Politics, Prostitution, Sex, Sex Scandals, Women's Issues

In Defense Of Jonathan Dach

Is Yale Law School graduate Jonny Dach getting a bum rap?

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The past few weeks haven’t been much fun for Jonathan Dach. This promising young lawyer, a Yale College (2008) and Yale Law School (2013) graduate, found himself fingered by the Washington Post as the alleged client of a Colombian prostitute.

Why would anyone care about a young man hiring a prostitute in a jurisdiction — Cartagena, Colombia — where prostitution is legal? This allegedly all went down during the visit by President Obama to Colombia in which a bunch of Secret Service agents got in trouble for patronizing prostitutes, so the claim is that the White House protected one of its own — Dach, a White House volunteer at the time, is the son of a big-time Democratic donor — while hanging the Secret Service agents out to dry. And Dach now works at the State Department on a portfolio of women’s issues, which adds to the awkwardness.

But are the allegations even true? Various folks, both within the Yale community and beyond it, are rallying to Dach’s defense — and forcefully denying the claims against him. What do they have to say?

A few days ago, Michael Calderone wrote a Huffington Post piece questioning the Post’s decision to publish Dach’s name. Calderone wrote:

[W]hy then did the Post decide to name him now, two and a half years after it broke the news of the scandal and 9 months since reporters began communicating with his attorney? Letters obtained by The Huffington Post show the attorney, Richard Sauber, rebutted the claims and offered countervailing evidence in letters sent to top Post editors….

In the letters, sent to [executive editor Marty] Baron and managing editor Kevin Merida earlier this year, Sauber denied the allegations and expressed concern that the inclusion of Dach’s name in a story on the prostitution scandal could significantly damage his professional future. Sauber wrote on Jan. 16 that the publication of the charge “will be devastating to this young man just as he embarks on his career after law school.”

“It will hang over his head through the internet for the next 50 years,” Sauber said. “It will affect his job prospects and his reputation forever. Moreover, he has vehemently denied the allegation at every turn and would do so under oath directly to the Post if it would have a material impact on your decision. There is, in my view, no compelling reason for the Post to take this step. We also believe the Post should have an affirmative obligation to investigate and affirm the allegations before it chooses to do such harm.”

How should one construe “the allegation” in the paragraph above? If you look at the original letter, the allegation is framed as “taking a prostitute to his room while working for the White House.” Unless Sauber is trying to be cute with the “working for the White House” part — Dach was a volunteer, not a paid employee — this denial sounds quite conclusive.

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The denial is corroborated by people who know Jonny Dach who spoke to the Yale Daily News, which just published a detailed profile of him:

[M]embers of the Yale community who know Dach personally refute any possibility that he could have been involved in the scandal. According to 32 sources interviewed, Dach’s character is best represented by the way he interacts with others on a regular basis.

“He is such a wonderful person that the accusations seem ridiculous,” [Dach’s friend Alexandra] Brodsky said. “He’s also far too careful of a person with far too much respect for the [Obama] administration to ever do such a thing.”

See also these comments from Professor Heather Gerken:

Gerken [said] that while Dach was working as an aide, he had a deep respect for the White House and President Obama.

“[Dach] had such reverence for the president that he never, not once, referred to him casually as ‘Obama’ — he always called him ‘the President,’” Gerken said in an email to the News. “And he never, not once, revealed an anecdote or information that would be embarrassing to the campaign or the White House.”

It’s telling that Gerken, a prominent professor, and Alexandra Brodsky, a leading voice in feminist circles, were willing to go on the record to defend Dach.

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Other Yale sources gave similar comments to the YDN. One friend of Dach also contacted us here at ATL to speak in his favor, describing Dach as a “wonderful person” and saying that “WaPo really f**ked him”:

Johnny honestly is too proper and genteel of a person to have any interest in a Colombian prostitute except to offer her tea, ask her about her favorite dining establishments in the city, and explain why Jonathan Edwards is the best college at Yale. The idea that he would solicit a prostitute there is just absurd if you know him. Some jockish guy in the Secret Service probably hated this little s**t-head from Yale and booked the prostitute under his room number.

Here’s one final point in Dach’s defense: he’s kinda cute (especially if he got rid of the facial hair). Why would a reasonably attractive American male, in a resort city known for its party scene, pay for sex when he surely could get some for free? Especially when he might have aspirations for elected or judicial office, like so many Yale Law grads?

I once heard about a bachelor party where a YLS grad fled the room when the stripper arrived, announcing to everyone, “I’m leaving now — I don’t want this coming up at my confirmation hearing.” That’s my idea of young Jonathan. Wouldn’t the type of Yalie who works at the State Department and whose dad is a big Democratic donor be especially careful about where he docks his Dach?

Amid scandal, University community defends Dach [Yale Daily News]
Why Did The Washington Post Name The White House Volunteer Accused In Prostitution Scandal? [Huffington Post]
Jonathan Dach: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know [Heavy]

Earlier: Yale Law Students Love Hookers

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