Ohio News Digest

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

The tone of an organization is set by its leader. By that criterion, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann should resign. ... There are those, including apparently Dann, who ask why a consensual extramarital affair is anyone else’s business, much less a reason for him to leave office. But the issue is not whether Dann had an affair, but that he had an affair with someone who worked for him ... It also raises the specter of a boss using his position to obtain sexual favors, which is why such behavior is a violation of policy in most workplaces.

Then there is the matter of the example Dann set for the rest of the department. If it is OK for the boss to violate a basic policy, why would others, including his housemate and buddy Gutierrez, hesitate to do the same? Small wonder that initial complaints against Gutierrez were ignored. It is hard to believe that Dann’s condo buddies – Gutierrez and Jennings – didn’t know what the boss was doing.

CANTON REPOSITORY

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann should resign. He hasn’t earned the trust that a majority of Ohio voters placed in him in 2006. We now believe he never will.

Weeks of scandal resulted in Dann’s firing of two key aides Friday. It was the right thing to do. Then Dann admitted to having an affair with one of his employees. ... The attorney general’s frat-boy lifestyle and poor hiring decisions have irrevocably damaged his credibility and have raised doubts about whether his office can function as it should.

Voters chose Dann, a former trial lawyer and state senator, over an experienced and effective attorney general, Betty Montgomery, in the belief that Dann would rise to the challenge. Dann himself now admits he wasn’t prepared to do the job. He still isn’t. He should go.

TOLEDO BLADE

The scandal that has engulfed Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is illustrative of a disease that affects some politicians who take office after a major election victory. Suddenly empowered, they feel annointed and invulnerable rather than humble and thankful to have been entrusted with the voters’ confidence. And they do stupid things.

... On Friday, investigators painted a disturbing picture of an Animal House atmosphere at the highest level of the attorney general’s office, in which Mr. Dann turned a blind eye toward sexual harassment and improper fraternization with a small group of lower-level employees, all stoked by profanity-laced e-mails and heavy drinking.

At the least, the scandal surrounding Mr. Dann has wiped the shine off any sense of entitlement Ohio Democrats felt with their hold on state government, and it’s given Republicans a political opportunity they don’t deserve.

THE PLAIN DEALER

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann — his dirty linens and those of his closest associates on display for all the world to see — says he will not walk away from the job he won 18 months ago.

Nothing I’ve done is an impeachable offense, he says. Whatever happened is between me and the voters of Ohio — and they can have their say if I run for re-election. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I really wasn’t ready for the job when I was elected, but I’m a better attorney general now than I was 16 months ago.

Dann presumably believes all that. He also believes that the many fine attorneys and law-enforcement professionals who work for his office are unaffected by the scandal that erupted literally under the roof of the Columbus townhouse he once shared with a pair of senior aides.

Those aides, Leo Jennings and Anthony Gutierrez, were fired Friday. Dann’s chief of staff, Edgar Simpson, resigned, as did Jessica Utovich, the scheduler with whom Dann presumably had the extramarital affair that he acknowledged on Friday.

No one in public life is perfect. But all must be accountable. And realistic. Every fiber of Marc Dann’s being tells him to stay and fight. He thinks he can make everything right again. He’s wrong about that, too.

Dayton Daily News

When Marc Dann likened himself to Eliot Spitzer, this is not what he had in mind.

But the Ohio attorney general’s story should have the same outcome: a premature departure from office.

Mr. Dann has become a laughingstock. He deserves to be. This time, the image is the reality. He has made his own reputation. Ohio cannot be represented in legal disputes outside the state — or inside — by a laughingstock or representatives of one.

Mr. Dann’s 15 months in office have resulted in a long list of indefensible, unprofessional incidents. The last straw is not a straw, but a great big bundle of hay: He has been discredited by an investigation done by his own office, an investigation Mr. Dann had no choice but to order.