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May

2

Full Text of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s statement re:


From the Columbus Dispatch:
Friday, May 2, 2008 1:15 PM

This is the text of the statement delivered at a news conference today by the attorney general:

Serious allegations have been made about the conduct of people in my office. Today’s report shows that these allegations are substantiated.

For the reasons detailed in this report, I am accepting the decisions of First Assistant Attorney General Tom Winters to discharge Anthony Gutierrez and Leo Jennings III and accepting Ed Simpson’s decision to step down as Chief of Policy and Administration.

I hired them with great hopes.

I believed they brought strengths and good qualities to the job. Unfortunately, they let me down.

I take full responsibility.

As disappointed as I am with the conduct of others, I am even more disappointed in myself.

I did not create an atmosphere in my public and personal life that is consistent with the important mission of the Office of the Attorney General and more worthy of the great work that we have been accomplishing for the people of the State of Ohio.

I am heartbroken by my failure to recognize the problems being created and by my failure to stop them.

I should have been much more aggressive to make sure that those who violated my trust were disciplined immediately.

I should have put in place a management structure that would have addressed these types of problems long before they ever became front page news stories or more importantly, personal tragedies.

I have not conducted myself in a way that is consistent with my values as a husband, a father, and my responsibilities as the Attorney General of Ohio. At a difficult time in my marriage, I got involved in a romantic relationship with a member of my staff. That conduct was intrinsically wrong.

My conduct has caused my family and my employees immense hurt and embarrassment.

To Alyssa and my children, to the employees of the office of the Attorney General, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for my human failings.

My errors in judgment have allowed the creation of a sideshow that has played out in the news. This sideshow has distracted attention from the good work being done by the Attorney General’s office.

Here’s what I must do now.

I must do everything I possibly can to repair the negative reflection that has been cast upon the great lawyers, administrative staff and law enforcers hired in the past 16 months and who were here when I took office.

I will work tirelessly to re-earn the public’s trust.

To continue these good works for the people of Ohio—and to regain their trust—I will make the following changes:

First, I have asked Jim Friedman, former Chief of Staff to Governor John Gilligan, to head up a small working group that will identify changes in management structure and personnel. I envision this as a second transition.

I am honored and grateful that he will bring the wisdom and insight needed to create an administrative backbone worthy of the great legal work that is being done in our office.

In addition to the personnel changes already announced, I am accepting the specific recommendations included in the Espy report and First Assistant Tom Winters’ statement. To ensure faith in the results of this investigation, we will continue to strictly follow our office’s sexual harassment policy.

In addition, should neither the complainants nor those against whom disciplinary action has been taken request an outside review of this investigation, I will ask for one myself. The outside reviewer will be a person whose credentials are beyond question. As I have recused myself from this investigation, the selection of that individual will be made by Mr. Winters.

And, we will cooperate fully with the ongoing, independent investigation being conducted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

We will reorganize our structure and hiring policies and procedures to recruit the best people for the job. New policies will be developed and implemented in the coming months and weeks to address fraternization among employees, appropriate use of email, and respectful communication between employees, particularly between supervisors and subordinates.

The State Department of Administrative Services will conduct an audit of the General Services Division. This review will cover all of our policy and procedures.

BCI Superintendent Robert Fiatal will review our policy and practice regarding the issuance of undercover plates. No such plates will be issued to state vehicles unless there is a specific and identifiable governmental purpose.

As John Wayne once said, “Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down.”

Today, I’m getting up and dusting myself off by accepting responsibility, apologizing, and making necessary changes. And I’m doing this because nothing, least of all my shortcomings, should stand in the way of the important work we are doing.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:08 pm May 2nd, 2008 in Announcements, Gender, Government, Marc Dann, Ohio, Politics, Scandal, Women 

Comments

3 Responses to “Full Text of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s statement re:”

  1. 1 oengus on May 2nd, 2008 3:28 pm

    I do not think Marc Dann should be allowed to get up; I think we should all kick him while he is down and refuse to ever let him get up.

    He had high hopes for them, he new who they were and he new what they were like, this goes so far beyond birds of a feather, this guy is the leader. Do you think for a minute he is not just like them; he is the mastermind the worst of them, get rid of him.

    Stupid drunk Tony had to have a girlfriend just like the boss, he did not just create a victims he sought out victims, a drunken shoplifter.

    They all look complicit in that Tony hired an employee with a criminal record because he thought he could have his way with her.

    Utovich needs to be fired and kicked out of the young democrats, tell her to go write book how not to sleep your way into politics.

    What is the crap about not wanting to be the morality police, if the investigation reveals other issues then investigate until there are none, its your damn job. Do not assume we are all bad, dang its hard not to. They look like a bunch of drunks sleeping with each other pissing away tax dollars.

  2. 2 Jill Miller Zimon on May 2nd, 2008 3:30 pm

    Oengus, if I do say so myself, this comment by you is one of the most specific, pointed, clear expressions of your feelings I think I’ve ever read on this blog.

    I know how you feel.

  3. 3 oengus on May 3rd, 2008 9:50 am

    My perception of Dann in law school is the guy that stole exams and hid research material in the library.

    His comment, “I did not do anything that I could be impeached for”, my impression was that he had a smirk on his face when he said that. His excuse is his lack of experience. We could say his lack of qualifications.

    You know if a person makes a series of bad decisions that is reflective of who they are. Poor judgment, that needs consideration, judgment is imperative as a qualification of an attorney general.

    Strickland has my permission to ask him to step down…

    You know Jill, after reading the report it became so obvious what was going on it would be difficult not to be clear in response.

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