Who Will Replace Disgraced Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann
Published May 6th, 2008 @ 11:48 am. Tags: jim petro, marc dann, rob montgomeryIf Dann is impeached or bows to pressure to resign before Sept. 25, Gov. Ted Strickland would appoint an interim attorney general until Ohio voters could weigh in on Nov. 4.
The voters’ choice would finish out Dann’s term through January, 2011.
The two Democrats on the short list for the interim spot are:
Former state senator Ben Espy: He’s currently an executive assistant attorney general in Dann’s office and the attorney who headed up the investigation of Dann’s aide Anthony Gutierrez.
Kent Markus: Strickland’s chief counsel and a former chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher when Fisher was Ohio attorney general.
The names of five Democrats and three Republicans are already being touted as names that could appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.
On the Democratic side, it’s Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates; Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason; Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr.; Ohio state Treasurer Richard Cordray; and Columbus city attorney Richard Pfeiffer.
On the Republican side, it’s former Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, who lost to Dann in the November 2006 election; former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, who opted not to run for re-election in November 2006 and lost a primary race for governor to Ken Blackwell; and state Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chester, who lost in the 2006 GOP primary for attorney general to Montgomery.
Are Republicans excited about any of these choices? Why was Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien left off this list? And isn’t Jim Petro too busy making millions of dollars with shady Stan Chesley, attending fundraisers for Hillary Clinton, and helping convicted murderers get out of prison via the so-called “Innocence Project” if they were convicted prior to modern DNA-matching technology?
Treasurer Rich Cordray is the most frequently mentioned replacement for Dann that I’ve heard. He would be a difficult candidate to beat, especially with financial backing from politically connected bankers.
17 Responses to “Who Will Replace Disgraced Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann”
- 1 Pingback on May 7th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Enough of the Petro bashing! The primary was two years ago. Move on with your life!
O’Brien was not on the list because he and every other County Prosecutor both D and R are up for re-election this year. Any Prosecutor who decided to run for AG would have to forfeit running for re-election to Prosecutor. Not many on either side of the aisle are willing to risk that.
From the GOP’s perspective, Petro would not be the ideal candidate because the term limit amendment to Ohio’s Constitution would bar him from seeking re-election in 2010 if he won this year. The Party would be better off with someone who could run for re-election in 2010 if they won this year.
I won’t stop bashing Petro until he drops all hope of running for the Ohio Supreme Court- Considering his current employment, he is doing more to hurt his chances than anything I could ever say.
Add the names:
Dave Yost-Delaware County Prosecutor
Ron O’Brien-Franklin Co
Rachel Huntzel- Warren Co.
Joe Deters-Hamilton Co.
Yost or O’Brien would be my choice. They are the most conservative. Hopefully the GOP won’t be tempted to put a blast from the past on the ballot. This Party needs to be looking toward the future.
God Dann Ohio?
God Blessed America.
God Danned Ohio: or at least the Democratic Party!
:<
Senator Tim Grendell is the best candidate, Chair of the Senate Judiciary - Criminal Justice Committee and an attorney, he is more than qualified for the position. He’s got my vote already!
If Grendell is the candidate, he must promise to stop wearing sneakers to work.
Grendell is the last person we need. Another loud mouth from the Senate who has no experience running a prosecutor’s office? Who are we, the Democrats? That would be a really stupid idea and he would get crushed in the general election by Cordray. By the way, didn’t Grendell endorse Rudy?
We need a Law Man, not a politician. Yost or O’Brien would be fantastic. They would both get the vote from all three wings of the Republican Party. They are true Reagan Republicans.
Portman is another name that I’m hearing today. The Dispatch mentioned him as well as some of my Cinci friends. I’m not so sure this is a good idea. Portman is certainly conservative enough and he’s an attorney. But, he doesn’t have any experience as a prosecutor as far as I know. Plus, the dems would say Portman=Bush. We don’t need that right now. Everyone knows about Portman’s unbridled desire to be President, but I don’t think this is a good launching pad for that.
The GOP needs a statewide victory in the worst way. Let’s put a real honest to goodness conservative who is qualified and actually wants to be AG on the ballot and see what happens. It worked in the state auditor’s race in 2006.
The Honorable William Batchelder is the logical choice. A true statesman, Batchelder is the only true conservative among the aforementioned candidates.
I think Ron O’Brien has the stuff to beat any democrat in Franklin County. Richard Cordray has a lot of support from the Columbus banks and has been shinning as Ohio Treasurer. We would need someone who could take a stand on crime with a proven track record.
Ron O’Brien is the smartest and logical choice. Go back and look how many votes Sandy O’Brien received in 2006 (and by the way, she spent $30,000 on her statewide election). The name O’Brien plays very well up north. Ron is a no nonsense career prosecutor that can restore trust and integrity to the office.
Yost is not a bad choice, but he has ZERO name ID outside of his county. The name O’Brien will win 10 times out of 10 in Cuyahoga County. The Columbus TV market (specifically, 10TV runs all the way down to the Ohio River). features Ron O’Brien interviews several times a week. He has been on TV so much, that I am willing to bet he has more statewide name ID than Cordray.
Now Mark Weaver will try and piss all over Ron because Mark can’t make any money off of Ron (as they do not see eye to eye on anything). Mark Weaver will continue to push his “meal ticket” Betty Montgomery to all of the talking heads at ORP.
The key is, what kind of commitment will the ORP make to whomever the candidate will be. What finances will be available for the candidate? The greedy lawyers/special counsel will dump their $$ into Cordray and so will the banks. Where will a GOP candidate for AG raise money?
If the ORP is serious about taking the office back, they will have to step up big time with resources.
I am for anyone who won’t have Mark Weaver on his/her payroll.
For what it’s worth, Ron O’Brien has a pretty good name recognition down south as well…at least among the people who know how to GOTV.
Ron O’Brien is not going to give up his county prosecutor seat (which will then flip to the Democrats, resulting in all of his staff being fired and jobless) just so he can lose to Cordray for AG, when he can run safe in 2010. Sorry guys.
Is Voinovich stepping down after this term?
If not, I say we plug in one of our potential ticket-headers in 2010: Portman or Kasich.
Kasich isn’t a lawyer.
Ron O’Brien is the best choice. He would beat Cordray. Outside of Columbus, nobody knows Cordray. O’Brien cuts into Cordray’s base, as no one else would. As others have said, O’Brien has tremendous generic name ID. O’Brien has to be retirement age anyway…retire and take the chance! O’Brien wins.
For the record, Grendell is a horrible choice…I would rather see any of the others that were mentioned.