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Dann spent campaign funds after resignation
The former attorney general had $303,702 remaining as of June 30.
YOUNGSTOWN — While contributions to former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s campaign committee completely dried up when a scandal hit his office, he didn’t stop spending money from the account — even after his resignation.
Dann’s campaign raised $42,351.66 since Jan. 1 with the last contribution of $250 from Scott Harris, managing partner of a Washington, D.C., law firm, received March 27. That’s four days before two female staffers filed sexual harassment complaints against their boss that eventually led to Dann’s May 14 resignation.
During the first six months of the year, Dann’s committee spent $233,567.50, according to campaign finance reports filed by Thursday’s deadline with the Ohio secretary of state.
Dann’s committee had $303,702.16 on hand as of June 30. When asked what he planned to do with that money, Dann replied “undetermined” in an e-mail.
Among Dann’s more curious expenses was a $4,641.44 purchase of computers from the Apple Store in Columbus on May 13. That was the day before Dann resigned as attorney general.
“I need[ed] them to set up an office,” Dann wrote in an e-mail about the computers. “I did not anticipate resigning when the computers were purchased. Since, I and others have used them to respond to press inquiries and do work related to holding office or the campaign.”
Dann failed to mention that he was negotiating his resignation through intermediaries May 13, the day he bought the computers.
Dann also paid $13,680 to Stanford Research, an Austin, Texas, political consulting firm. Dann hired the company to deal with media inquiries after an internal attorney general report released May 2 criticized him for running an unprofessional operation that resulted in a hostile work environment.
The firm specializes in opposition research for Democrats and has a tag line on its Web site: “We find. We spin. You win.”
Stanford had little media interaction. Even so, Dann wrote the firm met its “contractual obligations to the campaign committee.”
Dann also paid $10,000 to Neal and Harwell, a Nashville, Tenn., law firm on May 16, two days after he resigned, for legal services.
On May 10, Dann used $3,100 in campaign funds to pay The Campaign Group. The Philadelphia-based company specializes in television and radio commercials for Democrats, as well as helping them get elected, according to its Web site.
Dann paid $29,074.98 to FPH Consulting, a Washington, D.C., political fund-raising consulting company, in February. The fee was for raising money for Dann’s committee. Dann didn’t hold a fundraiser this year.
“We planned to take a break from fundraising, and then I had little time to do it in April and May,” Dann wrote.
The campaign paid $14,260 to Progressive Solutions Group, the political consulting firm run by Leo Jennings III, during the first four months of the year, for political consulting. Dann’s campaign paid $26,871 to the firm last year for the same responsibilities.
Dann fired Jennings, a longtime friend, on May 2 as the office’s communications director.
An internal report determined Jennings had asked Jennifer Urban, an assistant attorney general, not to be direct when asked about the two of them traveling in the same car to a restaurant.
This was part of the internal investigation that determined Anthony Gutierrez, another Dann manager and close friend, had sexually harassed two of his female subordinates.
Urban recently told The Vindicator that she felt she couldn’t say no to a sexual relationship with Jennings because of his friendship with Dann. Jennings, who is married, has never acknowledged an affair with Urban.
The committee also continued making $515.79 monthly car payments to GMAC for an Oldsmobile Torrent used during the campaign.
“We put over 75,000 miles on it during the campaign,” Dann wrote. “It was used every day during the campaign and only occasionally since. We have sought the advice of our campaign lawyer about disposing of it.”
Dann billed his committee more than 250 times for the cost of purchasing meals, beverages and newspapers, and travel expenses, including some after he resigned.
Those post-AG expenses include a trip to New York City, with a June 23 payment date; a $115.72 bill for eating at Nonni’s Bar and Restaurant in Liberty, with a June 13 payment date; and $20.60 for Michael’s North Restaurant in Chicago, with a June 26 payment date.
“The trip was for campaign- and officeholder-related reasons,” Dann wrote. “The expenditure was approved by the campaign’s counsel.”
Dann wrote that he believed expenditures made after his resignation were justified. He also wrote that his campaign handled its finances “well.”
skolnick@vindy.com