. Marc Dann and his cronies seemed to have set up shop in such a way as to create a hostile work environment for women – something no progressive in their right mind would ignore or accept. That’s the real story. We were promised professionalism and ethical behavior. We got neither. The reason the media and the public has such a hair trigger is that we just suffered through 16 years of corruption and unethical behavior at the hands of the Republicans. Pardon us if we don’t immediately begin to hand out benefits of doubt to the very person who was to be cleaning up the place!
The individual sex acts are the icing on the media cake. The substance of the matter is that Dann was elected to rid us of poor statewide office cultures. He pounded on it time and time and time again. The media was there for just about every morsel Dann fed us. Brian now thinks it’s silly that they want to cover this story now that the white knight of culture cleanse has embroiled himself in scandal? You almost have to laugh knowing he thinks nothing of the sort. Which is why his post is so surprising.
Can you argue that all of this media claptrap is distracting us from the real issues Ohioans need to be facing? You sure can. Who should one blame for this distraction?
Marc Dann.
Can you argue that there are other “zipper scandals in a post-Eliot Spitzer world”? You sure can. But who is the Attorney General of the STATE OF OHIO?
Marc Dann.
Shining the light on the misdeeds of others is not an acceptable form of argument for those who have erred. Ask my daughters. They don’t get away with. Why should Marc Dann? I’m surprised this argument is even made. It’s laughable in it’s inability to explain away the problems in Marc Dann’s AG’s Office. It’s also laughable as a form of argument against too much media coverage. Is anyone REALLY shocked that the Ohio press corps is paying more attention to Marc Dann than Kwame Kilpatrick or Jim Gibbons? Come on!
Has Marc and his office done some good things for Ohio? Sure thing. I believe many bloggers have made this point over and over again. The problem is that there is a list of political blunders, bad decisions, mismanagement, and poor leadership to go along with all the good. It’s a real shame that those successes are overshadowed and future ones are at risk due to what has transpired. Who do we blame for all of that?
Marc Dann.
Are there things that we should be hearing more about over the noise of DannGate? Uh huh. It might be good for blog traffic, readership of newspapers, and ratings of TV shows, but ask any progressive minded person and they’ll tell you they’d rather be talking about something else. Most especially with a presidential election coming up in a state we know we’ll have to deliver. Nobody likes this.
So we can wax poetic about the media’s desire for salacious news coverage and the inability to break through to talk about things that really matter to the lives of Ohioans. You can argue that these distractions are what is damaging. What you can’t argue is whose fault it is. The answer to that question is quite simple:
Dann, Dann, Dann!
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From Openers:
ann has hired a noted Texas Democratic opposition research firm whose motto is: “We Serve Republicans. Would You Like Them Skewered, Roasted, or Deep Fried?”
Jason Stanford is president of Stanford Campaigns and Stanford Research in Austin, Texas. He said he has been hired by Dann to do the attorney general’s talking when it comes political matters not related to his state job.
Dann, a Democrat, has even revived his 2006 campaign slogan, Dann for Ohio, and will pay Stanford from leftover campaign funds, Stanford said.
Stanford lives in Texas but that he and Dann have mutual friends whom he would not disclose who hooked them up with one another.
“We have friends in common,” Stanford said. “Private friends. People he trusts, trust me.”
Interesting. Very interesting. Dann for Ohio? LOL. Is he kidding?
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It’s on! The letter:
Dear Attorney General Dann, We write to you tonight to ask that you resign your position as Attorney General of the State of Ohio.
We believe that your actions have irreparably harmed your ability to effectively serve the people of our great state. The work of the Office of the Attorney General matters more, and is far more important, than any one person. In many, many cases it is all that stands between the people and the powerful.
Sadly, we no longer have even the most remote hope that you can continue to effectively serve as Attorney General and that is why we are asking for your resignation.
We also want to make you aware that if you do not choose to resign, Democratic members of the Ohio House of Representatives will immediately introduce a resolution seeking your impeachment.
We sincerely hope that this action will not be necessary and that you will act in the best interest of the people of Ohio by tendering your resignation Monday morning.
Sincerely, Ted Strickland, Sherrod Brown, Lee Fisher, Jennifer Brunner, Richard Cordray, Ray Miller, Joyce Beatty, Chris Redfern
Way to go. Precisely what is needed.
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More calls for Marc Dann to resign and do so quickly:
“Sexual harassment can’t be tolerated,†Kilroy said in a statement released this evening. “As a mother of two daughters of about the same age as those in the press accounts, I am appalled that those in power would abuse their authority in such a shameful way. Marc Dann should resign and he should do so quickly.â€
Kilroy added that the actions by Dann and several top aides “have damaged the trust that people should have in their elected officials. In service to the people of Ohio, Marc Dann should resign and allow a new attorney general to take on the important duties of attorney general without the distraction of lawsuits, scandals, and further investigations.â€
I agree Mary Jo. Maybe you and others would like to sign the PlunderPetition!
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Add the Dispatch to the chorus of boos:
Ohio’s attorney general must be able to provide leadership, command respect and exercise strong judgment. Marc Dann has failed miserably in all three and is not fit to serve.
This situation is a debacle for Dann and a tragedy for the state. He took over the office with high hopes, energy and a desire to run an effective office. That promise has been destroyed, and Dann has no one but himself to blame.
Dann betrayed the trust the voters placed in him, and that will dog the attorney general’s office for as long as he remains.
Please sign the petition calling on Dann to resign
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Pulling this comment from this post because you need to read it. Like many have said there were problems all along and not just with frat-house type activity. Friend of AAG says:
I have many friends in the AG’s office, and here’s what I hear. This comes from Democrats who joined the office last year, from Democrats who were there from Lee Fisher and TOny Celebrezze, from Republicans, and from totally apolitical staff:
Yes, he should resign, and yes, the scandals are the biggest news, but the office has been a mess since day one. The press never figured that out until they had a sex scandal. Sure, they did stories on little pieces, especially the bad appointments of the ones that had to resign or get fired. But the press still does not fully appreciate how fully he turned a professional office into a crony-driven nuthouse, and how much the staff have been grumbling all along.
They are upset that all the signs were there long before Dann’s election, but the Democrats picked him anyway. The ethics charges and other items showed that he was a loose cannon with no management skills. No one knew what form the train wreck would take, but everyone knew that there would be a train wreck. But the ODP ran him as thanks for his Coingate efforts and because they thought he could win, but they knew or should have known that he was a ticking time bomb.
So if we’re really honest, part of the blame goes to Redfern and the entire Democratic establishment, and it even goes to those of us who knew better and went along. We sat on our knowledge last year, hoping the stories would eventually die down and that Dann would get his act together.
People may fault Montgomery and Petro for not being active on foreclosures or other progressive issues, or for not calling out Taft on Coingate, but they both ran the AG’s office professionally. They also ran it in a fairly non-partisan manner, keeping Democrats on staff and even hiring more and promoting them.
Dann started right in the transition of making things more partisan and more unprofessional. Eventually he backed off a little on the planned firings, but he was firing low-level line lawyers for purely political reasons — something the others never did. He sent partisan invitations over e-mail, and he made the hiring very partisan, even for new lawyers right out of law school. He kept many holdovers, too, but he did so only when he realized he had too, and they’re the ones that have kept the place running for 18 months.
Of Dann’s management team, his best people are both Democrats who were already there from older days, or Republicans who stayed on. The majority of his own hires are incompetent. Some, of course, turned out to be unethical scum. Others are well-meaning and honest, but just bad managers. A few of his hires are good, but they are the exception.
I’ve been hearing this since the beginning. The worst hit are the Democrats from the old days, because they were excited about the pro-consumer part of the new wave, and have all been whispering that they wish Betty had won. They are hit hard enough that they would trade off the policy activism for having an office they could be proud of, rather than being ashamed to tell people where they work.
In an odd way, some are thankful that this explosion has been so large that it should lead to a resignation and a fresh start. Otherwise, they’d have put up with plain mismanagement for four or eight years with no one on the outside fully knowing or caring about how bad it was.
I have heard variations on the above sentiments from many good lawyers and non-lawyers there. Ask around, and you’ll hear the same, but only if they really trust you. Many are scared and keep their mouths and doors shut.
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Today, Dann admitted that his affair with Utovich may have lead to the culture in which Goose thought it was appropriate to solilcit sex from his female subordinates. Two days ago, he told the chief investigator, and his employee, not to go there. And he did so, on the record, while he was being questioned on this matter.
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