D-Day for Dann

Today at 11 AM Marc Dann will hold a press conference in Columbus announcing the release of the investigator's report into Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout's sexual harassment claims. The Columbus Dispatch is already reporting that Anthony Gutierrez will be fired, but no mention of what, if any, fate awaits Leo Jennings. 

The questions is, will firing a couple guys be enough to get Dann past this scandal, with rumors swirling that Governor has privately asked him to resign? My sense is no. Marc Dann needs to do much more. For starters, he's going to have to come clean about the rumors involving Jessica Utovich. We found out that Utovich was to accompany Dann on a trip to Turkey yesterday, and that has set the blogosphere ablaze. I know that there's more information out there about this that will be drip, drip, dripping out over the next few weeks unless Dann takes the high road and puts it all on the table today. 

Dann also needs to do something to change the office environment at the AG's office that the Dispatch reported on last week. Replacing Jennings and Gutierrez with professional Democratic political operatives who know Columbus is absolutely essential if Dann is to move past this. Cleaning up the e-mail language and creating a more professional office environment is necessary too. 

Even with all those steps, I don't know if Dann can survive this. But those steps are the price of moving forward. We'll see if he's willing to pay that price in about an hour.