Ohio attorney general yields to pressure, resigns

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COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigned his office Wednesday as he had entered it: On a theme of corruption.

Dann, a hard-charging Democrat from Youngstown, made his political name fighting the misdeeds of Ohio Republicans and pledging to bring ethics back to state government. He resigned after falling short of his own ethical goals.

Dann faced possible impeachment, the state’s first in close to 200 years, amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his admission of an extramarital affair.

The announcement by Dann ended a 10-day odyssey in which he had refused repeated, forceful calls to step down by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party, faced growing investigative scrutiny, and seen articles of impeachment filed against him.

Fellow Democrats led the charge, catching the attorney general in a web of his own words. Dann had admitted at the conclusion of the high-profile harassment investigation May 2 not only to having an affair but to hiring ill-qualified friends, fostering bad office behavior, and being overwhelmed and unprepared for the job to which he was elected.

Several of those sentiments showed up in impeachment articles filed Tuesday.

Appearing beside Strickland Wednesday, Dann said he realized it was necessary to leave to preserve the ability of the office to carry out his priorities. Dann, 46, fashioned himself an Ohio version of the crime-fighting Eliot Spitzer of New York, and spent his first year taking on some of America’s most powerful business interests.

“It is now clear to me that the only way to protect ... priorities for the office of attorney general and for the people of Ohio is to remove myself from the situation,” Dann said during a Wednesday news conference. “This will preserve the great work being done by the office.”

Spitzer also resigned his office earlier this year following revelations of his involvement with a high-end prostitution ring.

Dann quickly exited the news conference without taking questions, leaving to speculation what had changed his mind after days of bunkering down against nearly everyone.

All he said on the matter was: “I sincerely viewed it as my fiduciary responsibility to fix the problems on my watch, especially as it concerned my own actions.”

Strickland, who led the call for Dann to resign or be impeached, didn’t name a replacement but said he would immediately begin reviewing possible successors. Voters would need to confirm Strickland’s pick at the polls on the same day they’ll vote for president, Nov. 4.

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