Dann hopes the fine will end the furor over his time in office

Marc Dann Reacts

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By Marc Kovac

The ex-attorney general admitted to one violation in a settlement agreement.

COLUMBUS — Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said he hoped a settlement on the questionable use of his campaign funds “will be the end” of investigations into his actions as the state’s top lawyer.

The Ohio Elections Commission on Thursday approved the terms of a settlement that includes a $1,000 fine to be jointly paid by Dann and Dann for Ohio, his campaign committee.

Dann admitted he used campaign funds to pay for travel for his family to San Francisco but without knowing the action was illegal or without intending to break the law. He subsequently refunded about $2,000 to cover those costs.

Dann, his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff, and his campaign treasurer, Mary Beth Snyder, agreed to settle the matter with state Inspector General Thomas P. Charles. The settlement avoided a full hearing in front of the commission Thursday.

All other claims made by Charles in an investigation report released late last year were dismissed, and no criminal charges will be pursued by elections officials.

“I think the facts indicated and the agreement indicates that the one violation that we agreed to [Thursday] was not done in a way that was knowing or intentional,” Dann, a Democrat from Liberty, said after the hearing.

He added, “I don’t believe there is a case to prove going forward. So my hope is that [the agreement] will be the end of this.”

The hearing was Dann’s second before elections officials. On March 19, the same commission ruled that Dann violated elections laws by paying for a home-security system and family cellular phones with campaign contributions.

Dann and his campaign were each fined $1,000 for the security system payment. Both also received public reprimands but no fines for the cell phone complaint. Snyder was fined $250.

In the matter before the elections commission Thursday, the inspector general alleged that Dann had used campaign contributions as a “personal slush fund” in violation of elections law.

The investigation identified questionable payments to his campaign treasurer and wife, plus others that covered everyday living expenses of Dann, and two of his friends and staff members, Leo Jennings III and Anthony Gutierrez.

The latter two were fired from management positions in the attorney general’s office in the scandal that led to Dann’s resignation last year, and Gutierrez, Dann’s former director of general services, faces related criminal charges.

“I’m offended and upset and feel like my trust in him was violated,” Dann said of Gutierrez. “And in hindsight, being 20/20, my decision to hire him was a bad one. ... He didn’t do a good job. I’m disappointed in how he did. I frankly thought he could do a lot better than he did.”

A Franklin County grand jury indicted Gutierrez on May 14 on 10 criminal charges, including six felonies. The grand jury accused Gutierrez of theft in office, unauthorized use of state property and workers’ compensation fraud. His trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court begins Aug. 17. If convicted, Gutierrez faces up to eight years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Attempts on Thursday by The Vindicator to contact Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien for comment were unsuccessful.

In the settlement agreement, the inspector general agreed to dismiss all but one of the claims against Dann, Lenhoff and Snyder. In return, Dann admitted using campaign funds to pay for family travel to San Francisco and was fined $1,000.

As part of the settlement, all charges were dismissed against Jennings. The inspector general had questioned political consulting fees given to Jennings from Dann’s campaign.

The agreement was approved in a 5-1 vote, with Chairman Chuck Calvert opposing.

“This has been quite a saga,” said commission member Bryan Felmet. “There’s been mountains of exhibits and other materials submitted to us for consideration. ... I’m not 100 percent [sure] this is the appropriate resolution for what’s come before us, but it does seem, given the amount of work that both parties have done” to be a reasonable conclusion.

He added, “I don’t see any purpose, really, in hearing witnesses now to get to the Nth degree of what happened here.”

Dann called the settlement a “good and accurate resolution of what happened.”

Ohio Republican officials strongly criticized the agreement between Dann and the commission.

“This is a disgusting, shameful slap on the wrist for one of the most corrupt politicians in Ohio history,” said GOP state party Chairman Kevin DeWine.

He called the deal “a lame attempt at prosecution.”

Delaware County Prosecutor Dave Yost, a Republican running next year for attorney general, said, “This is a very minor sanction for a broad range of misconduct, especially when it involved the state’s top lawyer, who certainly knew better.”

XContributor: David Skolnick, Vindicator politics writer