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Day of reckoning arrives for Attorney General Dann
I’m a compulsive filer.
I have hundreds of manila folders with articles and documents in filing cabinets and in old paper boxes under my desk and under a nearby empty desk.
The election and political folders are organized by date while my Youngstown files are in boxes under a system I’ve created where the most important files are in the front.
In most cases, the files don’t get too thick. I’m resistant to change so I continue to stuff articles and papers into one folder with the hope that things will slow down. That way I won’t have to pulling things out and put them into a supplemental folder.
This leads me cursing under my breath because I can’t find a particular article or a certain document I need.
My folder titled “AG Dann 2008” is so big that I’ve already created another one just for the e-mails sent between Marc Dann and Jessica Utovich, his former scheduler.
[In comparison to “AG Dann 2008,” my files for other state officeholders this year are almost nonexistent.]
I’m probably going to have to break down and create another Dann folder for the personnel files I’ve obtained from the attorney general’s office of certain employees, including two who may no longer work there by the time you read this.
Where is this all leading and why do you care?
Good questions, and thanks for asking.
Investigation results
I better get another manila folder or two ready. The attorney general’s office is to release the results of an internal investigation today into sexual harassment complaints filed by two women against their boss.
The speculation is the report — and more importantly the supporting documentation — is going to cast a very negative light on Dann’s administration.
The Liberty Democrat’s administration is already under fire and intense scrutiny; something that it deserves.
Dann and his staff complain that the Ohio media doesn’t report enough of the good things done by the office.
But when you make countless errors in judgment when it comes to hiring employees the bad is going to outweigh the good.
Dann’s decision to hire Anthony Gutierrez, a neighbor and longtime friend, as the office’s director of general services, was one of the most incredibly stupid political moves I’ve ever seen ¬≠— and believe me, I’ve seen some stupid political decisions.
A background check by the office found 27 tax liens and civil judgments filed against him between 1997 and 2006. Gutierrez and his wife, Lisa, filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and the pair owed more than $10,000 in back taxes to the IRS and $5,024 to the state for unpaid income taxes.
About six weeks before Dann was elected attorney general, he picked up Gutierrez from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Canfield Post. Gutierrez was legally intoxicated, and the charge was reduced to reckless operation.
So what did Dann do? He hired Gutierrez to be in charge of his office’s fleet of vehicles. Gutierrez had at least three accidents involving state-owned vehicles.
If two of his subordinates are to be believed, in between crashing vehicles, Gutierrez spent a lot of time sexually harassing them.
All of this would be pretty difficult for Dann to ignore. He lived with Gutierrez and Leo Jennings III, his suspended communications director, in a Dublin condo for nearly a year.
The two women accusing Gutierrez of sexually harassing them say some of that inappropriate behavior occurred in that condo.
How can Dann explain the hire when a background check as well as first-hand knowledge of Gutierrez didn’t stop the attorney general from hiring him for a job in which he wasn’t qualified?
We’ll also find out today why Jennings was suspended. It’s related to the investigation, but the office won’t give a specific reason.
A number of people questioned Dann’s decision to hire Jennings, who’s reputation in this area isn’t stellar. Like Gutierrez, Jennings is a longtime friend of Dann and the attorney general was well aware of his pal’s reputation.
The results of the investigation won’t put this matter to bed. There’s still a federal Equal Employment Opportunity investigation and quite likely lawsuits filed by the two women.
I better make some more room in my filing cabinet.