DaytonDailyNews.com

In 2006, when he ran for Ohio attorney general, Marc Dann pointed to New York's Eliot Spitzer as a role model, what with Mr. Spitzer having created a reputation for aggressively prosecuting evil-doers involved in street as well as white-collar crime.

That was before the Mayflower and Mr. Spitzer's resignation as New York's governor, after he was accused of hiring high-priced prostitutes.

The comparison comes to mind now because Mr. Dann's office is caught up in charges by two employees alleging sexual harassment. Though the women aren't accusing Mr. Dann of harassing them, one woman alleges he was present where inappropriate behavior occurred.

Mr. Dann has belatedly suspended the accused mid-level manager, who also happens to be his friend and neighbor.

Two 26-year-old women who work in the attorney general's office claim that Anthony Gutierrez, 50, Mr. Dann's director of general services, made unwelcome sexual advances and pressured them for sex.

They say that the incidents happened at work and in a Dublin apartment that Mr. Dann, for a time, shared with Mr. Gutierrez and Leo Jennings III, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.

According to one complaint obtained by The Columbus Dispatch, one of the women recounted going out for drinks after work with Mr. Gutierrez on Sept. 10, and that Mr. Dann called Mr. Gutierrez and invited the couple to the apartment. There, the woman said, she felt drunk and asked to take a nap. She awoke hours later to find Mr. Gutierrez next to her in bed, in his underwear.

The women also allege that less than two days after making the allegations, they were approached by Mr. Dann's equal-employment officer, who wanted to settle the complaint informally. Now the officer, Angela Smedlund, has stepped aside, and Mr. Dann has appointed two lawyers on his staff to investigate.

One of them, Ben Espy, a regarded former state senator who ran for justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, has to know this is ridiculous.

Two people who depend on Mr. Dann for their paychecks are going to look into racy and serious charges about Mr. Dann's friend, charges that would require interviewing Mr. Dann about what happened at his apartment?

That effort can't possibly be credible to the public or, especially, to the accusers.

Mr. Jennings defends the in-house investigation, saying the office is just following procedures; if the accusers are unhappy with the report, they can appeal and ask for an outside investigation, he says.

Two responses:

• The office procedures weren't written with the expectation that the attorney general himself would be giving statements, and, if calling in an outsider is a reasonable possibility anyway, why not just do it now?

• Mr. Dann is also putting taxpayers at risk. If the women were harassed, and if they sue, the worse their cases are handled, the more offended a jury or judge could be. Mr. Dann wouldn't pay judgments against his office — taxpayers would.

Mr. Dann has a tin ear and a lazy eye when assessing his behavior and others'. Since taking office, he has had to fire a deputy security director who had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in another state. He let another aide go after it was found that the man was drawing a salary from the Youngstown Police Department, while on Mr. Dann's payroll.

He has jetted off on government airplanes at a time when state officials are supposed to be pinching pennies, and he once yelled profanities at a reporter, which was caught on a television camera.

In short, Mr. Dann has been attorney general for fewer than 18 months, and he's brought more embarrassment upon himself than even his enemies could have manufactured.

His past judgment has not been inspiring. The future is not looking good, either.

The least he can do is respond to serious charges by calling in an independent investigator.

— Cox News Service

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