43
Dann’s troubles far from over
As predicted in the “Dann Is Toast” piece published May 4 in The Vindicator, Marc Dann resigned as Ohio’s attorney general — his fall from grace the result of a boys-will-be-boys mentality that brought down another prominent Mahoning Valley Democratic officeholder, James A. Traficant Jr.
Dann, the Democratic Party’s superstar a mere 18 months ago, called it quits Wednesday after an impeachment resolution was introduced in the Ohio House by members of his own party and after the Ohio inspector general was empowered by the Legislature to delve into the operation of the attorney general’s office.
Inspector General Tom Charles’ investigation is one of several triggered by a sexual harassment scandal that has rocked the office.
While Dann’s departure takes him out of the public spotlight, he’s certainly not off the hook.
His statements under oath during the internal investigation of the sexual harassment complaints and his comments during a news conference when he announced the firing or resignations of members of his inner circle will be scrutinized by investigators to determine if he lied.
What did he know and when did he know it?
Ignorance is bliss?
To hear Dann tell it, he knew very little about the activities of Anthony Gutierrez, his director of General Services accused by Cindy Stankowski and Vanessa Stout of behaving in an inappropriate manner.
Gutierrez was fired by Dann after the internal investigation concluded that he crossed the line in his conduct toward his two female employees.
But Dann must be sweating bullets over what Gutierrez, a friend (now an ex?) and neighbor in Liberty Township, will tell investigators.
Gutierrez is bitter about his firing and believes he was made the fall guy.
If asked, he can be expected to spell out in detail the times the former attorney general was around him and the two women. His version of how Stankowski and Stout came to be hired in the attorney general’s office may not reflect what Dann told the press on the day he announced the firings and insisted that he would not resign.
Then there is his own vulnerability with regard to the affair he had with his one-time scheduler, Jessica Utovich.
Dann has said that he never told Gutierrez or Leo Jennings III, his communications director who also was fired, about his relationship with Utovich, nor did he do anything to lead them to conclude that there was more than just a working relationship.
He made that statement in response to a question about whether his behavior created a boys-will-be-boys atmosphere in the office.
However, if investigators pursue this line of inquiry, they may hear differing versions of the Dann-Utovich affair.
Indeed, if they delve further into the former attorney general’s extracurricular activities, would they find something that could be even more damaging to his credibility and reputation?
Then there is the issue of how confidential documents pertaining to the sexual harassments complaints filed by Stankowski and Stout were handled by the attorney general’s office.
Because Gutierrez was placed on paid administrative leave on April 8, shortly after the allegations of sexual harassment were made, he would no doubt be asked by investigators to provide a timeline of how he found out the specifics of the claims by the two women.
He can also expect to be asked whether he had access to copies of any documents that originated in the attorney general’s office.
Ex-AG Dann must know that the dominoes have begun to fall, and that sooner or later they’ll lead to him. After all, his friends of yesterday — Gutierrez, Jennings and Edgar Simpson, the chief of staff who resigned — could become his enemies of tomorrow.
A positive effect?
While he will long be remembered as the state of Ohio’s top lawyer who resigned in shame, Dann can take solace from the fact that this sordid affair will have a positive effect on at least one aspect of life in the Big C: The age-old practice of “father-daughter”/“uncle-niece” dinners at ritzy restaurants will come to an end.
For the uninitiated, further explanation can be found in this writer’s blog on Vindy.com.