Another scandal in Ohio.  This one involves the state's Attorney General, Marc Dann, who was elected in 2006:

All statewide Democratic elected officials and legislative leaders are calling on embattled Attorney General Marc Dann to resign from office. 

"The work of the Office of the Attorney General matters more, and is far more important, than any one person," Gov. Ted Strickland and a who's-who of Democratic state leaders wrote to Dann. "In many, many cases it is all that stands between the people and the powerful. Sadly, we no longer have even the most remote hope that you can continue to effectively serve as attorney general and that is why we are asking for your resignation."

Dann did not immediately respond to the letter today, but in a text message shortly before it was made public, he answered "no" when asked if he intends to step down.

The letter also said Democratic members of the House will begin impeachment proceedings if Dann doesn't resign.

The letter, prepared last night, was signed by Gov. Ted Strickland, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Treasurer Richard Cordray, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the two Democratic legislative leaders, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, and Sen. Ray Miller, D-Columbus, and Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern.

Strickland told Dann last night the letter was coming and verbally asked him to step down. Dann refused.

The move came after multiple conversations over the past two days among the top Democrats.

The pressure for Dann to resign began rising after developments Friday when two of Dann's top staffers were fired and two others resigned at the conclusion of a sexual harassment investigation triggered by an April 6 story in The Dispatch.

Dann confessed, for the first time, to having an affair with a young female staff member and set the tone for a hostile work environment that resulted in sexual harassment.

On Friday, we posted an article about progress at the state level -- in West Virginia -- on ethics reform.  Today's state focus is exactly the opposite.  In Alabama,  there is a major and some massive corruption investigation undeway affecting over a dozen state legislators:

There is fear in the halls of the Alabama State House. Your colleague may be wired. Somebody may be watching you. An indictment looms.

After a dozen legislators received subpoenas one day last month in a criminal investigation, an atmosphere of paranoia and anxiety has descended on the gleaming white building that houses the State Legislature, many of its occupants say.

Legislators are sweeping their offices for bugs. Routine horse-trading for votes is stymied, for fear it could be misinterpreted. A wary lawmaker agrees to meet a reporter only in a wide-open parking lot. After-hours get-togethers are off.

The concern is a result of a long-running federal investigation into corruption within the state’s system of two-year colleges that has led to guilty pleas on bribery and corruption charges by one state lawmaker and the system’s former chancellor. The Birmingham News reported in 2006 that a quarter of the 140 members of the Legislature had financial ties to the college system, with most of the jobs or contracts going to lawmakers or their relatives. Recent reports indicate the number has grown to nearly a third of the Legislature.

Things are messy in the Oklahoma State House. The speaker has resigned his post in the wake of an ethics scandal. That scandal has resulted in legislative efforts to reform the ethics laws for legislators:

Lawmakers say ethics reform and lawmaker accountability may become top priorities in the Oklahoma House following former Speaker Lance Cargill's resignation from the chamber's top job.

Cargill resigned yesterday following a series of embarrassing revelations, including not filing state personal income tax returns and fundraising activities by a House GOP political action committee he headed that is the focus of an Ethics Commission investigation.

Lawmakers say Cargill's departure could touch off a free-for-all among Republican and Democratic lawmakers who will compete to push through tough ethics reforms to deal with issues that concerned them during Cargill's 1-year tenure as speaker.

Corruption and unethical behavior starts early in some public officials.  For some, it takes a while.  One thing is sure:  bad behavior i's not limited to Congress, that's for sure.  Two recent examples of local ethics scandals provide the evidence.

In San Francisco, Supervisor Ed Jew resigned after a short tenure marked by controversy:

Suspended San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew resigned from his seat on the Board of Supervisors Thursday, and now it's up to the political novice who has been serving as his temporary replacement to decide whether she wants to enter the cutthroat world of local politics and campaign for the job this fall.

Jew's resignation - effective at noon Friday - ends a tumultuous period at City Hall and sets up a political fight in the city's sleepy Sunset District. His decision to step down almost eight months after FBI agents raided his office in connection with an alleged extortion scheme means the District Four seat he landed in a surprise victory in 2006 will be up for grabs in November's election.

In Houston, the long-serving District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is facing a criminal investigation following the release of e-mails from his official account:

The Texas Attorney General's office agreed Thursday to investigate whether Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal should lose his job for sending and receiving inappropriate messages through his county e-mail account.

Republican officeholders and party leaders are calling for the GOP prosecutor's head following the release of hundreds of his e-mails, including love notes to his secretary, racist jokes and videos of men sneaking up to women and tearing their clothes off in public.

He also used the county e-mail account to plan his now-aborted re-election campaign. Those e-mails, while tamer, may be more damaging to Rosenthal's career because such messages may violate Texas laws barring the use government property for political activity.

Under Texas law, judges may remove district attorneys from office for incompetence, official misconduct or intoxication on or off the job. Official misconduct is defined as "intentional, unlawful behavior" relating to official duties.

Alaska, the state that has become ground-zero for public corruption, is considering ethics reform.   Legislators and the Governor are offering an array of proposals:

The Alaska Legislature, reeling from corruption convictions of three of its former members, isn't done arguing ethics.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Kevin Meyer said he plans to put in a bill meant to generate discussion about whether legislators should get to vote on something in which they have a potential conflict of interest. Currently, conflicts don't stop voting.

Meyer is also crafting a bill to forbid state legislators who are running for federal office from raising campaign money when the Legislature is in session. That takes a poke at Kodiak Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux's fundraising for her congressional race during this fall's special session on oil taxes.

Gov. Sarah Palin plans to get into the ethics mix as well with some bills of her own. Palin's legislative director, Russ Kelly, said the specifics are still being worked out.

You have to love this passage: 

Some Alaska legislators are weary of being reminded about the corruption that was in their midst. But it doesn't look as though it's going away as an issue anytime soon.

It's not going away soon.  Far from it.   

Another stiff sentence in the extensive Alaska corruption scandal:

In handing down the sentence this morning, U.S. District Judge John Sedwick said he found that Kott, a former House speaker who represented Eagle River until last year, committed perjury in his testimony during his trial in September.

Kott's sentence also includes three years' probation, and he was ordered to receive alcoholism treatment.

Kott's attorney had argued that he should receive 33 months in prison - a little less than three years - while prosecutors had requested 10 years.

A federal jury convicted Kott, 58, of bribery, conspiracy and extortion for his role in advocating an oil tax pushed by Veco Corp. executives and favored by North Slope oil producers. He received nearly $9,000, a political poll for his re-election campaign and the promise of a job, all from Veco executives, according to testimony.

A key witness in Kott's trial was former Veco CEO Bill Allen, who along with a company vice president, Rick Smith, has pleaded guilty to bribing Kott and other lawmakers.

And, yes, this was the case where Ted Stevens was linked to Veco Corp.'s corruption:

The case has wide implications because the FBI is investigating whether Ted Stevens, the U.S. Senate's longest-serving Republican, received illegal gifts from Veco.

Kott's two-week trial included testimony by Allen that he doled out more than $400,000 in bribes to various officials and had company workers remodel the home of Stevens.

Stevens has not been charged and has said he paid all bills he received for the remodeling project.

Seriously, it's never, ever a dull moment in Alaska:

Bill Bobrick, a once-prominent lobbyist who cooperated with the FBI in its investigation of corruption in Alaska politics, will serve five months in federal prison followed by five months of house arrest for his conviction on a conspiracy charge.

U.S. District Judge John Sedwick handed down the sentence this morning. It was the minimum that Bobrick, 52, could have received under federal guidelines, which are advisory.

And at the hearing today, surprising information came out about reported threats made by state Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, who is married to the man that Bobrick helped put away, former state Rep. Tom Anderson.

Doug Pope, Bobrick's lawyer, asked Sedwick to consider that Bobrick testified against Anderson despite the threats by McGuire.

Bobrick, who had a long list of clients who paid him to represent them before the municipality of Anchorage, was one of the main witnesses last summer at Anderson's trial. A jury convicted Anderson of seven felonies, including bribery and money laundering, and he was sentenced to five years. Anderson will report to federal prison in Oregon on Monday.

Anderson was indicted and arrested in December, and it was soon apparent that Bobrick would be a witness against him, Pope said.

Early in 2007, McGuire called both Bobrick and his wife, Jessica Bury, who was in medical school in Minnesota, Pope said. She said that she was hearing Bury might have a hard time being licensed to practice medicine in Alaska.

"Bobrick understood the call to be a threat that if he testified favorably for the government, Lesil McGuire would take steps to see that Jessica did not obtain her medical license," Pope told Sedwick in court.

A guilty verdict for Peter Kott, the former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives in a Veco Corp. bribery case. Based on the evidence at trial, we'll probably be seeing a few more trials -- of state and federal officials from Alaska:

A former state legislator was convicted Tuesday of trading his legislative influence for bribes from a company that was seeking to profit from a proposed natural gas pipeline.

Former Rep. Pete Kott, a Republican who was House speaker for part of his 14-year tenure, was found guilty of accepting nearly $9,000, a political poll and the promise of a job from VECO Corp., an oil field services company.

The case has wide implications because the FBI is investigating whether Ted Stevens, the U.S. Senate's longest-serving Republican, received illegal gifts from VECO. Stevens has not been charged and has said he paid all bills he received for the remodeling project.

Kott was convicted of conspiracy to solicit financial benefits, extortion and bribery but was acquitted of wire fraud. He did not comment as he walked away from the federal courthouse.

The two-week trial included testimony by VECO chief Bill Allen that he doled out more than $400,000 in bribes to various officials and had company workers remodel the home of Stevens.

Major corruption bust in New Jersey today involving state and local officials: 

FBI agents arrested 11 public officials, including a mayor and two state lawmakers, in towns across New Jersey on Thursday in connection with a federal corruption probe, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

The arrests were related to insurance contracts for local governments, a law enforcement officials said on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement was pending.

Democratic state Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and Alfred E. Steele were among those arrested, along with Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera, the law enforcement official said. Also arrested were the chief of staff to Newark's City Council president, Passaic Councilmen Jonathan Soto and Marcellus Jackson, and five Pleasantville school board members.

Alaska has been a cesspool of public corruption. Investigations of both federal and state officials are currently underway. Against that backdrop, the Governor signed a new ethics bill into law yesterday:

An ethics reform package for state officials was signed into law Monday by Gov. Sarah Palin, just minutes after a former state representative was convicted on seven federal counts of extortion and bribery.

Palin said the law will help re-establish trust between the public and elected officials by improving on existing statutes. The conviction of former Rep. Tom Anderson, an Anchorage Republican, makes the law more necessary than ever, she said.

"I believe it could be a precursor for what's to come, and it's unfortunate," she said. "This bill is a good start to getting the comprehensive ethics reform that we need here in Alaska."

Three more current or former Alaska lawmakers face corruption trials this fall. The former top two officers of Veco Corp., an Anchorage oil field services company, have pleaded guilty to bribing lawmakers.

We have a feeling that the we haven't heard the end of the Alaska corruption story.