Marc Dann - Biography

Marc Dann (born March 12, 1962, in Evanston, Illinois, is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1984 from the University of Michigan and a law degree in 1987 from Case Western Reserve University, and practiced law in Youngstown, Ohio.

Dann ran for the Ohio Senate in 2000, but lost to Tim Ryan. From 2001 to 2002, Dann served as a member of the Liberty Local School District board of education. After Ryan won election to Congress in 2002, Dann convinced the state Senate's Democratic caucus to appoint him to fill the balance of Ryan's term, and won election to a full term in 2004.

Dann announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Ohio on November 14, 2005, won 71% of the vote in the 2006 Democratic primary against former Cleveland Law Director Subodh Chandra. He won the general election in November 2006 by defeating Ohio State Auditor Betty Montgomery, a former attorney general. Dann received 2.04 million votes to 1.83 million for Montgomery, a margin of 52% to 48%. He ran up huge margins in traditionally Republican areas and also won bellwether counties such as Franklin and Stark. Before her defeat by Dann, Montgomery had never lost a statewide election and had been the top Republican vote-getter in the previous two non-presidential statewide contests. He was sworn in as the 47th Ohio Attorney General on January 8, 2007.

A sexual harassment scandal arose during Dann's tenure as attorney general, eventually leading to his resignation.

In April 2008, Dann placed Communications Director Leo Jennings on leave, pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation in his office. The investigation focused on allegations of sexual harassment, filed by two women Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout who worked in Dann’s office under the supervision of Anthony Gutierrez. Jennings joined Anthony Gutierrez, Dann’s director of general services, on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The female employees alleged Gutierrez, who was paid $87,500 a year, repeatedly sexually harassed them. A statement from Dann released to reporters gave no details on what led to Jennings being included in the investigation. It said only: "This action comes as a result of new information received over the weekend related to the ongoing investigation into charges of sexual harassment." Dann agreed to conditionally release emails between himself and his former scheduler, Jessica Utovich. Utovich, 28, began as Dann's scheduler, but was transferred to the position of director of travel in late 2007. Upon being transferred, Utovich received a 27% pay raise.