State Officials under the microscope?
The governor’s ability to initiate investigations should include the courts. There are enough issues within the Franklin County Domestic Courts that warrants a very detailed investigation which should start with the Honorable Rev. Jim Mason. This would give families within Franklin County a fighting chance.
The existing procedures that were used for Marc Dann needs to stay in place and the legislature needs to be left to do their job.
All state officials may face scrutiny
Inspector general could get more power
Less than a week after lawmakers unleashed Ohio’s political watchdog on former Attorney General Marc Dann, some lawmakers are ready to give the investigator permanent authority to probe other statewide officeholders as well.
The idea, sources said, would remove the restrictions on the Ohio inspector general’s office that keep it from investigating independent officeholders: the attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor and treasurer.
Last Tuesday, the General Assembly gave Inspector General Thomas P. Charles one-time authority to launch a probe of Dann’s office, including but not limited to charges that a manager had sexually harassed subordinates.
Dann had strenuously objected to the investigation, saying his office already had completed a thorough internal review that led to two employees being fired, two more quitting and two others being disciplined.
Charles’ probe — heralded Wednesday morning by investigators lugging computer equipment and other materials from Dann’s office — was credited with ratcheting up pressure on Dann to resign. The Democrat did so later that day.
Yesterday, Charles said giving his office the power to investigate other officials could help cut down on wasteful spending and misconduct. Still, he said, he’d need to expand his staff of 19 to do so.
“There’s a lot of discussions that would need to take place,” Charles said. “Staffing, obviously, would be one item.”
Critics of expanding the inspector general’s authority point out that he reports to the governor, so the governor could order an investigation to find dirt on political rivals.
Currently, the inspector general only has the power to investigate agencies under the governor’s control — including state universities, bureaucracies and state commissions, but not courts, the House and Senate or independently elected officials.
Show me the money
Mark D. Lay is a Democrat contributor.
BWC slow to show suit’s money trail
Blacked-out bills given to ‘Dispatch’
It seemed like a straightforward question: How much did it cost Ohio taxpayers to pursue the civil lawsuit against Mark D. Lay, and how was the money spent?
But getting the answer proved complicated, in part because the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation initially blacked out from the bills details such as a $6,000 trip to Bermuda to interview witnesses. The bureau called it an inadvertent mistake.
The Dispatch made a request last month for all records documenting the cost for the lawsuit against Lay, who managed a Bermuda-based hedge fund for the bureau that lost $216 million before it was shut down in 2005.
The attorney general’s office was able to provide only some of the documents because most of the invoices from the law firm that was hired for the case were forwarded to the bureau.
Initially, the bureau said those records were not public, then provided bills with large sections blacked out. After the newspaper questioned it, the bureau agreed to provide the records without redaction.
Most of what had been blocked involved details about meals and other travel costs for lawyers hired to work on the case for the state, including the one-week trip to Bermuda in 2006 by a lawyer and court reporter to take depositions.
That included $3,247 in airfare for the lawyer and court reporter; $2,341 in lodging; $240 in meals for the lawyer; and $108 in parking and taxi costs.
James Barnes, the chief legal counsel for the bureau, said the redaction was done by four administrative workers who aren’t lawyers.
They mistakenly thought they were following the lead of the attorney general’s office in shielding details of work performed by attorneys that would be protected under attorney-client privilege, Barnes said.
Maturity from the Democrat Party?
Strickland to seek ‘maturity’ in replacement for Dann
Published:Thursday, May 15, 2008
By Marc Kovac
The office’s first assistant attorney general is temporarily in charge.
COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland said he would immediately begin considering potential candidates to replace Attorney General Marc Dann.
Speaking to a packed Cabinet room full of reporters and camera crews, the governor said “maturity” was a top quality he would seek in compiling his short list.
“Maturity, experience, management ability — those certainly are criteria that I think are essential, especially now,” Strickland said. “We need someone who can provide confidence to the many, many employees of the attorney general’s office, someone who is recognized as a person of great integrity.”
Strickland answered reporters’ questions Wednesday during a Statehouse press conference after Dann’s resignation. The attorney general spoke for about three minutes to start the session, then left the room without answering questions.
The governor called Dann’s resignation the “honorable thing” and the “right thing” to do.
“This decision will allow the important work of the attorney general’s office to continue without the distraction caused by recent events,” Strickland said. “Today is a sad day, in many ways. I think it is appropriate for us all to acknowledge the personal pain and anguish that these events have caused the attorney general, his family members, his staff and others.”
The governor noted the attorney general’s accomplishments — environmental and consumer protections, foreclosure prevention and health care accessibility.
He also sent a strong message concerning state employees who feel they are being harassed on the job: “For any state employee who has suffered a hostile work environment or been subjected to sexual harassment, I would say to them that I, as governor, will not tolerate it if it comes to my knowledge and I have any ability to have control or authority over it.”
Strickland said the inspector general’s investigation of the office, launched Wednesday after he signed legislation late Tuesday giving Tom Charles that authority, would continue.
About a dozen members of the inspector general’s office were in Dann’s office earlier in the day interviewing employees, reviewing files and carting off computers and equipment.
The governor also shed some light on Dann’s attempts Tuesday to stop lawmakers from naming the inspector general to investigate his office.
The Dann slot factor
Taking time on Dann slot
Published:Friday, May 16, 2008
An attorney general candidate must be selected by Aug. 19.
YOUNGSTOWN — As governor, Ted Strickland makes hundreds of appointments.
Just last week, he made appointments to the Ohio Community Service Council, the State Medical Board, the Partnership for Continued Learning, and the State Board of Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics, among others.
But during his 16-plus months as governor, he faces perhaps his most important appointment decision — who will replace Marc Dann, a Liberty Democrat, as the state’s new attorney general.
Strickland, a Democrat formerly from Lisbon, started considering replacements shortly after Dann resigned Wednesday.
The governor doesn’t have a time line or a deadline for making the appointment, said Keith Dailey, his spokesman.
Those close to Strickland say the governor may take up to a month or possibly longer to select Dann’s replacement.
With Dann’s resignation, Tom Winters, first assistant attorney general, has the authority of the attorney general until Strickland selects a replacement.
The governor also must decide if he’ll pick a caretaker to run the office or select someone who would be the incumbent as the Democratic Party’s attorney general candidate in the Nov. 4 election to fill the remainder of Dann’s term. Dann’s unexpired term runs through January 2011.
The Democrats and Republicans will select a candidate to run for the rest of Dann’s term no later than 4 p.m. Aug. 19.
Also, those wanting to run as independents need nominating petitions with at least 750 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
But be careful in buying into what you hear about Dann from the governor and other state leaders.
Here is what Democrats fear most with Dann in office
By toddfranko
May 7, 2008
The below press release came in Tuesday.
More than fraud in office and more than abuse of taxpayer trust, the press release shows what Democrats fear most about Marc Dann staying in office:
Steve Driehaus Should Return Money Tainted By Dann
COLUMBUS - Democrat candidate Rep. Steve Driehaus says Attorney General Marc Dann is wrong to stay in office, but he seems to have no problem pocketing the money Dann raised for him as the headliner for a fundraising event back in December:
“Steve Driehaus can’t have it both ways. Marc Dann’s mismanagement and cronyism proved him unfit for office. If Driehaus truly believes Dann should go, he would reject Dann’s financial support and return the tainted funds. Condemning Marc Dann while lining your campaign coffers with money he raised is just pure hypocrisy,” said Ohio Republican Party Spokesman John McClelland.
On December 3rd, 2007, Marc Dann headlined a fundraiser for Steve Driehaus at The Aronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati, OH. The money raised from this event is tainted by Dann’s involvement, and it should be returned.
Every Democrat candidate who’s running for office, and especially those who’ve rubbed elbows with Dann, will have his name hung around their candidacy for as many elections as his name still raises eyebrows.
That is where the Dems’ pursuit of Dann hits a bump.
He was idiotic. He clearly was negligent in his management. But as a state legislator said the other day, “Is stupidity impeachable?”
To drive impeachment, the Democrats will sell the public that Dann’s actions were nearly crimes against humanity. The reality is his deeds come closer to being crimes against re-election.
Driehaus is running for Congress this fall. He’s currently a state legislator in the Cincinnati area.
It’s completely silly to think that money Driehaus earned six months ago when Dann spoke at a fund-raiser is “tainted” money. Driehaus is no more tainted by Dann’s visit than the caterer who fed the dinner and the band that played tunes at the event. I’d hate to think the caterer and the band should fork over their profits from that event because of what’s now known about Dann.
Heck, it’s also debatable if the crowd showed up for Dann, for the food or for the band. Anyone know what they were serving?
Even sillier about the release: the Republicans say Driehaus should “return the money.” How? Should he place ads in the paper saying “If you attended my dinner Dec. 7 and paid $40 to get in, stop by my house to get your money back.”
Most of us would see the Republicans’ press release as silly. But not all of us. That’s who the Republicans will target, and the Democrats will suffer.
So do you impeach an attorney general for that?
Think what you want on Dann. Thinking badly would be justified.
But be careful in buying into what you hear about Dann from the governor and other state leaders.
It could be raining lawsuits
This is a nice attempt to kill a story by burying in on page 14 of the front section, we won’t allow this to happen.
Scandal may rain lawsuits on state
Findings of harassment in Dann’s office could open legal floodgates, experts say
An internal investigation’s finding that a “hostile work environment” existed in former Attorney General Marc Dann’s office essentially means the state found itself guilty of sexual harassment.
Now, it appears that admission by Dann’s aides could open the spigot for lawsuits from not only the two women whose allegations led to the downfall of Dann and three top administrators, but also from other women in the office.
An attorney for the two women said two to three dozen other female employees of the attorney general’s office already have contacted him about possibly filing harassment lawsuits.
Question: How much will Ohio taxpayers have to cough up for financial damages and legal fees?
Answer: a lot, maybe more than $1 million.
Attorneys for Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout, the two women whose sexual-harassment complaints against their boss, Anthony Gutierrez, opened the scandal to public scrutiny, are discussing a financial settlement with the attorney general’s office.
Rex Elliott said he sent a letter Monday to Ben Espy. Espy is the lead investigator for the attorney general in the harassment complaints and the point man for the ongoing probes by Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles and others. Espy asked for more time to respond, and Elliott agreed: one more week.
“If these women could eliminate all this and go back to the point before this harassment began, they would do it in a second,” Elliott said. “But since they can’t do that, the only way in our system to adequately respond to that is a financial settlement.
“Compensation is the only way we have to right a wrong in our society.”
There might be other wrongs to right.
• Mariellen Aranda, who left Gutierrez’s section because she said she couldn’t cope with the sexual comments and foul language, complained in her transcript from the Espy investigation that she filed a sexual-harassment complaint last October, but that the Dann administration essentially ignored it.
• Dann’s former scheduler, Jessica Utovich, with whom he was romantically linked, submitted her resignation in writing May 1 and said she attempted to withdraw it hours later at Dann’s encouragement. Aides to the then-attorney general, however, rushed through the resignation anyway, announcing it at a news conference the next morning.
Utovich now is talking to her attorneys about a possible lawsuit.
• Utovich’s friend Jennifer Urban still works as an assistant attorney general but was stung by the office’s release of hundreds of e-mails in April, one of which referred to Urban’s tastes in liquor. Reporters had requested e-mails between Dann and Utovich, but many jocular messages to and from Urban were swept up in the same net.
Urban’s attorney, Vince Rakestraw, said Urban isn’t necessarily planning a lawsuit but could sue “if there are any future issues.”
More generally, however, Rakestraw said the state is vulnerable to lawsuits from current and former Dann employees because of the apparently pervasive misconduct and admission of a hostile work environment.
“The environment could be conducive to future claims,” Rakestraw said. “We know that lawyers are sensitive to bringing them.”
They would have no shortage of evidence. In interviews and reports compiled as part of the investigation into sexual-harassment claims against Gutierrez, several Dann employees described foul language, mistreatment of women and at least one sexual relationship occurring virtually in the open.
Molly Taylor, a former human-resources staff member, confirmed in testimony the accounts of others in the office that the higher-ups did little or nothing in response to the sexual-harassment complaints.
John S. Marshall, a Columbus lawyer specializing in sexual- harassment cases, has said the finding of a hostile work environment, by definition, means there was offensive, unwelcome and pervasive conduct based on gender.
While there is a $300,000 cap per individual on settlements for emotional distress related to sexual harassment, the state also could be liable for attorneys’ fees and loss of potential future earnings.
Dann’s resignation isn’t likely to spare the state any financial hurt. Legal experts say the state still bears the responsibility for the actions of officeholders when they were in office, regardless of whether they’re still there.
Democrat George Forbes charged
George Forbes charged in BWC probe
Posted by kturner July 03, 2007 15:08PM
A task force investigating corruption at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation on Tuesday charged Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes with criminal violations of state ethics laws.
The six misdemeanor charges stem from Forbes’ tenure as a member of the BWC’s oversight board.
He is accused of accepting gifts from investment brokers doing or trying to do business with the BWC and not reporting them on financial disclosure statements filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Forbes, 76, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in Franklin County Municipal Court.
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Marc Dann let democrat contributor off the hook
BWC lawsuit cost state $1.8 million
Legal fees, other expenses erased a chunk of hedge-fund exec’s $5 million settlement
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Saturday, May 17, 2008 3:05 AM
The state paid nearly $2 million, including $6,000 for a trip to Bermuda, for a chance to get back $5 million from one of the biggest frauds in Ohio history.Records show it cost taxpayers $1.84 million for the state to pursue a civil lawsuit against Mark D. Lay, who agreed to pay $5 million to resolve the case stemming from an Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation investment scandal.
Lay and his MDL Capital Management, based in Pittsburgh, managed an offshore hedge fund for the bureau that lost $216 million before it was shut down in 2005.
A federal jury found him guilty of criminal fraud charges last fall, and on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. denied Lay’s request for an acquittal or a new trial. Sentencing is set for May 27 in Akron.
The Ohio attorney general’s office also filed a civil lawsuit against Lay and others in 2005 to recover the $216 million, but officials and Lay agreed in March to settle the case.
Records requested by The Dispatch show that the bulk of the $1.84 million spent on the civil case was the $1.7 million paid to Bailey Cavalieri, the Columbus firm hired as special counsel.
That amount includes work by several lawyers at rates of up to $250 per hour, plus copying, mailing and other expenses — including nearly $6,000 for a lawyer and court reporter to travel to Bermuda for a week in 2006 to interview witnesses, documents show.
The hedge fund managed by Lay was based in Bermuda, and the lawsuit initially named the Bermuda fund officers among the defendants.
The total also included more than $336,000 paid to Bailey Cavalieri that was passed on to several consultants who did work on the case, records show.
Among the other costs related to the case was nearly $100,000 paid to Clark, Schaefer, Hackett & Co. for audit work on the bureau investment. That included $4,700 in meals, lodging and other expenses, records show.
The final cost to the state does not include the investment loss itself of $216 million, any potential lost income had the money been invested properly, or other expenses such as the cost to change investment managers.
Republicans have criticized the settlement, saying former Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann was a vocal critic of the bureau before he was elected and then let Lay, who has contributed to Democrats, “off the hook.”
“Dann has allowed the criminal responsible for the biggest rip-off in the history of the bureau to walk away with a simple promise to try and pay back 3 cents on the dollar,” Kevin DeWine, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said in a news release last month.
Dann’s office cited several reasons for settling the case, including the expected request by federal prosecutors for more than $200 million in restitution, which would offset any civil recovery.
There also were concerns about how collectable any civil judgment would be and whether the cost of continuing to pursue the case was justified.
Where the money went
A breakdown of the $1.84 million the state spent to pursue the civil case against investment adviser Mark D. Lay:
• Special counsel fees: $1.7 million to Bailey Cavalieri, including:
$1.36 million for more than 5,500 hours of legal work
$336,217 passed to consultants for various work
$14,343 for transcripts, other court records
$7,984 in travel-related costs
$7,543 for copying
• Special counsel fees: $5,762 to Schottenstein Zox & Dunn
• Audit fees: $98,938 to Clark, Schaefer, Hackett & Co.
• Bureau internal auditing costs: $16,935
Sources: Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, attorney general’s office
Finally inventorying Patrick O’Malley’s computers
It would appear as though Cuyahoga County Executive Director Colleen Corrigan Day doesn’t have any problems with a fair amount of the staff having received their jobs due to political connections.
Cuyahoga recorder orders inventory of recorder’s office computers
Posted by Joe Guillen May 16, 2008 18:13PM
The Cuyahoga County auditor has ordered an immediate inventory of computer equipment in former Recorder Patrick O’Malley’s office.
The reason: O’Malley barred county workers from conducting an annual state-mandated review of the equipment. The ban goes back at least four years.
“They rudely threw [my staff] right out.” Cuyahoga County Information Services Center Director Dan Weaver recalled on Friday. “It didn’t surprise me, knowing his personality.”
Weaver said no other county office or department refused the inventory.
In a letter sent on Friday, Auditor Frank Russo also asked Weaver to investigate all computer equipment purchases O’Malley’s office made in the last five years.
Russo’s directive came a day after O’Malley pleaded guilty to a federal obscenity charge and resigned from office.
The investigation into O’Malley was fueled when FBI agents seized personal computers from O’Malley’s home in 2004. A search warrant said agents were looking for records of a billboard deal and images of child pornography.
O’Malley will be sentenced in August and could get more than six months in prison.
While the Cuyahoga Democratic Party huddled to pare down the list of potential successors to O’Malley — the party’s choice will be on the ballot in November — Republicans had a field day Friday.
They lumped O’Malley with former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who resigned on Wednesday, and Cleveland City Councilman Joe Santiago, reportedly the subject of an FBI investigation.
“These Democrats, someone like Marc Dann or Pat O’Malley, they can’t even live up to the basic standards of competence and ethics in public office,” county Republican Party Chairman Rob Frost said.
Local Democrats, however, said O’Malley’s crime had nothing to do with his public service.
“The recorder’s office has been run efficiently and effectively,” Cuyahoga County Executive Director Colleen Corrigan Day said in a statement. “The personal issue of the former recorder bears no reflection on the operation of this county office or its staff.”
County commissioners are likely to name an interim recorder on Thursday. They are expecting a recommendation from the Democratic Party, which is headed by Commissioner Jimmy Dimora. It is the party that will make the final decision on who will face Republican Cathy Luks in the November general election for recorder.
Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Lillian Greene has joined the lengthy list of possible replacements for O’Malley, which includes members of Cleveland City Council and state representatives.
Luks said, “It doesn’t matter who the Democratic machine comes up with. There can no longer be one-party rule if there is to be accountability.”
Other than judges, there are no elected Republican leaders in county government.
Who forced Jessica Utovich out?
Read the e-mails from Jessica Utovich
Utovich changed mind, struggled to keep her job
The woman romantically linked to Attorney General Marc Dann desperately tried to rescind her resignation the day before Dann admitted his affair with her.
But even though Dann personally agreed she could withdraw her resignation, Jessica Utovich says she learned she didn’t have a job when she watched televised press conferences by Dann and Thomas R. Winters, his top assistant, on May 2, according to internal communications obtained by The Dispatch.
Utovich, 28, was Dann’s scheduler until she was transferred to another job last year, apparently when the affair with Dann ended.
Last week, Utovich fired off letters and e-mails to the Dann administration, accusing them of retaliating against her.
“I am appalled by the treatment shown to me, as over the past five months I have been nothing but loyal and a hard worker. I’m not proud of my actions in my personal life, but do not deserve to be retaliated for them by the office.”
Her job officially ended May 8, although Utovich did not work last week.
On one of her exit documents, she marked out the “voluntary termination” notation, writing in: “Termination was not voluntary. I had rescinded my resignation 5/1/08 which AG Dann agreed to.”
Dann resigned on Wednesday as investigations mounted about alleged sexual harassment, cronyism and mismanagement.
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