To think we backed slimy Dann

By Bertram de Souza (Contact)

When — not if, but when —Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro is drummed out of office, most of the credit for his departure will go to Cleveland Atty. Subodh Chandra. At that point, residents of the Mahoning Valley will know the meaning of poetic justice.

First a little background.

The word “we” in the headline refers to this writer, The Vindicator editorial board and the 492,799 voters in Ohio, including 30,476 in Mahoning County, 27,644 voters in Trumbull and the 9,054 in Columbiana, who supported Marc Dann in the May 2, 2006, Democratic primary for Ohio attorney general.

Dann’s opponent for the party nomination was Chandra, who was better qualified to be the state’s top lawyer. And yet, he managed only 201,738 votes statewide.

The local support for Dann was understandable, seeing as how he was serving as a state senator from Liberty Township when he ran, had been a member of Liberty school board and had a law practice in the Valley.

Dann also ran on one major issue: “Coingate.” While in the Legislature, he took the lead in exposing the Republican Party’s pay-to-play culture that had permeated state government. The exposure of “coingate” resulted in rare coins dealer Tom Noe, who had long been a major fund raiser and contributor to Republican officeholders and candidates, being charged with stealing at least $1 million from the $50 million the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation funneled to him for an investment scheme that involved buying and selling rare coins.

General election victory

Dann’s taking on the state GOP endeared him to the voters of Ohio. Not only did he sweep the Democratic nomination for attorney general, but in the general election he defeated Betty Montgomery, who had won the Republican nomination. Montgomery, a veteran politico, was state auditor when she ran for attorney general.

Chandra didn’t stand a chance in the primary, given that the party hierarchy and major campaign donors were behind Dann. In addition, he had to deal with the “macaca” factor in the politically backward parts of Ohio. Chandra is of Asian-Indian heritage.

Dann’s victory in the 2006 election for attorney general was viewed as the beginning of a promising career in Ohio politics. It wasn’t long before he was being touted as a contender for governor.

But a funny thing — well, not so funny — happened on his way to fame: He turned out to be a human slug.

What started as a sexual harassment complaint by two women in the office against a member of Dann’s top management team, ended with the attorney general admitting that he had an adulterous affair with his office scheduler.

Dann resigned in shame and left the Mahoning Valley with his head hung low.

Meanwhile, Chandra, who had served as the law director for the city of Cleveland and was a former federal prosecutor, started a private practice that specializes in civil rights law.

That’s how he came to represent three employees in the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office who were laid off by DeChristofaro on his first day in office.

Chandra has proved that the county engineer took action against them because they supported his opponent in the election.

Trumbull County is paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle the lawsuits filed by Chandra.

But DeChristofaro’s problems with his conduct in office don’t end there. Now, the Cleveland lawyer has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Niles resident who seeks to have the engineer removed from office for misconduct.

Campaign-related tasks

DeChristofaro’s secretary testified at a deposition that she did campaign-related tasks at work on county office equipment during the past year.

He is also being investigated by the Ohio Ethics Commission and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for illegal use of county resources, equipment and labor for political purposes.

Finally, Chandra has filed a lawsuit to have DeChristofaro removed from office because he hasn’t been at work lately.

Subodh Chandra will bring the county engineer down, and when he does it will be poetic justice. After all, he’s cleaning up government in Marc Dann’s backyard. Yes, the same Dann who beat him in the race for attorney general and then corrupted government with his slimy behavior.