Marc Dann

Marc Dann (born March 12, 1962 in Liberty Township, Trumbull County, Ohio), is an American politician, formally of the Democratic Party, currently serving as the Attorney General of Ohio. Dann won the post in November 2006 by defeating Ohio State Auditor Betty Montgomery, a former attorney general, by a margin of 52% to 48%. Before her defeat by Dann, Montgomery had never lost a statewide election and had been the top Republican vote-getter in the previous two non-presidential statewide contests. In May 2008 Dann admitted he had an affair with a subordinate in his office, which came to light during a sexual harassment scandal implicating a number of his aides. Whether this scandal will force him from office is an open question, as numerous Ohio newspapers and state officials (including fellow Democrats Governor Ted Strickland and Senator Sherrod Brown) have demanded Dann's resignation.

Law career and state Senate

Dann earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1984 from the University of Michigan and a law degree in 1987 from Case Western Reserve University.

Dann practiced law in Youngstown, Ohio and became active in Democratic Party politics. His disciplinary record as attorney consisted of a single reprimand from the Ohio Supreme Court for handling a 2002 alimony case without proper preparation [1].

In 2000, Dann ran for the Ohio state Senate in the district then comprising Trumbull and Geauga counties. He finished third in the party primary behind eventual winner Tim Ryan and a local township trustee. From 2001 to 2002, Dann served as a member of the Liberty Local School District board of education. After Ryan won election to Congress in 2002, Dann convinced the state Senate's Democratic caucus to appoint him to fill the balance of Ryan's term. He easily won election to a full term in 2004.

Dann was involved in Ohio's "Mandategate" scandal (2001), acting as the lawyer of Legislative Service Commission whistleblower Dr. Matthew Wells. Wells's report claimed that the state had saddled school districts with $500 million worth of unfunded mandates. Wells's report was only released after complaints by the Ohio Democratic Party. In 2000, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the state to "immediately" fund the mandates (DeRolph vs. State of Ohio).

In 2005, Sen. Dann was a leading figure in the exposure of a variety of ethics and criminal scandals in the administration of Gov. Bob Taft, who became the first sitting governor in Ohio history to plead guilty to a crime. Dann was a leading critic of "Coingate," an investment plan in which $50 million of the state's workers compensation reserve fund was given to Tom Noe, a politically connected coin dealer. When the Coingate scandal broke, Taft, who was a regular golf partner of Noe's, denied having knowledge of the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) decision to invest money in Noe's coin funds. Sen. Dann demanded, then sued to see memos, e-mails, and other communications transmitted between Gov. Taft's office and the BWC.

Sen. Dann was also a vociferous critic of then-Attorney General Jim Petro, a Republican, who had been notified by the Securities And Exchange Commission more than two years earlier that the SeC had serious reservations about investment practices at the BWC. Dann charged that Petro ignored those warnings and the misuse of funds at the agency continued unabated until the Toledo Blade and Dann began to expose the corruption.

Attorney general

Dann announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Ohio on November 14, 2005, saying he would use the of the office to both help local police and prosecutors deal with street crime and to actively and aggressively pursue white collar criminals.

Dann won 71% of the vote in the Democratic primary against former Cleveland Law Director Subodh Chandra. In the general-election campaign, Montgomery tried to distance herself from the scandals of the Taft administration, while criticizing Dann for wanting to use the attorney general's office as a platform for activism [2]. In a television advertisement, the Montgomery campaign attacked Dann for the above-mentioned reprimand and for defending a man convicted of showing nude pictures to children. Dann responded to the latter attack by saying he was simply doing his job as an attorney [3].

Dann received 2.04 million votes to 1.83 million for Montgomery. He ran up huge margins in traditionally Democratic areas and also won bellwether counties such as Franklin and Stark.

He was sworn in as the 47th Ohio Attorney General on Jan. 8, 2007 [4]. In his inaugural address, Dann pledged to "continue to take on powerful politicians, corrupt corporations, entrenched special interests or anyone else who threatens the well-being of Ohioans" [5].

According to the Associated Press, Dann's office missed a legal deadline to join an appeal of a Medicaid-related court decision the state government opposes. The deadline for filing the documents was Dann's inauguration day. The failure to join the appeal does not prevent the state from filing briefs in the case [6].

On May 10, 2008, at the Democratic Party's state convention, the State Central Committee voted to rip Dann of their endorsement, strip him of his membership in the party, and called for his imediate resignation.

On May 12, 2008, articles of impeachment were filed with 42 of the 45 the Democrats in the state house supporting the nine counts [7].

Controversies

Dann had been questioned by some for supporting Capri Cafaro's successful bid to fill Dann's unexpired term in the state Senate. Cafaro, heiress to part of the Cafaro shopping-mall empire, had never won election to office. In addition, Cafaro's father, J.J. Cafaro, had pleaded guilty in 2001 to bribing then-Congressman Jim Traficant to push legislation that would benefit his aviation-equipment company. Capri, then in her early 20s, was president of the aviation company but was not charged with any wrongdoing [8]. In a related trial, Capri testified she had never conspired with Traficant [9]. As of Oct. 18, 2006, the Cafaro family had contributed $30,500 to Dann's campaign for attorney general, in addition to the $26,000 they had donated to his state Senate campaigns. Of that money, $10,000 came from J.J. [10]. Dann defended his recommendation of Capri Cafaro by saying he believed she was the only qualified candidate to replace him [11].

Dann faced criticism from the Mansfield News Journal and others for telling (Warren, Ohio) Tribune Chronicle reporter Steve Oravecz to "go ... fuck yourself." [12] at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Dann was upset about an article Oravecz had written entitled "Locals with ties to Dann get jobs"[13].The article described how two people with ties to Dann's election campaign, including a woman who he raised as a daughter, were given state jobs. The incident was caught on tape[14].

A scandal enveloping Ohio Attorney General Dann is growing, with another aide placed on administrative leave. Dann has placed Communications Director Leo Jennings on leave, pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation in his office. The investigation is focusing on allegations of sexual harassment, filed by two women who work in Dann’s office. Jennings joined Anthony Gutierrez, Dann’s director of general services, on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The female employees alleged Gutierrez, who is paid $87,500 a year, repeatedly sexually harassed them. A statement from Dann released to reporters Monday gave no details on what led to Jennings being included in the investigation. It said only: “This action comes as a result of new information received over the weekend related to the ongoing investigation into charges of sexual harassment.” Dann agreed to conditionally release emails between himself and his former scheduler, Jessica Utovich. Utovich, 28, began as Dann's scheduler, but was transferred to the position of director of travel in late 2007. Upon being transferred, Utovich received a 27% pay raise.[15] [16]

Admissions

On May 2, 2008, following the firing and resignation of a number of his aides in a sexual harassment scandal, Dann admitted he had an extramarital affair with an unidentified subordinate in his office. A prominent Republican accused Dann of turning his office into a "raunchy frat party" and an Associated Press story compared his woes to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and former Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison, who resigned in January 2008 after admitting to a sexual affair with a former employee. [17] In the wake of these admissions a number of Ohio papers have called for Dann to resign. [18][19][20]

On May 4, 2008 the three largest Ohio newspapers ran editorials condemning Dann. The Cleveland Plain Dealer opined "Dann has turned the attorney general's office into a laughingstock" and "it's impossible to see how he can recover" [21] The Columbus Dispatch said Dann was "not fit to serve".[22] The Cincinnati Enquirer called for Dann's resignation. [23].

The Plain Dealer previously reported that Republicans said that if Dann doesn't step down, they could try to impeach him. The Ohio House could bring articles of impeachment while the Ohio Senate could hold a trial and serve as jury, according to the Ohio Constitution [24] On the evening of May 5, Democratic Governor Strickland issued a statement which appeared to support Dann's impeachment should he decide not to resign [25]

Dann showed no interest in departure even after Governor Strickland's call for his resignation. [26]

On May 5, 2008 the Columbus Dispatch reported that seven separate investigations were either underway or being considered responsive to misconduct at the Attorney General's office [27]

Personal

Dann's wife, Alyssa Lenhoff, is director of the journalism program at Youngstown State University. Lenhoff won several awards for investigative reporting at the Tribune Chronicle in Warren, Ohio. Lenhoff's former partner at the Tribune, Ed Simpson, was Dann's chief of staff until he resigned under fire on May 2, 2008.

Dann and Lenhoff have three children.