DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Faster than you can say Tom Noe, Attorney General Marc Dann has put twinkles in downcast Republican eyes, even as those same Republicans, for the most part, keep their mouths shut.

They don't have to say much.

Since taking office in January 2007, Democrat Dann, for Republicans, has been the gift that keeps on giving.

He's the state's top law enforcement officer but sometimes comes across as chief of the Keystone Cops.

In one instance, Dann fired his director of law enforcement operations after learning the man failed to resign his job with the Youngstown police before taking the state post.

In another, a man who served prison time for involuntary manslaughter was Dann's driver before a background check turned up the conviction and the man was fired.

Those were just warm-ups for the current controversy swirling around sexual harassment complaints from two women employees, both 26, against Anthony Gutierrez, a top Dann aide on paid leave.

The attorney general, 46, could be the fraternity potentate in a middle-aged version of "Animal House," but this is no spoof.

The worst alleged incident occurred at the apartment Dann was sharing with Gutierrez, 50, and Leo Jennings III, 52, another top Dann aide. According to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Columbus Dispatch, Dann called Gutierrez and urged him and a woman to come to the apartment for pizza. They did and the woman reported that after she took a nap she awoke to find Gutierrez next to her, in his underwear.

The complaint also said that when Gutierrez and the woman arrived at the apartment that Dann was there along with a 28-year-old female employee who was wearing "pj's." In a Friday Dispatch story, the woman filing the complaint said that she did not use the word "pj's" which ended up in her complaint, but that the woman was wearing "comfortable clothes," possibly sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

Dann has denied that the woman ever wore pajamas in his apartment. Ted Hart, a Dann spokesman, said that if the woman was there it was on "work-related matters."

When Dann was a state senator from the Youngstown area, no one spoke out louder against the so-called Republican "culture of corruption."

Noe, the Toledo area coin dealer and Republican fundraiser, was at the center of the scandals that helped Dann and other Democrats sweep to victory in 2006 after more than a decade of GOP dominance of state government.

It's too early to gauge the political fallout from Dann's misadventures. Republicans are silent because the longer things drag on, the more it's likely to help them.

James Ruvolo, a former state Democratic chairman, said that Dann and other Democrats must remember what got them elected.

"He got there because of Republican excesses. He has to make sure that when you run against what's viewed as bad behavior, you can't engage in (bad behavior) or even leave the perception that you're engaging it in," said Ruvolo.

Ruvolo had another tip: "It's not a good idea to socialize with support staff, especially of the opposite sex."

Dann is determined not to let the controversy distract him as he proceeds "with the important work of the state," Hart, his spokesman, said.

Dann appointed Ben Espy, executive assistant attorney general, to investigate the sexual harassment complaints. Keeping the investigation in-house might not be a good idea, said Ruvolo.

"I think the public doesn't believe political people can be trusted to investigate themselves," said Ruvolo.

But it keeps Republican eyes twinkling.

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