Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann just can’t seem to catch a break.
Last month, a reporter from the Dayton Daily News broke a story exposing dirty words in Marc Dann’s internal office e-mail conversations [First Punch, November 21]. The story seemed a bit anti-climactic, considering the reporter combed through 4,300 e-mails, only to find one use of the word “MF’er” – not even spelled out — and an instance in which Dann compared a negative editorial about him to the crucifixion of Jesus.
For a guy whose job entails tackling corruption in the most perfidious state west of Sicily, we’re pretty sure Christ would understand.
Yet a Youngstown Vindicator reporter wasn’t satisfied. Political correspondent David Skolnick went a step further last week, peering inside Dann’s personal e-mail on Yahoo, no doubt expecting a treasure trove of itemized bribes, frank conversations about lesbianism, perhaps even the word “MF’er” spelled out.
Alas, Skolnick’s revelations were about as scandalous as a Mitch Albom book signing. The most shocking was Dann’s reference to the office computer system as “shit.” In another, he described one of his employees as “weird.” The stories spoke less about Dann than the Vindicator’s need for a new political correspondent.
“I don’t get the point,” says spokesman Leo Jennings. “If Marc Dann gets frustrated and wants to say goddamnit, it shouldn’t be the focus of the media for four days.”
Compiling e-mail requests for reporters takes so much legwork, says Jennings, that he’s instituting an informal office policy requiring that staffers meet face-to-face.
“You know what? Get off your butt and go over to the next office and talk about what you need to talk about,” Jennings says. “Everyone’s become way too dependant on e-mail.”
Government officials getting off their asses? Now there’s a story. – Jared Klaus
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2007.
I have two comments:
1. Jared wrote that the stories (it actually was only one story) “spoke less about Dann than The Vindicator’s need for a new political correspondent.”
Jared appears to be basing my ability to be The Vindicator’s “political correspondent” on one article.
Maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps he’s an avid reader of my work and came to a well-informed conclusion that I’m incompetent at my job. He certainly wouldn’t be the first person to believe that.
During a quick search of “Jared Klaus” on this Web site, there are those (probably just the ill-informed and ignorant) who believe Jared to be “a hack,” “biased,” and “the most annoying reporter alive.” Also, one reader believes his “lack of vision and journalistic shallowness is appalling.” These are just comments from the first page of a search of “Jared Klaus” on this Web site.
2. Jared asked me via e-mail to explain why I wrote the article on the attorney general. Apparently he didn’t feel the need to include the comments.
But I will share the e-mail correspondence between the two of us for those who are interested.
Jared sent me this e-mail at 12:08 p.m. Dec. 13:
Hi,
I’m a reporter at Scene Magazine in Cleveland. I was reading your story
on Marc Dann’s personal e-mails and was curious what sparked your
interest in the story. I’m doing a little piece for my magazine about
the media’s fascination with Dann’s office lingo and was hoping you’d be
willing to give me a comment. Let me know if you can help me. My
deadline is tomorrow in the AM. Thanks and take care,
Jared Klaus
Less than 90 minutes later, I sent this e-mail to him:
You can use this:
“The attorney general made comments that public information on private e-mail accounts were public records. I was initially interested in seeing if he would comply. He did without raising an objection. When I read the e-mails, I found a number of them to be
interesting, amusing, entertaining, colorful, blunt and/or funny. In my eight years of knowing and covering Marc Dann, the e-mails
reflected his personality.”
If you need more, let me know.
David Skolnick
Politics Writer
The Vindicator
Youngstown, Ohio
Jared’s e-mail response?:
Thanks Dave. I think that will do just fine.
I then replied:
Glad to help. Let me know when it’s published.
I wouldn’t refuse to comment to Jared in the future. Of course, I’d have to convince Jared that my thoughts are those of someone who knows what he’s doing.