Mark Dann isn’t Marc Dann

By JOSH JARMAN

The name Dann often draws raised eyebrows for the central Ohio candidate.

Mark Dann knows the question is coming before it’s asked.

And for the record, no, they’re not related.

Dann, 42, is a senior consultant for a software company and a Homer resident running for a seat on the Northridge school board in November.

Marc Dann is the disgraced former state attorney general from Youngstown who quit his post in 2008 after admitting having an affair while in office.

The two share nothing more than similar names. The former attorney general is a Democrat, while voting records list Mark Dann as a Republican.

That hasn’t stopped the raised eyebrows and quizzical looks Dann with a “k” said he gets while campaigning in rural Licking County.

“‘I’ll say something about never having held state office, and we’ll end up joking about it,” Dann said.

He said the name issue usually does not take up a large part of the conversation, which quickly turns to his goals such as the need for greater fiscal responsibility, securing funding for facility upgrades and holding administrators accountable to the board’s wishes.

Dann said most people are just happy that someone running for office bothered to stop by and ask for their vote in person.

Jeff Dick said that’s what happened at his house. The Homer resident said he came home one day this week to find one of Dann’s political signs in his yard.

“I asked my wife, ‘Why would you put that in our yard? Do you know him? Isn’t he ...’’’ Dick said. “She said at least he came around and asked, and anyone is better than who they’ve got now.”

Dick said many residents of the village near the Licking-Knox county line still are upset about the closing of Homer Elementary School, which was shuttered by the district last year in order to save money. He said his grandfather was in the first class to go through the school, and both he and his father went there as well.

Jeff Schrock, one of Dann’s opponents in the school board race, lives across from the empty school and said residents don’t believe the district does a good enough job of communicating with them. That’s why he decided to run for the board, he said.

Schrock said Dann actually might be helped by his name because many people will remember hearing it, but not where or why. Schrock said a candidates night scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Northridge High School will give all the candidates a chance to introduce themselves to voters.

There are four people seeking three open seats in the nonpartisan race. The other candidates are incumbent Brent Garee and Creston King.