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Strickland, other Dems vow to move for impeachment procedures
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Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon)
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS — Resign or face imminent impeachment.
That was the message sent by Gov. Ted Strickland and all major statewide Democratic officeholders to embattled Attorney General Marc Dann, in a letter stating that he had “irreparably harmed [his] ability to effectively serve the people of our great state.”
- 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.
“We are ready to take whatever action is necessary,” Strickland told reporters during a press conference on the steps of the Statehouse. “I would hope the attorney general would understand that his effectiveness as an attorney general has been so greatly diminished that, in my judgment at least, he cannot appropriately continue to fulfill the duties of that office. I would hope that he would recognize that and choose to resign.”
He added, “If he does not, I can assure you that there will be steps taken to bring about an impeachment inquiry.”
But as of late Monday afternoon, Dann continued to refuse that course of action, vowing in an e-mail to staff that “our work is too important to do anything but our jobs today.”
He expressed a comparable sentiment in two telephone conversations with the governor over the weekend, Strickland said: “He told me that he does not believe that he has done anything that would justify his leaving office, that he feels that he was elected by the people and he will continue to do his best to remain in office.”
So went the latest chapter in an increasingly ugly saga that started more than a month ago when two 26-year-old women employed in the attorney general’s office formally filed sexual harassment complaints against their manager — a friend, neighbor and one-time roommate of Dann.
An investigation determined that that individual, Anthony Gutierrez of Liberty, did sexually harass employees, repeatedly drove a state-owned vehicle while drinking and otherwise created an atmosphere of hostility for employees.
The Democratic officeholder’s top spokesman and strategist, Leo Jennings III, asked another witness in the probe to “play a little bit fast and loose” when answering investigators questions.
They both were fired late last week. And Edward Simpson, Dann’s chief of policy and administration, resigned after the investigation de- termined he did not act on sexual harassment complaints for weeks after they were made.
During an emotional press conference after the announcement last week, Dann admitted cronyism in his office’s hiring practices, said he was not adequately prepared for his elected position, apologized for carrying on an affair with Jessica Utovich, his former chief scheduler who has also resigned, and vowed to clean up the tarnished image of his administration.
Strickland told reporters he spent the weekend looking over the results of the investigation and the transcripts of interviews with those involved.
“I did the best I could to understand what has taken place in the attorney general’s office and the conduct of the attorney general and many of the people who worked with him,” he said. “And following that, I concluded that he should step down.”
Inconsistencies in testimony, a “failure to recognize the seriousness of the things that happened” and a lack of proper management and oversight were among the reasons Strickland said he and others are pushing for a resignation.
“...[T]here seems to be a pattern of unacceptable behavior, of mismanagement, failure to manage, that caused me to conclude that [Dann] was not able to continue to effectively carry out the duties of Ohio’s attorney general,” he said, adding later, “I don’t want to imply that I think that the attorney general has not done some good things. And, of course, most of the people who work in that office are career professionals, and they are people who work hard and carry out their duties in an admirable way with honesty and integrity... [but] there have been decisions made in that office, and there have been failures to manage that office.”