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Published: Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Attorney general outlines his plans

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Marc Dann of Liberty plans to target predatory lenders and sexual predators.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

LIBERTY — In his inaugural speech, Attorney General Marc Dann said he will defend the people of Ohio against those — including powerful politicians, corrupt corporations and "entrenched special interests" — who threaten their well-being.

"In the pursuit of justice, I will never, ever back down," Dann told an audience of several hundred at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex in Liberty during his speech Monday.

Judge William O'Neill of the 11th District Court of Appeals swore in Dann, a Liberty Democrat, earlier in the day as the state's 47th attorney general. The ceremony was in the courtroom of Judge Andrew D. Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, the last place Dann tried a case. At least 250 people packed the third-floor courtroom with several more outside and down the stairs.

During his speech at the MetroPlex, Dann outlined his plans to change some of the focus of the attorney general's office to improve the state.

"Some of the changes will be relatively small, others will be greater in scope, but all are designed [to] help restore the public's trust in our government," he said.

Details

Among the plans outlined by Dann are:

Targeting predatory lenders who have increased "Ohio's shameful home foreclosure rate and [tear] apart our neighborhoods. Many families lose their houses because they are victimized by "unscrupulous" mortgage lenders and brokers, he said. Dann plans to form task forces to crack down on those lenders and charge them in criminal and civil court.

A devotion to exposing and eliminating public corruption wherever it exists. Dann was an outspoken critic of what he called a "pay-to-play" way of doing business in some state agencies that he said created a "billion-dollar corruption tax."

Insisting on transparency and accountability in all government institutions, including his office. Dann said he'll "vigorously demand strict adherence to all open-record and sunshine laws."

To continue the efforts of Jim Petro, his predecessor, to protect children from sexual predators. "There will be no place in Ohio for them to hide," Dann said of sexual predators.

Concentrating "considerable resources" to curb white-collar crime.

Increasing the office's staff of 1,300, hiring more consumer educators and making sure complaints are handled quickly and effectively over the telephone. Besides working out of the attorney general's main office in Columbus, Dann said he will be visible at satellite offices that currently exist as well as new ones he plans to open.

What lies ahead

"We're not going to take on these big issues because doing so will generate big headlines or even good columns in The Vindicator," he said, straying from his prepared inaugural speech to add the second half of that statement.

"We're going to take them on because [these problems] are hurting the people I have sworn to represent," he said.

Dann said he wants to oversee the "most innovative, effective, professional and influential attorney general's office in the nation."

Dann said he led a fulfilling life serving as a state senator, running a small legal practice and spending time with his family before deciding about a year ago to run for attorney general.

"I knew from the beginning that I was not running because I had a burning desire to hold statewide office," he said. "I was not running because I was brimming with ambition."

Dann said his interest in running originated from his involvement in exposing the Coingate scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. That led to his discovery that state government "had gone seriously awry. Instead of serving the interests of the people, the institutions of government had become tools of the special interests," Dann said.

skolnick@vindy.com

Tuesday, January 9, 2007