Tuesday, December 23, 2008
MARC DANN
Questionable expenses
An investigation by the Ohio inspector general of the attorney general’s office under the watch of Marc Dann found numerous “acts of wrongdoing.” Inspector General Thomas P. Charles released the report Monday and forwarded it for further investigation to numerous agencies. Below are some of the report’s key findings:
STATE FUNDS
• $8,175 for the improper use of Ohio Department of Transportation aircraft 16 separate times.
• $30,000 a month to fund 300 BlackBerry wireless devices for his staff.
• More than $1.9 million to increase the office’s fleet by 99 vehicles to 291. The Ohio Auditor’s office found that 16 of them, at a cost of $308,968, were “appropriated from improper funding sources.”
• $40,373.98 for a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban “for his sole use as attorney general” and purchased from a campaign contributor.
CAMPAIGN FUNDS
• $36,131 to Progressive Solutions Group, a consulting firm operated by Leo Jennings III, Dann’s ex-communications director and friend, for consulting fees to pay for a condominium in Dublin they shared with Anthony Gutierrez.
• More than $40,000 in security improvements to Dann’s Liberty home including $5,524.76 for new windows. The bill was also increased by $5,000 at the request of Gutierrez, Dann’s former director of general services and a close friend, to pay three creditors of Gutierrez’s private business, MTV Construction Co.
• More than $30,000 for food and beverages; one payment was for 35 cents.
• More than $7,000 for cell phones for his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff, and two of their children.
• $69,353.51 to M&R Land Co., owned by Michael Harshman, a Dann friend, for consulting services. Among the payments was $50,000 given to M&R on May 14, the day Dann resigned.
• More than $48,000 in travel costs for himself and his family. “The out-of-state trips appear to have been vacations for the family.”
TRANSITION FUNDS
• $12,263.47 to Zesty Dishes, a dinnerware sales firm owned by his wife.
• $9,955 to Lenhoff that ended up in the Danns’ personal bank account.
• $5,000 to Gutierrez for unspecified “consulting” services.
• $9,500 to Progressive Solutions Group for unspecified reasons.
Source: Office of Inspector General report