Dann’s resignation wasn’t honorable, it was inevitable

Dann’s resignation wasn’t honorable, it was inevitable

EDITOR:

Marc Dann has thankfully resigned. Gov. Strickland has called this action honorable. I disagree. It was inevitable and expedient, but there has been nothing honorable about anything Marc Dann has done since he burst onto the political scene. Everything he has done has been an effort to get himself and his cohorts into the Golden Trough.

He called Capri Cafaro totally unqualified for the job when her forum-shopping tour took her to an address in his district. This turned out to be one of her multiple rejections by the voters. Yet when she was seeking to replace him in the state Senate after his election as attorney general, he deemed her the most qualified among several people who had actually won elections. Democratic party leaders knew better than the people who rejected her at the polls every time she ran and appointed her anyway.

He used taxpayer funds to reward his supporters with no regard for their qualifications. Many times he knew they were not qualified and hired them over the objections of advisors who warned him.

He pushed to have people hired without proper background and record checks and should have known that some of these people were not eligible to be hired under office policy.

His lack of character and moral compass are issues to be worked out with his family and circle of friends. The problem for the taxpayers of the state of Ohio is the cost of this boondoggle. I am sure the cost is already in the high six figures and will go into the millions before the final calculations are in. I fully expect costly lawsuits by employees who are questionably hired for the express purpose of the pleasure of one of Dann’s closest cronies. If he didn’t know this he was less qualified for his job than even he has admitted.

My hope is that all the investigations under way are fully completed and any criminal activity is prosecuted with no plea deals. If anyone else went beyond the undeserved statements of support by some local officials and actually helped Dann and his band of scoundrels cover up criminal activity they must follow Dann into disgrace and out of the taxpayers pockets.

ROBERT J. HUSTED

New Springfield

We survived the dark days

EDITOR:

I was going outside for breath of fresh air the other day but was stopped by the latest news from the federal EPA. They said the air in Trumbull County is too dirty. That’s funny, just a few months ago it was acceptable. It seems like someone keeps moving the goal posts in the middle of the game.

What will it cost us next for these “improvements” of diminishing returns? The answer is, any amount that we can no longer afford. They will increase the cost of everything that depends upon energy consumption. Don’t think for a minute that this dictatorial agency didn’t have anything to do with the demise of the Youngstown steel industry.

I wonder what the EPA would have said about the Valley air back in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s? We were thriving then.

LOREN KINDLER

Hubbard