Too much activity from "sources" -- primarily quoted in the latest AP release were the Dispatch and Plain Dealer -- that Marc Dann's days may now be hours. The final straw appears to be the decision by Democrat lawmakers to make good on their threat to impeach Dann for his crimes.
What crimes? Nine counts, says Akron Democrat State Rep Brian Williams in a conversation with AkronNewsNow.com relating the big step. It didn't help that Governor Strickland quickly followed up with comments that he supported the move, even after last week's comments that he wouldn't support impeachment unless they could prove something criminal.
What was happening in the AG's office, and the impact on Democrats just getting used to holding power in Ohio again, is apparently criminal enough and even Dann's decision to bluster on despite just about every former friend he ever had standing on the other side of the street can't withstand the very public humiliation impeachment would bring. The filing alone by Democrats, even without the official push it would need from Republicans at the Statehouse, looks like enough to do the trick and this game of political chicken appears to be over.
Showing posts with label Dann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dann. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Impeach This!
Those folks still chomping at the bit for a Dann impeachment will have to wait at least a weekend longer, and educated guessing puts the wait at a lot longer than that, too.
Governor Ted Strickland notes in a Columbus Dispatch interview that any impeachment should hold to a strict standard, even as strict as that required for an indictment. Of course, there's an old joke about prosecutors getting a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich but we'll keep ourselves focused on the real-life and away from lunch.
On tonight's PBS 45/49 NewsNight Akron reporter chat-fest we continue to play more NewsNight Dann with updates on the current spate of political thinking of the Dann mess, how Democrats are now stepping back a bit from their rush to push Dann out with impeachment pressure talk and how the GOP is the slow-things-down and let's deliberate positioning led by Medina County Republican Bill Batchelder. No real surprises, but tying an impeachment to an indictment raises the bar considerably in a case that so far has a slimy but decidedly non-criminal act on the part of the Attorney General: straying from the home fires is not a crime. It is certainly stupid and disrespectful to the woman he promised to love and honor, and it may be grounds to pursue civil sexual harassment and nasty workplace lawsuits, but it isn't exactly criminal activity.
That said, the ongoing probe by the Ohio State Highway Patrol may be the best opportunity to determine if laws were broken. In similar fashion to Richard Nixon in the 70s and Bill Clinton in the 90s, the big question becomes what did he know and when did he know it? Did Dann have knowledge his top communications aide, as noted in the AG's own investigation, advised a co-worker and friend to sidestep investigator questions? Did disgraced former aide Tony Gutierrez really have mob connections as insinuated when showing off to the ladies? Did any connections play a part in illegal use of state vehicles, expenses or even campaign-paid reimbursements?
Without answers to the questions of criminal behavior -- even misdemeanor -- all the talk of impeachment is just talk. While Ohio's law is pretty broad on reasons to impeach it does mention breaking the law, even a misdemeanor, and so far Dann himself is guilty of poor management at the office and poor performance as an elected official and husband.
If those are impeachable offenses let's get ready to fill lots of government positions.
- - -
Program note: WAKR's Ray Horner had an in-studio appearance scheduled for Monday morning's show with Dann, but the Attorney General office is backing away and scrubbed the appearance. No brain surgery here on the why, especially with his request honored by the Beacon Journal to not record his appearance before their editorial board (neither audio nor video); Steve Hoffman reminds me and readers of his column that Dann was very insistent there is "nothing" they can hold him to that would be criminal.
- - -
A very personal observation on why CAK is a better way to go than CLE: I had a business trip to Washington, D.C. at mid-week that had me use Baltimore-Washington rather than Reagan National (about $700 reasons to fly BWI) and put up with the inconvenience of a 45-minute train ride ($12 round trip) into D.C. As always the airport in Cleveland appears dirtier and worn-out, especially in comparing new terminal areas at BWI. This trip the security at CLE was a breeze but when I returned once again it was a hassle using Concourse D where Continental's baby regional flights terminate. That's the half-mile jaunt using a mix of moving sidewalks and two sets of four-story stairs or escalators, and again moving is a relative term. This time the four sets of moving sidewalks did work but the up escalator to the main terminal didn't. For all the business CLE gets can't they keep these things working? Conversations with total strangers familiar with both airports have a clear preference for Akron-Canton; if only some of the flight schedules were more convenient.
Governor Ted Strickland notes in a Columbus Dispatch interview that any impeachment should hold to a strict standard, even as strict as that required for an indictment. Of course, there's an old joke about prosecutors getting a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich but we'll keep ourselves focused on the real-life and away from lunch.
On tonight's PBS 45/49 NewsNight Akron reporter chat-fest we continue to play more NewsNight Dann with updates on the current spate of political thinking of the Dann mess, how Democrats are now stepping back a bit from their rush to push Dann out with impeachment pressure talk and how the GOP is the slow-things-down and let's deliberate positioning led by Medina County Republican Bill Batchelder. No real surprises, but tying an impeachment to an indictment raises the bar considerably in a case that so far has a slimy but decidedly non-criminal act on the part of the Attorney General: straying from the home fires is not a crime. It is certainly stupid and disrespectful to the woman he promised to love and honor, and it may be grounds to pursue civil sexual harassment and nasty workplace lawsuits, but it isn't exactly criminal activity.
That said, the ongoing probe by the Ohio State Highway Patrol may be the best opportunity to determine if laws were broken. In similar fashion to Richard Nixon in the 70s and Bill Clinton in the 90s, the big question becomes what did he know and when did he know it? Did Dann have knowledge his top communications aide, as noted in the AG's own investigation, advised a co-worker and friend to sidestep investigator questions? Did disgraced former aide Tony Gutierrez really have mob connections as insinuated when showing off to the ladies? Did any connections play a part in illegal use of state vehicles, expenses or even campaign-paid reimbursements?
Without answers to the questions of criminal behavior -- even misdemeanor -- all the talk of impeachment is just talk. While Ohio's law is pretty broad on reasons to impeach it does mention breaking the law, even a misdemeanor, and so far Dann himself is guilty of poor management at the office and poor performance as an elected official and husband.
If those are impeachable offenses let's get ready to fill lots of government positions.
- - -
Program note: WAKR's Ray Horner had an in-studio appearance scheduled for Monday morning's show with Dann, but the Attorney General office is backing away and scrubbed the appearance. No brain surgery here on the why, especially with his request honored by the Beacon Journal to not record his appearance before their editorial board (neither audio nor video); Steve Hoffman reminds me and readers of his column that Dann was very insistent there is "nothing" they can hold him to that would be criminal.
- - -
A very personal observation on why CAK is a better way to go than CLE: I had a business trip to Washington, D.C. at mid-week that had me use Baltimore-Washington rather than Reagan National (about $700 reasons to fly BWI) and put up with the inconvenience of a 45-minute train ride ($12 round trip) into D.C. As always the airport in Cleveland appears dirtier and worn-out, especially in comparing new terminal areas at BWI. This trip the security at CLE was a breeze but when I returned once again it was a hassle using Concourse D where Continental's baby regional flights terminate. That's the half-mile jaunt using a mix of moving sidewalks and two sets of four-story stairs or escalators, and again moving is a relative term. This time the four sets of moving sidewalks did work but the up escalator to the main terminal didn't. For all the business CLE gets can't they keep these things working? Conversations with total strangers familiar with both airports have a clear preference for Akron-Canton; if only some of the flight schedules were more convenient.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Dann Sad Story
We are at the intersection of bad news and worst news when it comes to living in Dann's world these days; on a national basis he can probably thank God there's an election in North Carolina and Indiana tomorrow otherwise the only other big story would be killer storms in Myanmar and thousands dead and that's not enough for a hungry national media audience to pass up something as juicy as this story. It is actually a wonder this hasn't hit red-hot overdrive given the Spitzer Siege; so far no camping outside Dann's home on Nancy Grace.
Just about every conceivable friend in the world is urging him to step down; nary a single "wait a moment, give the sinner time to repent" from the Columbus crowd now crowing for his head. Not just on a platter, mind you; this has to be a pike at the Statehouse Gates, to serve as an example that hanky-panky won't be tolerated at the domeless seat of power.
Poor Marc Dann, to be the one carrying the standard to slay Betty Montgomery, the GOP's best chance to hold on to a constitutional office in the 2006 bloodbath, only to be undone by Hawaiian pizza and a penchant for living the fraternity life away from the family. Propelled to power by Coingate, now condemned to political purgatory by Pizzagate. As a friend with a wicked sense of humor writes from Washington, counting coins should not have led to counting condoms.
Today, Stephanie Warsmith reports Dann talked for an hour with the Beacon Journal's editorial board (note to ABJ: record these things...put 'em on the web before the next day) as Governor Strickland played Dean Wormer and told the Delta House president his fraternity was finished, partly because he didn't fall on the same sword he used to lower the boom on his closest lieutenants. Now it's left up to the Democrats to do the smart thing, which they say they will now pursue: they will move to impeach one of their own, in the hopes of ending their nightmare before it becomes a long statewide march to a very public execution of any hope Dann has of rehabilitation and a future as a political player -- although something tells me the days of actually being a player should be counted on a single hand.
To impeach you need something criminal, and there are plenty of questions still needing an answer: payments for the frat house, state cars wrecked, state workers boozing it up, charges of sexual harassment and general abuse of power and just plain decency in the office. One woman says she was afraid of claims Anthony Gutierrez made that he was connected to the mob to spur a hop in the sack. The folks at the Bureau of Criminal Identification (Ohio's BCI is our nearest thing to CSI) have to be waiting for the call for this thing to go into overdrive since the Attorney General's their boss.
Are DNA samples on pizza boxes next?
Just about every conceivable friend in the world is urging him to step down; nary a single "wait a moment, give the sinner time to repent" from the Columbus crowd now crowing for his head. Not just on a platter, mind you; this has to be a pike at the Statehouse Gates, to serve as an example that hanky-panky won't be tolerated at the domeless seat of power.
Poor Marc Dann, to be the one carrying the standard to slay Betty Montgomery, the GOP's best chance to hold on to a constitutional office in the 2006 bloodbath, only to be undone by Hawaiian pizza and a penchant for living the fraternity life away from the family. Propelled to power by Coingate, now condemned to political purgatory by Pizzagate. As a friend with a wicked sense of humor writes from Washington, counting coins should not have led to counting condoms.
Today, Stephanie Warsmith reports Dann talked for an hour with the Beacon Journal's editorial board (note to ABJ: record these things...put 'em on the web before the next day) as Governor Strickland played Dean Wormer and told the Delta House president his fraternity was finished, partly because he didn't fall on the same sword he used to lower the boom on his closest lieutenants. Now it's left up to the Democrats to do the smart thing, which they say they will now pursue: they will move to impeach one of their own, in the hopes of ending their nightmare before it becomes a long statewide march to a very public execution of any hope Dann has of rehabilitation and a future as a political player -- although something tells me the days of actually being a player should be counted on a single hand.
To impeach you need something criminal, and there are plenty of questions still needing an answer: payments for the frat house, state cars wrecked, state workers boozing it up, charges of sexual harassment and general abuse of power and just plain decency in the office. One woman says she was afraid of claims Anthony Gutierrez made that he was connected to the mob to spur a hop in the sack. The folks at the Bureau of Criminal Identification (Ohio's BCI is our nearest thing to CSI) have to be waiting for the call for this thing to go into overdrive since the Attorney General's their boss.
Are DNA samples on pizza boxes next?
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Columbus Delta House
One of the most compelling story lines of politics (and life in general) comes when chickens roost; in the sad case of Marc Dann's rise to power and today's fall from grace comes lessons which ought to be required courses for those communications and poli-sci majors who are grooming themselves to become the next James Carville or Karl Rove.
In another of the industry's ironic moments Dann, who campaigned on a wave of ethics reform and high-minded judgment good enough to unseat the formerly-unbeatable Betty Montgomery, is now causing Democrats to mull over musical chairs a year and a half post-taking power in one of the state's most important offices. It is the lead on tonight's NewsNight Akron program on PBS 45/49 (shameless plug) with almost all the elements needed to move from current events to HBO drama.
Dann, in an Eliot Spitzer-like moment, looks into the camera and begs the forgiveness of his family, friends, supporters, co-workers and most of all fellow citizens for the lapses in thinking that led him to an affair with a woman who worked for him. Two faithful lieutenants (one of them, Leo Jennings III, is well-known in Akron circles for his political media work) fall on their swords for trying to keep everything hush-hush; another gets the outright boot for his behavior in a tale that includes drunken driving and debauchery in Ohio's very own Capitol Animal House.
It has been ten years since the nation watched the President of the most powerful nation on earth explain what "is" meant and how sex really wasn't sex; in the past decade we've seen a U.S. Senator face charges for toe-tapping in a men's room, a U.S. Congressman fall from grace for pursuing pages, another U.S. Senator wrapped up in a D.C. call girl scandal that led to suicide, and most recently New York's Governor skip out of office for high-priced call girls. What, don't these guys read newspapers, watch TV or listen to the radio?
We can't say what Dann was thinking when he used campaign funds to set up that hip bachelor pad for swingers; we can't imagine what went through his mind when underlings messed up again and again and again without retribution from the man who rode the surf of outrage over counting coins and insider dealing to become Ohio's top lawyer; we can't explain why he stepped over those boundary lines every husband -- every husband -- knows is the marriage line of death. The list of public figures who haven't made the connection to destruction because of private failings grows by one more, adding another line to the laugh riot that is American and Ohio politics.
This is tragic because Dann's wife and children deserve far better than the sympathy going their way while the public ridicule envelopes him. It's sad for the Strickland Administration which has been trying to prove government can handle it's business the way voters expect their business to be done. We don't vote for our leaders because they are like us; we vote for our leaders because we want to believe they will represent what's best about us, and this isn't the best.
The Republicans predictably are calling for Dann to step down, but that's like Democrats in 2005 calling for Bob Taft to step down: the GOP's best interests are for Dann to tough it out, fight for his job and make as many public appearances as he can to apologize and promise he'll do better. The wishlist for Republican party leaders is for the opposite, giving them what Tom Noe gave Dann and the Democrat party what it wanted most in 2006: a face, a poster boy, a target to use to convince voters weary of scandal that neither side has clean hands. That would take the high ground held since January 2007 by the Ted Administration in Columbus and give the GOP what they know doesn't exist in 2008 following the economy, gas prices and war: a door back in.
In another of the industry's ironic moments Dann, who campaigned on a wave of ethics reform and high-minded judgment good enough to unseat the formerly-unbeatable Betty Montgomery, is now causing Democrats to mull over musical chairs a year and a half post-taking power in one of the state's most important offices. It is the lead on tonight's NewsNight Akron program on PBS 45/49 (shameless plug) with almost all the elements needed to move from current events to HBO drama.
Dann, in an Eliot Spitzer-like moment, looks into the camera and begs the forgiveness of his family, friends, supporters, co-workers and most of all fellow citizens for the lapses in thinking that led him to an affair with a woman who worked for him. Two faithful lieutenants (one of them, Leo Jennings III, is well-known in Akron circles for his political media work) fall on their swords for trying to keep everything hush-hush; another gets the outright boot for his behavior in a tale that includes drunken driving and debauchery in Ohio's very own Capitol Animal House.It has been ten years since the nation watched the President of the most powerful nation on earth explain what "is" meant and how sex really wasn't sex; in the past decade we've seen a U.S. Senator face charges for toe-tapping in a men's room, a U.S. Congressman fall from grace for pursuing pages, another U.S. Senator wrapped up in a D.C. call girl scandal that led to suicide, and most recently New York's Governor skip out of office for high-priced call girls. What, don't these guys read newspapers, watch TV or listen to the radio?
We can't say what Dann was thinking when he used campaign funds to set up that hip bachelor pad for swingers; we can't imagine what went through his mind when underlings messed up again and again and again without retribution from the man who rode the surf of outrage over counting coins and insider dealing to become Ohio's top lawyer; we can't explain why he stepped over those boundary lines every husband -- every husband -- knows is the marriage line of death. The list of public figures who haven't made the connection to destruction because of private failings grows by one more, adding another line to the laugh riot that is American and Ohio politics.
This is tragic because Dann's wife and children deserve far better than the sympathy going their way while the public ridicule envelopes him. It's sad for the Strickland Administration which has been trying to prove government can handle it's business the way voters expect their business to be done. We don't vote for our leaders because they are like us; we vote for our leaders because we want to believe they will represent what's best about us, and this isn't the best.
The Republicans predictably are calling for Dann to step down, but that's like Democrats in 2005 calling for Bob Taft to step down: the GOP's best interests are for Dann to tough it out, fight for his job and make as many public appearances as he can to apologize and promise he'll do better. The wishlist for Republican party leaders is for the opposite, giving them what Tom Noe gave Dann and the Democrat party what it wanted most in 2006: a face, a poster boy, a target to use to convince voters weary of scandal that neither side has clean hands. That would take the high ground held since January 2007 by the Ted Administration in Columbus and give the GOP what they know doesn't exist in 2008 following the economy, gas prices and war: a door back in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
