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Dann acknowledges errors; The Vindicator suggests a second chance
When he was elected state attorney general, Marc Dann had an opportunity to make the Mahoning Valley proud. He failed — spectacularly and on multiple levels, in some ways even before he took office.
At the end of the most grueling day of his short tenure — and after a press conference that was almost as painful for those who watched as it was for Dann — he came home. In a meeting with Vindicator editors, he said he had already begun to put his private life back together and to rebuild his public office.
- VIDEO: Governor Renews Call for Dann to Quit
- Dann Vows to Stay On
- Top Dems Demand Dann Resign
- Text of Letter to Dann
- Senate judiciary leader calls for Dann to resign
- Dann fires 2 aides, says ‘they let me down’
- Quotes arising from the Dann investigation
- Dann knew, victims say
- Excerpts from report on Dann, subordinates' behavior
- Dann's admits affair with Utovich, but won't resign
- Dann's mistake: Too many yes-men
- Dann Live: Dann admits affair with worker
- Your Newspaper: How a newspaper sprung the Dann fiasco & what Ohio newspapers say today
- Your Newspaper: Dann's long day ends at The Vindy
- Your Newspaper: The Geraldo-ing of Marc Dann's e-mails
Click here for on-going coverage.
The question is whether Dann deserves a second chance to be the attorney general he promised to be during and after his 2006 campaign.
It would be easy to say no, made easier by Dann’s admission that even he didn’t expect to win the statewide race and, having won, realized he wasn’t prepared to manage the largest law firm in Ohio.
We endorsed Dann two years ago, not on his management skills, real or imagined, but primarily on the basis of his picking up the ball in the case of Toledo coin dealer Tom Noe’s corrupt management of $50 million in state money. We were unimpressed with the answers his opponent, Betty Montgomery, gave when she was asked about why it took a rookie state senator from northeastern Ohio (Dann) to keep the Noe probe moving.
When we endorsed Dann, we fully expected to spend four uncomfortable years dealing with Montgomery as attorney general. The second-last thing we expected was for Dann to win. The last thing was that he would win and after a little more than a year in office embarrass himself, his family and the Valley, disappoint his supporters and provide opponents who loathed him for his role in Coingate such an easy target.
Click here for the complete editorial.