Marc Dann Refuses to Release Emails, Dann’s Scheduler Was Never Reimbursed for Driving to Dann’s Dublin Condo
Published April 13th, 2008 @ 9:13 am. Tags: marc dannMarc Dann made a name for himself during the 2006 election cycle, and demanded all sorts of records be released about Tom Noe and Coingate, including all communications between Noe and the AG’s office. He esentially set the stage for a political environment that was so toxic that even Betty Montgomery could be defeated in an upset.
Here is a quote from Ohio AG Marc Dann immediately after he took office in 2006:
“Good government is open government, and we cannot be responsive to citizen requests for information if the information is routinely destroyed, including electronic communication such as e-mails.”
But 2008 is a different story. The Dispatch’s James Nash reports that AG Dann is refusing to release emails between he and his scheduler.:
Attorney General Marc Dann, who campaigned on a pledge to uphold transparency in government, is refusing to turn over e-mail messages between him and his scheduler.
Dann’s office on Friday denied a request from The Dispatch under Ohio’s public records law to review three months’ worth of e-mail messages between him and his then-scheduler, Jessica Utovich.
Why is Dann insisting on making this matter worse by blocking access to public records? And how can Ohio’s top law enforcement officer have any credibility while enforcing Ohio laws or filing lawsuits, if Dann is willing to break Ohio’s sunshine laws in hopes of hiding probably steamy emails between himself and Utovich?
Emails in state government jobs are always available for viewing for anyone who files a public records request. And it is this reason that anything that might be seen as too political is almost always handled over the telephone. In addition, nothing is keeping Dann, Utovich or any government employee from using secret Hotmail/Gmail/Yahoo email accounts for office communications, even though they aren’t supposed to.
It is clear that Dann is trying to hide something, which is why it should make everyone uncomfortable that this investigation is being handled “in house.” During these early days of the investigation, emails and phone records can be altered and evidence can be destroyed. And the longer Dann can avoid hiring outside investigators, the more likely it will be that the public will never truly get to the truth about Condogate.
Ohio AG Marc Dann has clearly violated the limits implicit in the public trust invested in him. Dann, through his hypocritical actions and a blatant disregard for the same laws which he is responsible of enforcing, has disgraced himself, his family, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, and the entire state of Ohio. Even though I’m sure Republicans would love for Dann to remain in office, it is time for Dann to resign.
Hey Matt -
Unbelievable! This train wreck of an AG is a joke. Maybe a movie can be made - Dann & his Dirty Old Men!
No it should be more subtle than that. Maybe Dann and Jessica are speaking in French with English subtitles. The movie name should be something like, “Amour et Pyjamas à Paris.”
It would include graphic scenes involving the excessive consumption of Hawaiian Pizza.
Yeah, for someone who ran on the open govt platform, this is pretty striking.
Check out this petition created during the 06 campaign. Notice who signed second and fourth? Ha ha. Check out number 12. Good call to remove her from the investigation.
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:YCk5_ReJlqEJ:www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoptaft/signatures-1.html “jessica utovich”&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=63&gl=us
Whoops, it’s number 15, not 12. Sorry.
The Emails have been released, finally - 2,300 of them. Did anyone really think that anything about an incident that may end up to be a criminal act would be in an email, knowing full well it may some day be a public record and be incriminating? Miss Little Mary Sunshine is Utovich…I’ve worked in the corporate world for over 30 years and have worked for many men in high places (VP’s, etc.), but I’ve never been called Miss Little Mary Sunshine…but then again, I never went to their homes to deliver their schedules, especially not at 10:00 p.m. or later. And back then we didn’t even have emails or blackberries or cell phones. PLEASE!!!!
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That incident was not mentioned in the e-mails, although early the next afternoon, Utovich wrote to Dann with the following message line: “Don’t leave without - call me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Gutierrez and the third resident of the condo, communications director Leo Jennings III, have been suspended with pay at least until the internal investigation is finished. Dann moved out of the condo late last year.
Although most of the e-mails — even several sent at night and on weekends — dealt with office matters, a few seemed to venture beyond routine communiques involving a statewide elected official who is Ohio’s top law-enforcement officer.
“You are so fricking mean,” Utovich told Dann in September.
He replied: “And you are little mary sunshine.”
Her rejoinder: “I at least care.”
Another time, she called him a “dork.” In October, she told him, “I hate you,” adding moments later “FU.”
Some of the e-mails are enigmatic, such as a Sept. 5 exchange that records only Utovich’s comments:
“It’s (because) she has better hair, isn’t it?” Three minutes later, she says, “You can’t have two. I feel ditched all over again. It’s the hair.”
Earlier in the day, Dann had told her, “I like your hair.”
She replied, “It’s too red.”
Many e-mails from Utovich to Dann ask him to call her, including on her cell phone.
“Can you go to the bathroom or something and call me?” Utovich wrote to Dann on Sept. 4 with the subject line, “favor.”