Dann’s hiring of Gutierrez raises questions

By David Skolnick

You can’t pick your family, but you can pick your friends.

Judging by what’s happened with some of Attorney General Marc Dann’s friends, hired to work on his staff, he should pick his friends more carefully — or at least not hire them.

Dann hired Anthony S. Gutierrez, who lives on the same street in Liberty as the attorney general, as his director of general services.

The two are longtime friends and shared a Dublin condominium with Leo Jennings, the attorney general’s communications director, for almost a year. Dann moved out in December.

The general services director job pays $87,500 annually.

While AG officials can claim Gutierrez was the most qualified person for the job, his résumé and background betray that assertion.

Here’s the job’s duties:

Manage and supervise the office’s purchasing department, maintenance department and mail room; write and implement purchasing department and support services goals such as accurate and up-to-date inventory control; maintain contacts on office locations and maintenance; act as liaison with the chief operating officer by communicating supervisors’ needs for supplies and equipment; oversee personnel who affect procurement of supplies and office equipment; develop procedures for annual spending for materials and equipment needed; and analyze and evaluate purchasing procedures and policies.

The job’s “minimum acceptable characteristics” include: knowledge of budgeting, bookkeeping, office management, office practices and procedures, deal with a variety of variables in somewhat unfamiliar context, understand practical fields of study such as business management, and establish a friendly atmosphere as a supervisor.

Based on sexual harassment allegations by two female employees, both about half his age, Gutierrez took that last part too far.

Gutierrez is on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. But he’s already moved out of the Dublin condo and his return is very questionable.

Should Dann have seen this coming?

Benefit of the doubt

I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say “no,” even though a few people who know Gutierrez say the news didn’t come as a shock.

Regardless, Dann hired a longtime friend for a job he didn’t deserve.

On his job application for the AG administration position, Gutierrez listed his duties as president of MTV Construction as “bidding jobs, facilitating, payroll, hiring, inspections, job cost and ordering materials.”

Gutierrez hasn’t been the most successful businessman.

A background check by the attorney general’s office found 27 tax liens and civil judgements filed against him between 1997 and 2006. He and his wife, Lisa, also filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Gutierrez and his wife also owed $5,024 to the state for unpaid income taxes. The state settled with the couple on Jan. 5, 2007, with MTV Construction writing a check a day later to the attorney general, the office that goes after state tax delinquents. Dann hired him a month later.

The couple also owed more than $10,000 in federal taxes, and were on a payment plan with the IRS as of last year.

It’s hard to imagine Dann couldn’t find someone better qualified for this job.

But Dann’s had this issue before.

Dann hired David L. Nelson, also of Liberty and a friend, to serve as his deputy security director. The pay was only $12 an hour and the job was part-time.

It turns out Nelson was convicted in 1976 of involuntary manslaughter. Yup, Dann’s deputy security director killed someone.

Then there’s Rick Alli, a Youngstown police detective sergeant hired as Dann’s chief of law enforcement operations. That was such a disaster that the position remain vacant a year after Dann fired Alli claiming the ex-cop was improperly taking two public salaries.

Regardless of the allegation, Dann again made an error in judgment by hiring Alli, another friend, as his “top cop.”

At the time of his hire, Alli acknowledged he was a “mid-level manager,” who never received a college degree because he “never had a desire to finish. There are a lot of requirements. I found no need” to take the required courses.

That’s not what you want to hear from one of your high-level administrators.

Dann has the right to hire his friends.

But here’s a few words of advice: they should be qualified and not have questionable backgrounds. They’re out there, Marc. Just look a little further than your neighborhood.