State set to review policy in AG office

By David Skolnick

The review will focus on management of the office’s vehicle fleet.

YOUNGSTOWN — The attorney general’s office is asking a state agency to conduct “a thorough review of the policies and procedures” of an AG department led by a Liberty Township man at the center of a sexual harassment investigation.

Edgar Simpson, the attorney general office’s chief of policy and administration, wrote a letter Sunday to Jeffrey Westhoven, the Department of Administrative Services’ deputy director, asking for an “outside review” of the attorney general’s general services department.

The request, honored by the DAS, will focus “particularly on the overall management of our vehicle fleet, risk management procedures in the event of an incident, tracking procedures for assigning and maintaining vehicles, and the purchase of vehicles,” Simpson wrote.

The request comes during an internal investigation of Anthony Gutierrez, on paid leave as general services director for Attorney General Marc Dann, a longtime friend and former roommate. Two subordinates accuse Gutierrez of sexually harassing them.

During the investigation, one of the women said Gutierrez told her he was drunk while driving, fell asleep and crashed a state-owned SUV into a guardrail in October.

A letter to Simpson sent last Tuesday by Scott A. Roberts, DAS’ risk management administrator, informed the attorney general’s office that it is looking into the validity of those claims.

Also, Roberts wrote that it would investigate whether Gutierrez “operated a state vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and for nonstate business use.”

The letter said the investigation wouldn’t be limited to the incident that allegedly happened in October.

Records show Gutierrez took the damaged 2004 Chevrolet Suburban to a Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation repair shop Oct. 10. The damage was not reported. It was repaired, painted and used by Dann, a Liberty Democrat, as the “Sunshine Express,” used by the office to travel to and from public records seminars and training sessions.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the accident and whether alcohol was a factor.

Also, a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe assigned to Gutierrez in January had damage, but no report was filed.

DAS, the state’s business arm, carries the insurance for all state vehicles.

Gutierrez oversaw the attorney general office’s 254 vehicles.

In his Sunday letter, Simpson asked that “specific attention be paid to the general services purchasing policies, including the use of state gas cards and state credit cards.”

Also, Simpson wrote that he expects the review to result in a report recommending improvements to ensure compliance with state law.

When the DAS report is done, the attorney general’s office will conduct an internal review “to determine if there’s evidence of a pattern of improper use of a state vehicle,” said Ted Hart, the attorney general’s deputy communications director.

Meanwhile, a report regarding the sexual harassment complaints should be released in about a week.

Besides Gutierrez, the office suspended Leo Jennings III, its communications director and a close friend of Dann’s. The office won’t disclose why Jennings was suspended except to acknowledge that it’s related to the sexual harassment investigation.

The Vindicator has asked the office to release records concerning Jennings’ paid suspension. Hart said the records “remain under internal legal review at this point.”

Dann, Jennings and Gutierrez lived together in a Dublin condominium from February to December 2007.

Meanwhile, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reports Dann is the only attorney general in the United States with a full-time lobbyist in Washington.

Dann pays $98,000 to Craig Mehall — who had no Washington experience — to help get more grants from the Department of Justice and lobby members of Congress on consumer issues.

Interview accounts and e-mails reviewed by the newspaper show Mehall’s inexperience has led to missteps.

Dann and Mehall defended the lobbyist’s job as vital in the competition to win federal money for the state.

skolnick@vindy.com