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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
COLUMBUS — During a May 2 news conference, Attorney General Marc Dann claimed ignorance about whether his friend and neighbor, Anthony Gutierrez, was operating his private construction business on state time.
However, records found on Gutierrez' state computer show MTV Construction, the company Gutierrez ran, did work for Dann's in-laws who live around the corner from the attorney general's home in the Youngstown area.
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Internal investigators from Dann's office found MTV Construction documents on Gutierrez's computer, including a one-page invoice for a $7,241.57 job for Bentley Lenhoff, Dann's father-in-law. Among the list of materials' costs in the invoice is one for $900 with the notation "Floor from Tony."
Gutierrez said that while MTV Construction did the Lenhoff job, it was his wife Lisa Gutierrez doing the work.
"I did no work at all (for MTV). My wife owns that company. She took it over in January 2007," he said. Gutierrez said that in early 2007, his wife occasionally sent him MTV Construction documents to check over on his own time.
When asked at the press conference about the allegations that Gutierrez had been operating MTV on state time, Dann said, "I hope not. I had specific conversations with him and I told him personally that that was unacceptable. And I didn't know whether he was doing it or not."
Dann, Lenhoff and Gutierrez live in the same neighborhood in Liberty Twp. in Trumbull County. Lenhoff declined to comment.
Dann said that after Gutierrez was hired, "I had a stern conversation with him both about drinking and about his business, his former business, I understand. At least that's my understanding. So to the extent that there's any evidence to that, I hope it's fully investigated."
Dann ousted Gutierrez, Communications Director Leo Jennings III and Chief of Staff Edgar Simpson — all friends of his from the Youngstown area — after the release of a stunning internal report substantiating claims of sexual harassment and an effort to conceal the problems.
In the invoice from MTV Construction, total materials costs are $3,286.57 and labor charges are $3,955. Of the $7241,57 total bill, $3,500 had been paid, the invoice shows.
