COLUMBUS — Passions that flared last Sunday among Ohio Democrats who were united against scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann have slowed to a deliberative crawl, as officials in both parties consider the possible fallout of a prolonged impeachment trial.

House spokesman Phil Saken said Democrats were still meeting on the topic Friday — five days after signing a letter to Dann indicating that if he refused to resign they would “immediately introduce a resolution” seeking his impeachment.

He has refused to resign, saying his actions have not warranted it. Yet media reports Friday continued to confound him.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that another office employee, Kathleen Walley, was suspended and put on paid leave April 21 after she erased the contents of her computer without permission. Walley worked as an office assistant in Youngstown to Dann’s since-fired General Services chief Anthony Gutierrez, the central figure in the sexual harassment scandal.

The Dayton Daily News reported that a June trip to Washington, D.C., that Dann was provided by Cincinnati attorney Stan Chesley was not included on his state financial disclosure form. His office said that’s because Chesley’s bill hasn’t come in yet.

The Ohio Republican Party was taking full political advantage of the scandal — unveiling a Web site Friday called DumpDann.com. But House Speaker Jon Husted, a Kettering Republican, was proceeding with extreme caution on impeachment, said spokeswoman Karen Stivers.

Dann told WCMH-TV of Columbus on Friday that he does not think he has committed an impeachable offense, reiterating that he was elected by the people, has apologized and is “going back to work to re-earn the trust of the people of the state.”

“I don’t think there is any chance I would step down,” he told the station.

Dann declined interview requests made Friday by The Associated Press.

It has been two centuries since Ohio convicted an elected official in an impeachment trial.

Paul Tipps, who chaired the Ohio Democratic Party for eight years, said urging impeachment was a radical step that Ohio Democrats are ill-advised to carry through.

“There has been a reason for not doing this for 200 years. The people back then were smart people too, and they realized that it is not an efficient or effective tool,” said Tipps, who says he is a friend of Dann and his family.

He said members of a grand jury are able to gather evidence in private, but a similar process in the Legislature is carried out in public — where it can have political consequences for representatives and senators.

“They reacted instantly (with the impeachment threat) because they were morally outraged, and justifiably so,” he said. “But it’s as if they’ve decided on the type of execution and the date of the execution, and then, ‘Oh, yeah. We wanted to have a trial, too.”‘

Gov. Ted Strickland, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, and state Rep. Chris Redfern, the current party chairman, joined other top Democrats on Sunday in writing the letter to Dann.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, another Democrat who signed the letter, said she would rather see Dann resign than be impeached.

“Just the fact that impeachment is so rarely used really makes us need to take a look at the process and understand whether it’s the appropriate vehicle,” she said.

Democratic State Treasurer Richard Cordray said he had no further comment on the letter, preferring it to speak for itself.
 

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