ABSTRACT
I was into my fifth month as attorney general of Ohio. Eight years as auditor of state had been good preparation, but this job was very different. The work was incredibly diverse, spanning a wide swath of legal responsibilities from civil to criminal. Fraud. Identity theft. Consumer protection. Collections. Child and elder protection. Environmental enforcement. Criminal forensics. And these were just for starters. Some of our 35,000 active civil and criminal cases were of political interest. Decisions were often controversial. The media was always looking for a story, and critics were eager to pounce. Nevertheless, I felt good about our start. We had rewritten the organizational chart, a new management team was in place, every division had challenging objectives, and we were making good progress on a number of fronts.
