Dann seeks decorum for office

By STEPHEN ORAVECZ and RON SELAK JR. Tribune Chronicle
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is taking steps to address the image of an overly informal, sometimes profanity-laced workplace.

Spokesman Jim Gravelle said Monday that top officials in the office are discussing a new policy that will cover e-mail messages and possibly the general decorum of the office. The new policy is strictly in the talking stages, but it is ‘‘on the horizon.’’

Key people in the office, which include Dann, chief of staff Edgar Simpson and others, including the human resources section, are involved.

Gravelle said officials considering the new policy will wait to take action until after the completion of an investigation into sexual harassment charges against Anthony Gutierrez, general service director. Ben Espy, one of Dann’s top legal aides, is expected to complete his report and make recommendations this week.

Complaints against Gutierrez prompted last week’s release of e-mails between Dann, 46, and his scheduler Jessica Utovich, 28. Utovich visited the apartment Dann shared with Gutierrez and communications director Leo Jennings III several times.

In her complaint against Gutierrez, Cindy Stankoski, 26, said Dann invited her there for Hawaiian pizza after she had been drinking with Gutierrez, and Utovich was there dressed in pajamas. Stankoski said she felt drunk and fell asleep only to wake up with her pants undone and Gutierrez in bed beside her.

Dann has denied Utovich was ever at the apartment in pajamas.

While the e-mails don’t appear to reveal any information regarding sexual harassment complaints against Gutierrez, they do demonstrate a very informal, casual working relationship in the Columbus office.

On Oct. 9, Utovich wrote she would never have Dann as a keynote speaker if she ever had an event. And at one point in October, she referred to her boss as a ‘‘dork.’’

Later that month, Utovich wrote to Dann, ‘‘I hate you,’’ and then a couple minutes later ended another message with ‘‘FU.’’ Another time she wrote, ‘‘I don’t want to talk to you again.’’

In a conversation between Utovich and Jennifer Urban, an assistant attorney general, the two talked about Utovich hearing gunshots outside her home the night before. She wrote she’s from a ‘‘preppy suburb’’ and couldn’t deal with the situation.

Urban, who replied she too grew up in a preppy suburb, wrote ‘‘We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.’’

Utovich replied, ‘‘We in the hood.’’

Later, Urban wrote she was in hell and continued on with the Wizard of Oz theme, saying the reason why is because of the ‘‘liars and idiots and babies, oh my. I have a lot of balls in the air.’’

The Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday that a staff attorney hired by former Attorney General Betty Montgomery quit mostly because of the atmosphere in the office.

Last year, Jennings was reprimanded for a profanity-laced e-mail to Steve Lamantia, the former Howland police chief who was then acting director of BCI.

The message read, ‘‘Steve the fact you thought you could go around me to Jennifer Brindisi shows what an absolute f——— incompetent insubordinate moron you really are. You’ve completely botched this, I know it you know it and everyone else is going to know it you coward. If you have something to say to me call me and say it to me you p——. Leo.’’



soravecz@tribune-chronicle.com

rselak@tribune-chronicle.com