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Home / Ohio: Swearing, After-Hours Drinking Part of AG Staff CultureOhio: Swearing, After-Hours Drinking Part of AG Staff Culture
Last Updated on Monday, 28 April 2008 03:19 Written by rslcpol Monday, 28 April 2008 02:34
Not the culture you want to establish is it? Ohio bloggers continue to churn this story around. Naugh Blog gets the discussion going writing on a news conference that Dann’s office will be having with in the week on the issue – who publicly announces press conferences that far out – it’s like being French in war – tell them when you’ll surrender. Writes Like She Talks has her own readers weighing in – and makes a good point that we’ve made all along – Dann should be fearing the voter. Blogger Interrupted posted a rumor about Marc Dann possibly landing a gig with a big law firm – probably be doing some lobbying of state AGs across the country – just a rumor and a dated one at that, but worth sharing.
John Estheimer remembers it as the strangest job interview of his 30-year career.Trying out for the position of Attorney General Marc Dann’s personal assistant in February, Estheimer said the Dann aides who interviewed him kept coming back to the question of whether he could tolerate an atmosphere of frequent vulgarity and sharp elbows.During the two-hour interview, Estheimer said, he heard staff members in adjacent work areas shouting obscenities toward each other.
Estheimer, a former butler and facilities manager, didn’t get the job, but he said he did get some insight into the culture of an office that’s now rocked by allegations of sexual harassment involving a middle manager and longtime friend of Dann’s.
I worked at the AG’s office for almost 2 years as an Assistant AG. I was hired under Petro and had worked previously in the Ohio House and Senate. Admittedly, I am a Republican and worked for Republicans while in the General Assembly. However, we (the AGs in my section) never viewed politics as something to discuss. Republican, Democrat, it never was considered. Hence after not even a year my surprise when I was informed after the Dann administration took office that I, a lowly first year AAG (this was my first job as an attorney and I was proud of it now matter who the AG was) was informed that the office “was not sure it had the budget to keep me” and that “they wanted to hire their own people”. The funny thing was I was, along with my cohorts, making nothing as an attorney and our section had some spots open for which the Dann administration could have filled with “their people”.
I, and all the others in the section new it was nothing more than politically motivate BS. Fortunately, my client and several other AGs, including several devout Democrats, went to bat and convinced the administration not to fire me.
Now I see that Guiterrez crashes state vehicles and Dann hires $98,000 “Washington liaisons” who happen to be former campaign aides, while his “scheduler” gets a $10,000 raise while AAGs put in long hours representing the people of Ohio making as much as her. It makes me glad I am now in private practice.
I remember working in the Ohio Senate and we all joked that Senator Dann was having another press conference. Senator Dann was yelling about this Republican or that, Dann was screaming about “Coingate” (which was a disgrace), screaming about “play to play”. Now AG Dann is remarkably silent. I know there is an “investigation” going on, but it makes me wonder if a lowly AAG like myself (goodness forbid it be a Republican AAG) had reportedly crashed a state vehicle and not reported it like Guiterrez had, even if it was only suspected, how quick do you think we would be fired?
99.99999999% of the people in the AG’s office are hard working, devoted public servants regardless of party affilation, it is just too bad they work for an AG who has tarnished the reputation of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in only 16 months.
Yes, there are spelling mistakes in the previous post.
Spelling mistakes or not, you got the message across loud and clear 😉