Marc's Dannage Just Beginning

Fraudulent GOPper astroturf blog Stark Politics notes that State Sen and Congressional candidate John Boccieri (D-New Middleton) was asked about whether Marc Dann should resign. StarkPol of course drops a somewhat constricted version of the quote. Here's the discussion of Boccieri's position in full from the Repository:

"It's sad to see," said state Sen. John Boccieri, D-New Middletown. "At the end of the day, all of us as elected officials are held to a higher standard of accountability for our conduct in and out of office. These jobs take a lot out of the families; that's for sure."

Dann said the relationship was between consenting adults. He said it came during "a difficult time" in his marriage to Alyssa Lenhoff, a journalism professor at Youngstown State University. They have three children. He said the extramarital affair was wrong "and I deeply regret it."

Boccieri was satisfied with that.

"It's a personal matter as long as there were no criminal or ethical standards crossed," he said. "Clearly with the others, there were ethical and criminal issues that are pretty serious."

StarkPol has the obvious take: That boinking a staffer in itself crosses ethical lines. I would add that larding supervisory staff with unqualified drinking buddies also constitutes a breach of public trust if not more.

Sympathies to Sen. Boccieri. He's faced with the impossible mission of threading between party loyalty (and loyalty to a former Senate colleague from an adjoining district, no less) and maintaining assured clear distance from the slow-motion car crash ahead.¹ Point is, he didn't pass the test², and every other Democratic elected official and candidate faces the same test as long as Dann remains in office.

Stop the bleeding, Marc. Do the right thing and step down.

¹ By my count that sentence mixes three metaphors. I defy anyone to do better in the same number of words.

²Fourth metaphor in two sentences. Is this some symptom of Dann Derangement Syndrome?