No one is going to seriously suggest that Dawn Marie Sass was elected state treasurer because voters knew anything about her.

Sass was a placeholder on the Democratic ticket in 2006. She ran a campaign that was so low-profile that even her running mates on the ticket did not recognize her. She was elected because 2006 turned out to be a Democratic year, when voters backed the party's nominees for offices up and down the ballot.

The assumption on the part of the voters - a relatively reasonable one - was that the Democratic nominee for a statewide constitutional office would be up to the job.

That assumption has now been called into question. The charges and countercharges swirling around Sass are extremely serious. She stands accused of:

* Failing to keep her office adequately staffed. Barely 60 percent of positions are filled.

* Mismanaging requests for unclaimed property to such an extent that the office now has at least 2,900 requests more than 90 days old - the largest backlog the office has experienced in a decade. Under state law, the treasurer must act on claims within 90 days or face the threat of lawsuits.

* Hiring her 20-year-old niece.

* Failing to disclose details of her travels on ethics reports.

Even if we accord Sass more than a reasonable benefit of the doubt, that's a stunning list. It suggests not so much a dishonest player as an inept one.

Whatever the circumstance, however, we are left with the sense that Sass must either get her office up to speed in short order or she should consider stepping down so that an abler individual can do the job.

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