OHIO Attorney General Marc Dann made headlines for behaving like a jerk recently, yelling an obscenity at a newspaper reporter from Warren. That was bad enough. But what may be worse is that state Democrats just don't seem to understand how important it is that their officeholders not only do what is right but also avoid any appearance of impropriety.
The real problem is not that Mr. Dann, the state's top law enforcement officer, showed no restraint. He was angry about a story Tribune Chronicle reporter Steve Oravecz wrote about Mavilya Chubarova, a woman the attorney general raised as his daughter. What he said outside a fund-raiser for Barack Obama is too crude to print in a family newspaper and it embarrassed the state.
But the deeper problem is the attorney general's failure to understand that he needs to avoid any appearance of nepotism. What made him angry about the story was that it accurately reported on the $37,000-a-year job as "constituent coordinator" Ms. Chubarova landed the day Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, also a Democrat, took office. Not bad for a 22-year-old who only met Ms. Brunner on the campaign trail. The secretary of state said she liked Ms. Chubarova's enthusiasm and creativity. Obviously she ignored how it would look for her to hire a family member of the attorney general.
The attorney general doesn't seem to have a clue either. Time was when we expected a certain amount of decorum from our officials. But Mr. Dann didn't try to be the least bit discreet about how perturbed he was about the report on Ms. Chubarova.
Sadly for his reputation, WYTV of Youngstown caught the attorney general swearing on camera and then posted it on its Web site. Granted, he's far from the first politician to put his foot in his mouth. As a presidential candidate, George Bush made a crude remark about New York Times reporter Adam Clymer in 2000, at a moment when he did not know the microphones were on. And Vice President Dick Cheney just blurted out an obscenity on the Senate floor to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont a few years ago.
Yet scarcely six months after the Democrats won the mid-term elections, they are letting the power go to their heads. We've heard about Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman's wife, Frankie Coleman, landing a job in the Department of Development. She may have been qualified for the job, but her political connections are what put Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher on the spot explaining the hours she claimed to work, but didn't.The Democrats have to do better. Ohioans didn't toss Republicans out of office last November for the color of their ties. Voters in Ohio were tired of the scandals that dominated the GOP. Mr. Dann's unhappiness about the newspaper report suggests maybe the kitchen's too hot for him.
Well, he should get a grip. Next time things make him sweat, he should consider exercising restraint, stepping out of the kitchen for a spell - and biting his lip.
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