The Daily Dann, 5/12/08

Still no stories about the prevalence (or rarity) of hostile work environments, EEOC sexual harassment track record, history of the sex discrimination protection or comparing and contrasting how Ohio government offices run re: discrimination complaints.

I can’t be the only one who wants to know: What is the track record? How often are EEOC cases filed and substantiated? Against whom? At what levels?

So we’ll continue to make it all about the Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann.

First up, personal blogs that represent regular Ohioans:

Blogging Ryan writes a very heartfelt post of frustration. I’m sure he isn’t alone.

Since the media is doing a pretty crappy job writing about sexual harassment in Ohio government workplaces over time or even currently, here’s where you can download a free one-sheet primer on the law and sexual harassment and here’s a piece from something called Sexual Harassment: Should you take it lying down? (because, you know, wouldn’t it be nice if the media helped us learn from what is going on in the AG’s office? grrrrr)

Jason Rowsey gives Ann Fisher a boost, rightly so, when she says,

Dann is not stupid. He’s arrogant, rude and unrepentant. I’ve previously characterized him as a petulant little troll and a blustering bully. He’s a dangerous man because he has no respect for anybody or anything other than himself. He believes that he is above the law. Stupidity is often forgiveable because stupid people often mean well but they screw up anyway. Dann doesn’t mean well. Stupid is what Marc Dann made of the people who voted for him.

And finally, an Ohio University junior English major writes, “Marc Dann needs to go, post-haste. He is an embarrassment to Ohioans everywhere, and the corruption, disregard for the law and just plain piggish behavior that has marked his reign needs to end.”

Around Ohio:
The Columbus Dispatch’s commentary from Benjamin Marrison has been cited by others for this curious inclusion, “Dann even went so far as to threaten to fabricate allegations that newspaper editors who would report the story were also having illicit affairs.”

WFMJ outlines the Ohio legislature’s timeline and indicates that later tomorrow morning the House will act and the Senate will follow on Wednesday:

21 News has learned that at nine o’clock Tuesday morning, the House Speaker is expected to introduce legislation that would turn the Dann Investigation over to the State Inspector General. The House is expected to meet at 11:30 Tuesday morning to approve the bill. The senate could approve it on Wednesday, and have it on the Governor’s desk by Thursday.

This commentary by Peter Bronson of the Cincinnati Enquirer is inappropriately mean-spirited, not to mention completely missing the point of why anything related to the Dann situation matters. He needs to read Ellen Bravo, as should every single individual who wants to say that the Dann situation is about sex. It is not about sex. Here’s what it’s about:

From Taking on The Big Boys, by Ellen Bravo

Following the well-known creed that the best defense is hardball offense, they [the Big Boys] rely on a variety of tactics to try to discredit us, shifting from one to the other with ease. One minute they dismiss us, the next they warn that the sky will fall if we get what we want. I came up with this shorthand to describe how the Big Boys operate.

Checkout these classic raps by talk-show hosts, commentators, and writers of high-minded editorials:

Minimize — What problem (”Women have it made.”)

Trivialize — That’s a problem? (”Feminism means ugly women will sue to get a man.”)

Patronize — You don’t understand the needs of business (”You think you can socially engineer behavior”)

Demonize — You’re the problem. (”Women shouldn’t have kids if they can’t afford to raise them.”)

Catastrophize — Your solution will cause greater problems for the very ones you want to help. (”These laws you want to pass will lead to discrimination against women. You’ll drive business out and cause people to lose their jobs.”)

Compartmentalize — If you get what you want it will hurt some other group. (”Why should non-parents bear the burden of mothers taking time off from work to deal with their kids?”).

More on that tomorrow from an exclusive and fascinating interview I did with Bravo today. A teaser from the former director of 9to5, a person well-known to Ohio and particularly the Cleveland area, who practically wrote the manual on sexual harassment and hostile work environments:

This is not too low a threshold [for defining an impeachable offense]: If you are the person in charge, you are ultimately responsible for ensuring a workplace free from discrimination of any kind. If you know and don’t intercede, you are derelict in your duty.

[Remember, according to several sources, including the Columbus Dispatch, “A state official may be removed for “any misconduct involving moral turpitude or for other cause provided by law,” including “gross neglect of duty, gross immorality, drunkenness, misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance.”]

Case law school gets an ordinary lawyer to replace Dann for commencement. Ho-hum. (I don’t know the guy, I’m sure he’s very nice.)

According to Channel 3, WKYC, an outside investigator was to be named today but I find no record of that happening.

Speaking of investigations, here’s the summary from the Espy report. In case people still can’t figure it out, there’s someone missing from being reprimanded or otherwise taken to task on behalf of the public interest. Who could it be? Could it be…Satan? I love how there’s a list called, “Employee Disciplinary Actions.” Looks like it excludes the top public employee at the AG’s office.

And last, the national scene is noticing too:

The nationally known The Carpetbagger Report says, “Ohio Dems want to pretend Marc Dann no longer exists. I don’t blame them.”

Julie Carr Smith of the AP wants to project an image of Democrat on Democrat fighting over how to handle Dann’s imbroligio but it doesn’t ring real at all to me.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:03 pm May 12th, 2008 in Statehouse, Gender, Democrats, Marc Dann, Scandal, Government, Media, Ohio, Women, Politics

Comments

2 Responses to “The Daily Dann, 5/12/08”

1 Ben K on May 13th, 2008 12:58 am

“Case law school gets an ordinary lawyer to replace Dann for commencement. Ho-hum. (I don’t know the guy, I’m sure he’s very nice.)”

That is what Dann was in the first place.
2 Marwood on May 13th, 2008 9:22 am

I’ve been focused on the recall question in the past couple of days. In light of the headline in the Dispatch today, about an FBI investigation, I’m hoping that won’t be necessary, because Dann will find the pressure to resign unbearable.

How can the AG’s office get any work done and not be completely distracted by everything that’s going on? Maybe that’s the idea, to gridlock the office so that Dann HAS to resign.