DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Now that Marc Dann is no longer in office, Secretary of State

Jennifer Brunner says he should repay some of the money for the security system he bought with campaign money for his Youngstown home.

In an audit report released Friday, May 30, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner asked her fellow Democrat and former attorney general to justify spending $33,525 out of his campaign fund for the home security system. The report said Dann needs to reimburse his campaign committee for the current fair market value of the security equipment.

From the security equipment to a $25.78 purchase at Macy's described as a "gift," the Ohio Secretary of State's campaign finance administrators have questions — and lots of them — about Dann's use of his campaign dollars.

Among their concerns:

• Whether a car that cost the campaign $6,290 in 2007 was used for personal trips. Under Ohio elections law, campaigns can buy or lease a vehicle as long as it's used only for campaign activities or activities related to performing the duties of public office. If the car is used for personal and campaign trips, the campaign committee cannot directly pay for the purchase or lease of the vehicle, but can seek reimbursement for any campaign-related use, such as mileage. The report questioned who else used the vehicle and "their role in the campaign, if any."

Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles Records show only one vehicle — a 2006 Pontiac — registered either to Dann or Alyssa Lenhoff, his wife. The vehicle identification number on the Pontiac matches the VIN on a car in which the campaign paid service expenses.

• Whether any of the $5,300 in expenses related to an Easter weekend trip to San Francisco and Sonoma were personal, including $100 at Good Time Touring Co., which rents bikes at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. Dann has said his family accompanied him on the trip, which was for Democratic Attorneys General Association business.

• Why the campaign paid $16,309 for cell phone service that appears to be for Dann & Falgiani law firm.

• Why Dann's campaign spent $5,187.67 on hotel rooms at the Best Western Clarmont Inn in Columbus between December 2006 and July 2007, given the campaign also spent money on apartments for Dann.

• Four reimbursements totaling $4,299.83 from Dann to the campaign last year. The Secretary of State's office requested further details on those reimbursements.

• Why Dann's campaign spent $8,753.51 to M & R Land Co. for the purpose of "air travel service." The Secretary of State's office requested an invoice as well as how those expenses were related to campaign activities or his duties in public office.

• Why Dann's campaign spent $1,170.32 for "lawn work and repair, cleaning, pool work for Turkish party." The Secretary of State's office requested a copy of receipts related to the expenses as well as justification.

• Expenses related to a July 2007 trip to a Young Democrats of America convention in Texas. Dann's campaign footed the bill for his son, Charlie, and his scheduler and girlfriend, Jessica Utovich, to attend the trip.

"The use of campaign funds to pay for expenses to send a member of the candidate's family to this type of event is not automatically prohibited," the letter read, but, it cautioned, "There must be a legitimate campaign purpose."

"If the costs of attending the event would not have been paid out of campaign funds, but for the fact that the person was a member of the candidate's family, then the expenditures are not permitted and must be reimbursed back to the committee."

Dann, questioned about the expenditure on May 20, said Utovich and his son "were both volunteers in my campaign. Charlie would frequently speak as a surrogate for me during and after the election campaign. The training that each of them attended at the Young Democrats meetings was a benefit to the campaign."

As for the security, Dann — who did not return requests for comment — said this month that his campaign counsel vetted the expenditure before he made it. He said the cost was necessary after he and his family began receiving threats, including death threats.

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