Dann quits; area reps glad

Scandal costs Ohio’s attorney general his job

From staff and wire reports
Area lawmakers welcomed embattled Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s resignation Wednesday.

¯ “I’m glad that Marc Dann did the right thing today and removed himself from office,” said state Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, who co-authored articles of impeachment filed against Dann on Tuesday. “It was time to put someone in that office who could perform the duties of the attorney general.”

Dann announced his resignation Wednesday amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair.

¯ Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, said Dann’s departure will help remove the cloud over the office.

“He’s got a lot of very capable people that are there, and ... they need to be able to move on,” she said.

Padgett was quick to say Dann’s resignation should not halt the investigation started Wednesday by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles.

“The people of Ohio deserve to know the whole picture, whatever it is,” she said.

¯ Rep. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, said Dann has gone “above and beyond” the corruption he campaigned against in 2006.

“He should have resigned weeks ago,” Stewart said.

Dann, a hard-charging Democrat from Youngstown, made his political name fighting the misdeeds of Ohio Republicans and pledging to bring ethics back to state government. He resigned after falling short of his own ethical goals.

Dann faced possible impeachment, the state’s first in close to 200 years, amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his admission of an extramarital affair.

The announcement by Dann ended a 10-day odyssey in which he had refused repeated, forceful calls to step down by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party, faced growing investigative scrutiny, and seen articles of impeachment filed against him.

Fellow Democrats led the charge, catching the attorney general in a web of his own words. Dann had admitted at the conclusion of the high-profile harassment investigation May 2 not only to having an affair but to hiring ill-qualified friends, fostering bad office behavior, and being overwhelmed and unprepared for the job to which he was elected.

Several of those sentiments showed up in impeachment articles filed Tuesday.

Appearing beside Strickland Wednesday, Dann said he realized it was necessary to leave to preserve the ability of the office to carry out his priorities. Dann, 46, fashioned himself an Ohio version of the crime-fighting Eliot Spitzer of New York, and spent his first year taking on some of America’s most powerful business interests.

“It is now clear to me that the only way to protect ... priorities for the office of attorney general and for the people of Ohio is to remove myself from the situation,” Dann said during a Wednesday news conference. “This will preserve the great work being done by the office.”

Strickland, who led the call for Dann to resign or be impeached, didn’t name a replacement but said he would immediately begin reviewing possible successors. Voters would need to confirm Strickland’s pick at the polls on the same day they’ll vote for president, Nov. 4.

“Maturity,” Strickland said without hesitation, when asked what qualities he would look for in a new attorney general.