If you haven't heard (either because you just got back from Mars or have spent the last 30 hours avoiding the internet the better to work through a Matterhorn of fin-de-semester grading), today saw a rapid-fire series of developments in the cluster-scandal enveloping the office of Attorney General Marc Dann.
Dann fired Services Director and accused serial harrasser Anthony Gutierrez and allegedly perjury-suborning Communications Director Leo Jennings. He also admitted to having an "inappropriate relationship" with a staffer who, following the clues, turns out to be Jessica Utovich, the shiny-faced scheduler who has been his rumored paramour. Utovich resigned last night reportedly as an alternative to being further involved in the investigation into sexual harassment allegations aimed at Gutierrez. The AG's Chief Deputy of policy and Ed Simpson
All of this coincides with today's scheduled release of the report of Assistant AG Ben Espy's investigation in the the -- er -- affair.
It's apparent that Dann will resist stepping down and that for now the ODP apparatus will stand behind him. It's equally apparent that Dann would be hard pressed to win an election and that he shouldn't after the disgrace he has brought to himself and the office.
I stand with all who are calling for Dann's resignation, and calling for the party leadership to impress upon Dann the importance of doing so. It will be difficult to remove Dann from office short of his resignation, so pressure to resign is the best course.
Happily the blogosphere appears in unanimous agreement on this, and we have a role to play. The 'sphere is assembling, in our Wisdom of Crowds way, the brief against the AG and is stepping up to be the voice those members of the party who are done with him.
More to come.
RIP, JOHN OLESKY
6 months ago
5 comments:
It's refreshing to see a man and a woman have an affair. If this was a Repugnicant, he would have had an affair with a little boy or a farm animal.
Marc Dann should stay in office for as long as Foot-Tapper Larry Craig and Diaper Dave Vitter remain in power.
At least Dann doesn't go around pretending to be some sort of moral exemplar of virtue, like Craig, Vitter, and so many other Repugnicants do.
The Repugnicant motto: do as we say, not as we do.
Marc Dann should use this as payback time.
Go after all the moralizing reporters, like none of them have ever banged a subordinate.
Go after the corrupt Repugs from Ashtabula to Zanesville, from Archbold to Ironton, and everywhere in between.
Hoist them on their own moralizing petards.
Go after the corporations, the price-gouging oil companies.
Show everyone what a fighter you are, Marc. This is why we elected you. Remind everyone what sort of corrupt morass you inherited after 16 years of Repugnicants plundering the state government and Treasury.
YOU are the reason Tom Noe is in jail and not wining and dining Governor Blackwell tonight.
YOU are the reason AOL and Time Warner aren't ripping the public off anymore.
YOU are the reason our state retirement system is much closer to solvency than it was when Tom Noe and other corrupt Repugs were buying coins and Beanie Babies with public retirement funds.
You've got some top-notch people at your disposal. Now is the time to put an end to all this moralistic snooping into your personal life and go on offense.
Show the guts, the heart, and the spine you showed in the Senate, and you'll get 70% of the vote next time.
It's time to not just defeat the Repugs at the ballot box, but also in the Courthouse.
Every single person in Ohio who chooses to affiliate themselves with the Criminal Enterprise Formerly Known As The Republican Party bears some degree of knowledge of, or responsibility for, their damaging policies and their criminal practices in office.
It's time to shut them down.
You haven't broken any laws, Mr. Dann, but a truckload of Repugnicants from one end of this state to the other have.
Investigate, indict, imprision. That's your job. Your job is not to answer questions from sex-starved moralists getting their jollies off asking you about your personal life.
Despite the rants of the above, I dont see how he survives politically.
agreed.
Anonymous ranter, are you saying that only the unethical womanizer Dann is capable of doing the AG job? I think Dann is easily replaceable with someone who won't tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace.
I suspect that if this wasn't a Presidential election year, he might be able to brazen it out.
Neither Clinton or Obama wants to be campaigning in Ohio this fall and getting questions about their opinions on Dann's den of iniquity.
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