Callers to the program split on their support of Dann, with many, like this one, in favor of a change of leadership in the Attorney General's office.
[caller - Steve (from North Olmsted)]
"Human nature is that power corrupts. I am Democrat and I think that Marc Dann should go. I don't think sex can be consensual between a subordinate and a superior. It's inherently unequal."
Hiram College Political Science Professor Jason Johnson, a guest on the program, interpreted the listener backlash as being somewhat harsher than that which greeted embroiled New York Governor Eliot Spitzer this year - because Ohio, he says, is a more conservative state.
[Jason Johnson]
"Ohio isn't New York - and the expectations of the citizens are very, very different in the state of Ohio. This is considered morally incorrect and inappropriate. These are issues that matter more here than they do in other states."
Cuyahoga County Republican party Chairman Rob Frost insisted that the calls for Dann's resignation must stem from more than just sexual harrasment and sexual mis-conduct. But he feels there is justification for removal from office.
[Rob Frost]
"This is an Attorney General who hired incompetent, unqualified friends, who's running an office based on patronage. He was covering for their mistakes and their illegal conduct. He lied to the media. He used the power of his office to settle a tax debt. This is the conduct he was undertaking."
But the alleged lies were not sworn statements, and whether they're applicable to state impeachment laws is open to interpretation - said one caller who identified himself as a professor at the Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University
Should the state proceed toward impeachment, it would not happen quickly, according to political strategist Jerry Austin, a veteran of Cleveland and Ohio politics. He said Dann isn't backed into a corner just yet.
[Jerry Austin]
"Marc Dann has a hole card. It's up to him to resign, as the only way to take him out is the impeachment process. It would last until the end of the year because the GOP controls both houses."
But much of the hour's discussion had little to do with the legalities of Dann's situation, focusing instead on morals and ethics. Connie Schultz, the syndicated Plain Dealer columnist, told of hundreds of responses from women across Ohio - upset that the attitude in the Attorney General's office has been defined as that of a Fraternity House, and that women were regularly laughed at for complaining.
[Connie Schultz]
"This is about an unacceptable work ethic. The climate he has created is unacceptable. For the sake of any future he's got, he's got to step down."
Many callers were in agreement, but not all - such as Charles from Lagrange, who felt that Dann still deserves some support, for the official actions his office 'has' taken.
[Caller -Charles]
"Just another example of taking out someone who is good at getting to the heart of the truth of the matter in our disgusting, corrupt, degenerating olitical system."
And finally, this caller from Cleveland had the last word.
[Caller - Susan]
"I find the emphasis on this disapointing and appalling. We have have $4 gasoline, young men and women being killed in Iraq on an every day basis, and legislators who don't deal with the education system that is unconstitutional for over a decade, and THIS is where we put our attention?"
But for now, the attention IS on the attorney general, and whether or not he will follow the lead of many before him and step aside… more or less… quietly.
Rick Jackson, 90.3.
