Posted on 05/02/2008 8:34:46 AM PDT by flutters
Two top employees of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann were fired and a third has resigned because of an internal investigation of sexual harassment complaints released this morning.
The two longtime Dann friends who shared a Dublin-area condo with him were fired: Anthony Gutierrez, his general services director, and Leo Jennings III, his communications director.
A third longtime friend, Dann's top nonlegal adviser, Edgar C. Simpson, resigned last night instead of being fired this morning. And Jessica Utovich, Dann's former scheduler, also quit last night.
But investigators said they didn't consider themselves to be the “moral police” and probe rumors of affairs between supervisors and subordinates. Utovich, 28, was often seen at Dann's Dublin-area residence; Dann said only to deliver schedules. He also arranged for her to accompany him to a police seminar in Turkey, although she eventually did not go.
Dann's top assistant who headed the probe, former state Sen. Ben Espy, said during the investigation he asked her if she ever stayed overnight; she refused to answer the question. Dann, however, acknowledged she had stayed overnight; “he did not, however, give reasons,” Espy said.
Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout, the two women whose sexual harassment complaints triggered the investigation, and their attorney, Rex Elliott, talked exclusively with The Dispatch this morning immediately after being briefed on the report by Espy and Julie Pfeiffer, an assistant attorney general.
Stankoski and Stout said they felt vindicated by the findings and the recommendation that Gutierrez be fired, but didn't feel the discipline goes far enough.
“I'm relieved,” Stankoski said. “I came here to start a career…I was once proud to say I worked for the attorney general. Now it's become an embarrassment.”
Stout said she was “somewhat relieved” but didn't feel the recommended discipline goes far enough. “This involved other people in the office.”
Both women said that Dann, a Democrat elected in 2006, contributed to the top-down “hostile work environment” that the report characterized.
“If it's OK for him to do these things, then it's OK for everybody else,” Stout said.
Dann's office today offered to restore Stout to her former position (she had been transferred), and said it would provide counseling for both women.
Elliott said that isn't nearly enough. He said Dann has “some tough questions to answer.
“I wonder if the people of the state of Ohio can trust the attorney general in all the legal and policy matters he has to handle with the credibility he has at this point,” Elliott said.
He said both women are entitled to financial compensation in addition to the actions taken today. He said he will be pursuing that with Dann's office and perhaps in the courts.
The report recommend Gutierrez lose his $87,500-a-year job because, along with the sexual harassment, he repeatedly drove a state vehicle after consuming alcohol. Jennings was singled out to be “harshly disciplined for his attempt to improperly interfere with this investigation.” Simpson should be “disciplined” because he violated equal employment opportunity and professional conduct standards by failing to respond adequately to the sexual harassment complaints.
In one of the few totally new details unveiled this morning, the report said Jennings “attempted to impede the investigation by attempting to persuade (assistant attorney general) Jennifer Urban to give false testimony under oath.”
In a text message to Dann, Urban said, “I will not lie like Leo wants me know…I love you and Tony and Leo, but not enough to get disbarred.”
The report said another employee, Joyce Chappel, chief operating officer, should receive additional management training for not taking sufficient action after learning of Gutierrez's sexual harassment.
Dann himself exercised “poor judgment” by welcoming the female complainants to his home, especially when one was drunk.
“When it was obvious that she was intoxicated, arrangements should have been made to have her escorted home in a safe manner,” the report said.
Top officials in the office looked the other way instead of probing the bad behavior, the report said.
“There was an active effort in the office by longtime friends at the administrative level to overlook the transgressions by Mr. Gutierrez over a long period of time. Mr. Gutierrez used these relationships to exert his influence in the General Services Section and to impress female employees of his connections.”
In addition, “management employees encouraged and tolerated a workplace atmosphere of frequent profanity, extremely casual and improper personal interactions with subordinates and a general lack of professionalism and respect.”
Dann has a press conference scheduled for later this morning.
The attorney general's office announced the following changes after rolling out the report:
Review the qualifications of all managers.
Contract with an outside expert to look at office policy on use of state property and equipment.
Create a call center for anonymous employee complaints.
Establish a “zero tolerance” policy for sexual harassment.
Use an outside investigator for future harassment complaints.
Require all employees to under sexual harassment training.
Reassign the Equal Employment Officer.
Contact the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Cleveland to offer full cooperation with the agency's investigation.
Cooperate with the State Highway Patrol and the Department of Administrative Services in doing further investigation and review.
Meet with the Ohio Ethics Commission to discuss Gutierrez's misuse of state property and allegations that he conducted work on state time and using state property.
The biggest scandal of Dann's administration was sparked April 6 when The Dispatch detailed the harassment allegations from two junior employees of Dann's general services department: Stout and Stankoski, both 26.
They filed complaints March 31 that their boss, Gutierrez, had repeatedly made unwanted sexual comments and advances toward them.
The complaints cut close to Dann, a Democrat in his first term.
The attorney general lives two houses down from Gutierrez in suburban Youngstown and the two have been close friends for about 20 years. Dann hired Gutierrez for the state job shortly after taking office in 2007 even though a background check showed 27 tax liens and civil judgments and a personal bankruptcy. Dann also had picked up Gutierrez from a drunken-driving arrest in September 2006 in which Gutierrez' blood-alcohol content was nearly twice the legal limit.
In addition, the complaints alleged that some of the harassment they had experienced at Gutierrez' hands took place in the Dublin-area condo formerly shared by Dann, Gutierrez and Jennings.
Dann was in the condo on the night of Sept. 10, 2007, when Stankoski claimed that she awoke after a night of drinking next to an underwear-clad Gutierrez, and with her pants partially unbuttoned.
Dann placed Gutierrez on administrative leave April 7, the day after the Dispatch story. Jennings was suspended several days later.
Dann, normally an outspoken public figure, has had little to say about the investigation. At one point he referred to himself as a “tangential witness” rather than a potential target. He has refused to answer any questions about what he may have known about Gutierrez' conduct.
The sexual-harassment complaints have opened a spigot of revelations and rumors about Dann and staffers in his office.
Since the investigation began, Dann's office has produced documents showing that Gutierrez crashed two state vehicles. Separate records show that Dann's campaign fund helped pay the rent at the Dublin-area condo last year. Some current and former employees stepped forward to claim that the office is plagued by profanity and abusive behavior. And Dann's chief of staff confirmed that he is dating a middle manager in the office, although he said the manager is not part of his chain of command.
Through it all, many outside observers have faulted Dann for handling the investigation in-house.
Dann's spokesmen have responded by saying that Espy's integrity is above reproach and that Stankoski and Stout can seek alternatives if they feel the in-house investigation was tainted.
In fact, the two already have filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Name That Political Party!
Clue: News source is “The Columbus Dispatch”
Clue: First mention of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s political party comes in paragraph 24
Wild Guess: Is Marc Dann a.....DEMOCRAT?
Family: Rodentia, Species: Rattus rattus
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.