Marc Dann’s press conference - FARCE.
Fri, May 2, 2008
Marc Dann’s press conference today was a complete disaster transport. Total farce. It’s impossible for me, one blogger, to document every angle of this, but a few things jumped out at me.
First, Dann says Espy’s investigation was “an incredible piece of work, fair, complete, and thorough”. I can’t imagine any attorney, law student, or bar exam taker, who would receive a passing grade for having produced a paper that so completely misses the relevant points. Espy has soiled his own reputation with this, and Dann is dreaming if he really believes that report is any kind of “conclusion”.
Second, after admitting to having a sexual relationship with Jessica Utovich, neither Dann, nor Espy, detailed in their press conference today when it began, when it ended, and how it relates to the various scandals that have now made the AG office of Ohio a laughingstock. The timing of the Utovich affair is central to the entire story. Even Dann himself acknowledged today that his affair with Utovich contributed to the atmosphere in the AG’s office that produced the likes of Gutierrez and Leo Jennings.
Third, Dann says he told his wife Alyssa Lenhoff about the affair “months ago”. Umm….WHAT? She gets to hear about this, and then the state of Ohio is left hanging for however long those months were, while a scandal erupts to paralyze the AG’s office? This seems incredibly fishy, and again makes me believe that she’s calling the shots here, not Marc Dann. Dann said she was his “achilles heal”. That’s apparent. She wasn’t even at his press conference. That’s not a supporting wife…that’s a wife who has her husband by the nuts, and with his nuts, the state of Ohio.
Fourth, Dann announced that Jim Friedman is going to review policies at the AG office. Jim Friedman is a major fundraiser in the Democratic Party of Ohio. He has a reputation as a fine lawyer who has worked for numerous Democratic candidates and officials. Why the hell Jim Friedman would want to tie his reputation to this catastrophe is beyond my comprehension, but his involvement makes it abundantly clear to me that Ted Strickland is carrying Marc Dann’s water now.
Farce. Complete and total farce.
Popularity: 53% [?]
Tags: alyssa lenhoff, jessica utovich, jim friedman, leo jennings, marc dann, ted strickland
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Now we are blaming the wife that was betrayed? Who are you kidding? I can’t blame her for not being at the press conference and playing the part of the “supportive wife” as you so eloquently called it. If he told her of these things months ago, she has taken the time to deal with it and move on towards forgiveness and reconciliation. How can you expect her to be there to relive the pain and emotional turmoil? Get over yourself! And the fact that you think that it was more important to tell the state of Ohio about his affair than it was to deal with his family, proves that you are also part of what’s wrong in the government. Your family life and emotional well being is much more important than political gain. He was wrong, and he should never have been involved in any of this. I obviously would never vote for him again, and I wouldn’t object to him resigning, but I definitely do not blame the actions of his “adult” staff members on his actions. They are men who know the difference between right and wrong and Marc’s actions did not affect their actions of way of thinking.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
E.Lyons–
Are you high, or did Marc Dann just hire you as his new Director of Communications?
Seriously, when was the last time you didn’t see a spouse at a press conference like this? Hell, Eliot Spitzer got caught balls deep in a hooker and his wife was at his side. Dann’s wife’s conspicuous absence was quite telling.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Tim –
Dann was a reformer who was intemperate about his own conduct as a public figure. An old story. We’ve all seen it happen before. He needs to go, and go fast. I hope the Democrats understand that before too many wind up turning into pumpkins. You divined a lot about Dann’s flaws and spoke up early. Tim, I think instinct is an untaught ability (I have heard that somewhere) and you showed it as the Dann saga unfolded. Dann deserves as much respect — none — that he showed the people of Ohio.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
thanks for the kind words, bill. maybe someday, people will start understanding that i know these people and their little flaws better than they think.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
It’s refreshing to see a man and a woman have an affair. If this was a Repugnicant, he would have had an affair with a little boy or a farm animal.
Marc Dann should stay in office for as long as Foot-Tapper Larry Craig and Diaper Dave Vitter remain in power.
At least Dann doesn’t go around pretending to be some sort of moral exemplar of virtue, like Craig, Vitter, and so many other Repugnicants do.
The Repugnicant motto: do as we say, not as we do.
Marc Dann should use this as payback time.
Go after the corrupt Repugs in Butler County (Dynus)
Go after the corrupt Repugs in Clermont County (Walker)
Go after all the moralizing reporters, like none of them have ever banged a subordinate.
Go after the corrupt Repugs in Warren County
Go after the corrupt Repugs from Ashtabula to Zanesville, from Archbold to Ironton, and everywhere in between.
Hoist them on their own moralizing petards.
Go after the corporations, the price-gouging oil companies.
Show everyone what a fighter you are, Marc. This is why we elected you. Remind everyone what sort of corrupt morass you inherited after 16 years of Repugnicants plundering the state government and Treasury.
YOU are the reason Tom Noe is in jail and not wining and dining Governor Blackwell tonight.
YOU are the reason AOL and Time Warner aren’t ripping the public off anymore.
YOU are the reason our state retirement system is much closer to solvency than it was when Tom Noe and other corrupt Repugs were buying coins and Beanie Babies with public retirement funds.
You’ve got some top-notch people at your disposal. Now is the time to put an end to all this moralistic snooping into your personal life and go on offense.
Show the guts, the heart, and the spine you showed in the Senate, and you’ll get 70% of the vote next time.
It’s time to not just defeat the Repugs at the ballot box, but also in the Courthouse.
Every single person in Ohio who chooses to affiliate themselves with the Criminal Enterprise Formerly Known As The Republican Party bears some degree of knowledge of, or responsibility for, their damaging policies and their criminal practices in office.
It’s time to shut them down.
You haven’t broken any laws, Mr. Dann, but a truckload of Repugnicants from one end of this state to the other have.
Investigate, indict, imprision. That’s your job. Your job is not to answer questions from sex-starved moralists getting their jollies off asking you about your personal life.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Jason must be a Dann staffer. No one else would be so obsessed with exaggerating this pathetic administration’s “accomplishments.” Hopefully, Betty Montgomery will forgive Ohio’s voters, run again, win and clean up this mess!
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
The AG’s staff can continue doing all this great work with a new AG in place. Marc Dann needs to go, not all the deputy attorney generals, D’s and R’s, that are really doing the work.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Swanny- I can ask you the same question. Are we really going to base what should or should not be done by what other corrupt people have done in the past? There is no way you can hold her responsible for not being there. Her absence proves nothing other than she did not desire puting herself on television dealing with the humiliation. She is still by his side at home, and that my friends is what really matters. Family comes first and her children needed her more than Marc did that day.