Forced out

Embattled attorney general steps down

By STEPHEN ORAVECZ and RON SELAK JR. Tribune Chronicle
Attorney General Marc Dann resigned Wednesday, just 12 days after three of his top aides lost their jobs in a sexual harassment scandal.

Dann was hoping for a second chance to salvage his administration, but on Tuesday his fellow Democrats filed articles of impeachment against him, and on Wednesday the Ohio inspector general raided his office.

‘‘It is now clear that the last step I must take to fix these problems is to resign as attorney general effective immediately,’’ Dann said in a statement that lasted less than three minutes.

Dann recounted what he considered his accomplishments of his 17 months in office and said, ‘‘The only way to protect these priorities for the office of attorney general and for the people of Ohio is to remove myself from the situation.”

After Dann left the microphone, Gov. Ted Strickland said that Dann ‘‘did the honorable thing by resigning today.’’

Strickland said there was ‘‘absolutely no deal’’ with Dann to secure his resignation. A day earlier Dann had offered to resign if Republicans would delay the inspector general’s investigation of his office, but they rejected that proposal.

State Rep. Robert Hagan, D-Youngstown, who acted as Dann’s emissary to Senate President Bill Harris Tuesday, said he knew Dann ‘‘accepted the seriousness of the articles of impeachment by the Democratic members of the Legislature.

‘‘I think he saw the handwriting on the wall when the inspector general and the Ohio State Patrol raided his office today,’’ Hagan said.

Under state law, First Assistant Attorney General Tom Winters will take over the office until Strickland names an interim replacement.

Strickland said he did not see any irony in the fact Winters was a lobbyist for Tom Noe, the central figure in the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation coingate scandal that propelled Dann to statewide office.

A special election will be held this fall to select someone to serve out the final two years of the term. The governor said he does not have a shortlist of candidates to replace Dann, but he would begin the process of chosing a replacement immediately, ‘‘probably this afternoon.’’

Most of all, Strickland said he would be looking for ‘‘maturity’’ in a replacement.

Dann, 46, was accompanied by his daughter Mia. He said his highest priority now is his family. He did not take questions and drove to his home in Liberty with his advisor, Michael Harshman.

There, it appeared Dann and his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff Dann, were unpacking belongings from a vehicle Wednesday evening.

Lenhoff Dann said the family didn’t want to speak publicly. ‘‘Not tonight,’’ she said. ‘‘We’re just trying to be a family.’’

At the news conference in Columbus, Strickland said, ‘‘Today is a sad day in many ways,’’ and that is important to acknowledge the personal pain and anguish Dann and his family have suffered.

But both Strickland and Republicans said the investigation into Dann’s office will continue.

‘‘This embarrassment is far from over,’’ said state Rep. Kevin DeWine, deputy chair of the Ohio Republican Party.

‘‘We’ve spent the past 15 months pointing out that Marc Dann was not suited to be Ohio’s attorney general, and now that it’s politically expedient the Democrats finally decided to join us.’’

Strickland, who consistently called for Dann’s impeachment, defended his party’s actions.

The governor said had he known many of the charges and behaviors that came to light as a result of the sexual harassment scandal, he likely would have talked to Dann. But he said he was ‘‘simply not aware of these behaviors.’’

Once he digested Espy’s report, Strickland said, ‘‘I took appropriate swift action.

‘‘Given the circumstance that came to light in Espy’s investigation it seemed clear to me the best thing to do was immediately ask the attorney general to step down and inform him there would be consequences if he didn’t.’’

Those consequences were impeachment.

In nine articles of impeachment filed Tuesday, Democrats accused Dann of obstructing the investigation into sexual harassment claims, intentionally making misleading statements under oath and gross immorality that ‘‘undermined the effectiveness and efficiency of his office.’’

Dann himself admitted that his extramarital affair with a staff member contributed to the frat-house atmosphere in his office.

Attorney Rex Elliott, who represented the two 26-year-old junior staffers whose sexual harassment complaints against a Dann aide unraveled things at the office, called Dann’s resignation long overdue. He anticipates his clients will have a much better chance at negotiating a legal settlement for damages now that Dann is gone.

‘‘Before I was looking at discussions with the person responsible for this three-ring circus,’’ Elliott said. ‘‘Now, I can talk to someone who is independent and objective.’’

Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout had accused Dann’s friend and neighbor Anthony Gutierrez of sexual harassment. The women both worked in the general services section Gutierrez headed.

After Espy’s investigation concluded the sexual harassment charges were true, Gutierrez was fired. he also was accused of doing private business with state property on state time.

Leo Jennings III, Dann’s communications director, was fired for allegedly trying to get a staff attorney to lie during the investigation.

Chief of Staff Edgar Simpson was allowed to resign after Espy concluded he failed to promptly respond to the sexual harassment complaints.

Tribune Chronicle reporter Christopher Kromer and The Associated Press contributed to this article.