MiddletownJournal.com

Marc Dann is going to make this hard.

At this writing, he's fighting to stay in his job, further humiliating himself, his office, the people of Ohio, the Democratic Party and elected officials generally.

Does that cover everybody?

Democrats are right to threaten him with impeachment. If Mr. Dann isn't going to do the right thing and resign, they have no choice but to disown him and see if that gets his attention.

But they are not acting wholly altruistically. Mr. Dann's decision to hang on threatens other Democrats who are running this year.

Republicans couldn't be happier. They think it's delicious that they will be able to campaign against Mr. Dann this fall, whether he's in or out of office.

Two years ago, he was bombastically painting all of them as being in bed with Tom Noe of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation scandal. Now they can turn that metaphor on Mr. Dann, pointing to his romantic involvement with his former scheduler and the sexual harassment lawsuits that have been filed against his buddies.

Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, a Kettering Republican, made a good call in putting Medina's Rep. William Batchelder on the task of looking into the impeachment process.

A former judge and longtime lawmaker, Rep. Batchelder won't go off half-cocked. He understands that there's barely any precedent in the state for throwing someone out of office, and it's serious business to undo a vote of the people.

The Constitution says an officeholder can be impeached "for any misdemeanor in office." But lawyers say that doesn't mean a crime has to be committed; a misdemeanor arguably can be just royally messing up.

The danger, of course, is that legislatures can get easily incensed by something an officeholder, especially of another party, does. Does that mean that lawmakers should have the license to throw somebody out? Under what circumstances should politicians be substituting their judgment for voters' decisions?

Mr. Dann has done really dumb things. But he is not totally stupid. He knows that even as Democrats disassociate themselves from him, levelheaded people in both parties will be cautious about going nuclear. They can't be as reckless with invoking a rare constitutional provision as he was in how he ran his office.

If Republicans go too slowly in figuring out how to proceed, Democrats may accuse them of wanting to prolong their agony of having Mr. Dann around. Provided that they're truly acting fairly and in good faith, they should shake off that criticism.

If Democrats get what they want most and Mr. Dann goes away quickly, they have a decision to make. Gov. Ted Strickland has to name Mr. Dann's replacement, but there will be an election in November to fill the position through 2010.

One scenario being talked about is that the governor would name a placeholder for the job and then up-and-comer state Treasurer Richard Cordray would run in the fall.

That would mean Mr. Cordray wouldn't have to resign as treasurer, and, if he were to lose in November, he could stay on in his current job. If he wins, the governor would get to name the new state treasurer.

This strategy preserves all the Democrats' options, while totally minimizing the price they have to pay for letting Mr. Dann be their candidate.

That may be the right thing for the party to do, but Republicans will be entitled to criticize them for gaming the system — and they'll have a great point.

The Marc Dann embarrassment will end. The important thing for the long term is that his removal doesn't turn into the joke that he showed himself to be.

Cox News Service

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