DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Tom Winters, the first assistant attorney general who'll run the office until Gov. Ted Strickland appoints Marc Dann's replacement, is a Columbus insider.

"He pretty much knows all the players in state government," said political scientist John Green. "That will help him."

Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron, called Winters "very competent" and predicted he would do a "very good job."

Winters, 58, served for more than 10 years as a top assistant to Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe during the 1970s and 80s.

Before Dann appointed Winters as first assistant attorney general in 2007, he was a partner in Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, a major law firm in Columbus.

Winters also was a lobbyist and once represented coin dealer Tom Noe, although Winters never was implicated in any of the wrongdoing involving Noe and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

As Dann's first assistant, Winters supervised the in-house investigation of sexual harassment charges in the attorney general's office. The report from the investigation, released May 2, began the crescendo of events that prompted calls from Gov. Ted Strickland and others that Dann resign.

Winters also admitted on May 2 that he was the person who halted Dann's plans to take his scheduler Jessica Utovich to Turkey for an international exchange trip. Winters dodged a question at a press conference about what he did about Dann's relationship with Utovich then or about rumors of sexual harassment and affairs in the attorney general's office as far back as the fall of 2007. He declined later inquiries, citing possible lawsuits.

Winters earns $149,011 annually as first assistant, more than Dann's attorney general salary of $109,990, which was set by state law.

Winters has a B.A. in history from Ohio Dominican University and a law degree from Capital University.

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