Former Ohio attorney general Marc Dann avoided prosecution for the time being but will have to pay thousands in fines after the Ohio Elections Commission ruled he illegally used campaign funds.
Dann was fined after it was ruled he used his campaign money to pay for a $40,000 security system for his home.
Dann’s attorneys said that the expense was justified because Dann suffered death threats as a result of his job.
Yvette McGee Brown of the board retorted that contributors don’t expect their money to go to home improvements.
While Dann’s campaign was fined $2,000, charges were not forwarded to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office.
Still Dann is not out of the woods. In fact, the most serious allegations will not be heard until May or June after the Commission threw out Dann’s argument that Inspector General Thomas Charles did not have the authority to investigate Dann’s campaign.
The commission will hear arguments that Dann paid Leo Jennings III out of the campaign funds and Jennings turned around and paid rent for a “party” condo in a form of money laundering.
