Much as been written about the fact that declining circulation figures of smaller newspapers has led to few resources being available for those papers to compete with emerging sources of information. It is therefore heartening to see that the Dayton Daily News, our 82nd largest newspaper, assigned someone to read over 4200 emails sent and received by Ohio AG Marc Dann.  The results of this in depth research ran in yesterday's Daily News and must have been devoured by local residents as they watched their hapless Bengals eke out a victory over the equally hapless Ravens.

It appears that Dann personally made sure that the college student son of a Congresswoman was paid for his $10 an hour job.  It also is quite apparent from the emails that Dann wants publicity for his work, tells an occasional lame joke and on at least one occasion was profane.

Not appearing in the story is the fact, known to any public official, that the Daily News' request for all of Dann's emails meant that state employees of the Office of Attorney General had to be taken off their regular duties in order to redact the emails so as to protect from premature disclosure on going criminal and civil investigations and strategy involving state litigation.  

 Although my internet research this morning indicates that no other publication has picked up the story, it nonetheless serves as a reminder to the world that no public official is ever allowed the freedom to be profane, tell bad jokes, get publicity for his or her public work or make sure that a college kid gets paid on time without having it become public.

I suppose that is a good thing, isn't it?