OSU law dean Nancy Hardin Rogers is interim AG

Gov. Ted Strickland chose Nancy Hardin Rogers, the dean of The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, as the state’s interim attorney general.

She was sworn in today.

In his announcement today, Strickland said Rogers is not interested in running in the November general election for the position. After the Nov. 4 election results are certified, Rogers will return to Ohio State, from where she is on a leave of absence.

In making the decision, Strickland opted to select a caretaker to run the office rather than name someone who would be the Democratic incumbent in the general election.

The decision made it even more likely that Democrats would nominate Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray to serve as attorney general. Cordray would have to resign as treasurer if he was selected by Strickland to the interim position. That would have forced a Nov. 4 election to fill the treasurer’s position; something Ohio Democrats had already ruled out.

The position was vacated with the May 14 resignation of Marc Dann, a Liberty Democrat. A May 2 internal attorney general investigation criticized the office for cronyism and mismanagement and for creating a hostile work environment.

Rogers became dean in 2001 after serving two years as vice provost for academic administration at Ohio State. She is also the immediate past president of the Association of American Law Schools.

Strickland described her as a “woman of great integrity, accomplishment, intellect, humility, dignity, experience and maturity.”