Calls mount for Ohio attorney general to resign

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who has been investigating companies involved with subprime mortgages, was under mounting pressure on Tuesday to resign or face possible impeachment in the wake of a sexual harassment probe in the attorney general's office.

Dann released an e-mail on Monday that he sent to his staff saying he intended to stay in office. On Friday, he announced the firing or resignation of three staffers in his office and said he had had a relationship with another staff member.

On Tuesday, the Democrat minority in the House was looking into procedural issues for impeachment, according to Phil Saken, communications director for House Democrats. He said it has been 188 years since Ohio tried to impeach a state official.

"The information we have leads to the conclusion it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for him to continue on as attorney general," Saken said.

Calls for Dann's resignation have come from fellow Democrats, such as Gov. Ted Strickland and State Treasurer Richard Cordray, as well as Republicans, including the heads of the Ohio House and Senate.

In January, Dann filed a lawsuit on behalf of a state pension fund against Freddie Mac, accusing the mortgage finance company of securities fraud for failing to disclose risks from its subprime mortgage-related investments.

Dann's office has also sent civil investigative subpoenas to a number of subprime mortgage companies as part of a probe of possible anti-trust and civil rights law violations, and violations of Ohio's consumer sales practices. His office has declined to name the companies.

Ohio has been hit hard by the subprime-mortgage crisis, ranking eighth among states in foreclosure rates in the first quarter of 2008, according to RealtyTrac.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Toni Reinhold)