Dann’s campaign committee owes more than $100,000 in legal bills

By David Skolnick

Ex-Attorney General Marc Dann’s campaign is almost out of money and owes more than $100,000 in legal bills.

Dann’s campaign finance report, submitted Friday to the Ohio secretary of state for the period between January and June, had only $12,797 in it as of June 30.

Dann’s campaign committee paid $183,666 in legal fees during the first six months of the year.

That doesn’t include $101,823 it owes to three law firms used by the campaign committee and the former state officeholder to fight allegations of election-law violations.

Dann and his campaign committee were each fined $2,000 in two Ohio Elections Commission cases, and Dann was ordered to refund $2,000 to cover costs.

Dann resigned under pressure from fellow Democrats as well as Republicans on May 14, 2008, after an internal report of the attorney general’s office under the leadership of the Democrat from Liberty described it as unprofessional, filled with cronyism and a litany of judgment errors by Dann and senior staffers.

Dann’s campaign committee spent less than $10,000 on other expenses during the year’s first six months, including $1,729 to the IRS for “taxes on interest income,” $245 for a hotel stay in Nashville, Tenn., and $30 for taxi fare in that city.

One of the law firms retained by Dann was Neal and Harwell, based in Nashville. Dann’s campaign paid the firm $75,000 and owes it $46,935, according to the report.

Dann’s campaign also owes $29,054 to the Columbus law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill and Ritter, and $25,835 to the McTigue Law Group, also of Columbus. McTigue served as Dann’s main attorney during the elections-commission investigation and hearings.

When asked how he would repay the more than $100,000 in outstanding legal bills, Dann said, “The report speaks for itself. We’ll follow the law. We’ve reported everything. There’s an adjustment process with the bills. We’re in the process of looking at the bills” to see if the fees can be lowered.

Dann was able to reduce one of his legal bills by 50 percent.

During the latter half of 2008, Dann’s campaign paid $25,000 to the law firm of Betras, Maruca, Kopp and Harshman. The firm refunded $12,500 of the money it received from Dann’s fund in January, according to campaign finance reports.

David Betras, one of the firm’s principals, is Dann’s former legal partner and the Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman.

Betras said he refunded half the money because there was a possibility he could be called to testify during Dann’s commission hearings.

He said he ceased to represent Dann because there was a potential conflict of interest at that point.

Dann’s committee hasn’t received a contribution in more than a year. Dann said he has no plans to run for political office again.