Personality is a big factor in replacement for Dann

Dann’s aggressive tactics set a legacy the new attorney general might not uphold.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Gambling proponents thought they had a friend, then were sorely disappointed. Charter schools found themselves in the crosshairs of an inventive, and some say overreaching, legal strategy. The mortgage industry got a tongue lashing, and a flurry of lawsuits and subpoenas.

Former Attorney General Marc Dann didn’t spare words or hesitate to use aggressive tactics during his year and a half in office, drawing comparisons to former New York Attorney General and Gov. Eliot Spitzer. With Dann now gone, some of his favorite targets hope his ambitious legal onslaughts are tempered by a more measured replacement.

Dann’s vision is still being carried out by the lawyers who handle the bulk of the day-to-day work on litigation involving the state’s top legal office. While the Democratic replacement chosen by Gov. Ted Strickland is unlikely to fundamentally change the type of issues the office focuses on, gone will be the live-wire personality that set the tone for the agency.

Strickland has mentioned maturity and experience as qualities he is searching for in a replacement, after Dann acknowledged he was ill prepared to handle the job when he resigned over a sexual harassment scandal in his office and an admitted affair with a subordinate.

Potential replacements would “have a different style than Dann did and indeed they may have somewhat different priorities,” said Jonathan Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who taught Dann about 20 years ago. “But it strikes me they are basically going to be consumer-oriented more than business-oriented.”

However, Dann’s early exit would lead to fundamental change if a Republican challenger beats the Democrats’ choice in November.

Complex civil cases often take much longer to resolve themselves than the short stint Dann spent in office, making an evaluation of his legal strategies difficult. A Democratic or Republican successor will have to determine whether to continue those strategies — some of which appeared to “push the envelope,” Entin said.

Dann unleashed lawsuits against several charter schools, saying their failure to meet certain academic benchmarks violated their charitable status that allows them to receive taxpayer money. Charter-school proponents said Dann’s inclusion of charter schools in the definition of charitable trusts went beyond what has traditionally been recognized in law. His tactics drew opposition from lawmakers such as Republican House Speaker Jon Husted, who felt he was violating the Ohio constitution by taking on a regulatory role over the schools.

“Given the unprecedented nature of the lawsuit where the attorney general is taking an aggressive role in trying to regulate the performance of public schools, I would expect the new attorney general to examine whether this is an action worth continuing,” said Chad Readler, lawyer for New Choices Community School in Dayton.

Dann also sued mortgage lenders, alleging fraud and that they pressured real-estate appraisers to inflate home values. He also went after Freddie Mac and Merrill Lynch for investing money from two state pension funds into mortgage backed securities that tanked in the subprime mortgage crisis. Dann’s efforts against the mortgage industry were among the most aggressive in the nation.

Dann had a large impact on the gambling industry, though not in the way the industry believed he would.

Dann’s pronouncement that the state’s effort to police a distinction between allowed games of skill and illegal games of chance wasn’t feasible led to a flurry of legislative activity and a large crackdown, said Neil Clark, a prominent lobbyist and gambling consultant. Dann at first tried to work with the gaming companies but then reversed course and joined forces with Strickland and legislative leaders.

“Whether by mistake or intent, his one legacy is that he did lead to the complete banning of games of skill in Ohio,” Clark said.