Jennifer Brunner

Strickland signed dozens of bills yesterday and vetoed three passed by the Republican-controlled lame-duck legislature late last year.

Among the bills he approved was one designed to keep state employees from snooping in confidential databases and increase the consequences for those who do so improperly. It grew out of the search of records of Toledo-area resident Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher, or "Joe the Plumber," who had questioned Barack Obama at a presidential campaign stop. The background check resulted in the state job and family services director losing her job.

The others Strickland vetoed would have awarded bonuses to recent military veterans and given income-tax credits to the movie industry.

It marked the first time Strickland used his veto power on bills passed by the Republican-controlled 127th General Assembly, which served from January 2007 through December 2008.

COLUMBUS -- Gov. Ted Strickland made good on his vow as he vetoed a trio of bills passed by Republican state lawmakers in the closing days of the 2008 session.

The Democrat struck down measures that would have brought changes to Ohio's election process, given a cash bonus to veterans of the Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq from the state's rainy day fund, and granted a tax credit to companies filming movies in Ohio.

Most sweeping was the election legislation that Republican lawmakers touted as needed election reforms but that many Democrats opposed as rushed. One key change sought by Republicans: Eliminating a weeklong window where residents can register and vote on the spot at county boards of election.

Barack Obama wanted to compete in all 88 counties, and newly released official results from the Nov. 4 election show that he exceeded Kerry's vote total in all but 20 counties -- and by about 192,000 votes statewide.

Republican John McCain, on the other hand, managed to exceed President Bush's vote totals from 2004 in only five counties, and he fell 185,000 votes short of what Bush garnered statewide four years ago.

Bush beat Kerry by 118,601 votes, or 51 percent to 49 percent. Obama defeated McCain by 258,897 votes, or 51 percent to 47 percent (six third-party or independent candidates and six write-ins combined for about 2 percent of the vote this year.

As attorney general, Dann had his children chauffeured by state agents in state cars, took them on rides in the state plane, arranged family vacations around legal conferences and let his wife make key personnel decisions, including ones that led to Dann's undoing, according to investigative documents released this week.

Dann resigned May 14 in a hastily arranged news conference, accompanied only by adopted daughter Mavilya Chubarova.

But an exhaustive investigation of his 17 months in office, headed by Inspector General Thomas P. Charles and made public Monday, showed that Dann's entire family was immersed in the attorney general's office to an unusual degree.

COLUMBUS — Ohioans are still paying for the 2004 presidential election.

The secretary of state's office says more than $1 million has been spent already to settle seven lingering lawsuits. More than a dozen cases remain in state and federal courts.

Lawsuits have challenged then-Secretary Ken Blackwell's election directives, such as restricting news media exit polling, and the narrow results that clinched President Bush's re-election over Democrat John Kerry.

Blackwell is seeking to become the next Republican National Committee chairman. He says Jennifer Brunner, his Democratic successor, decided to settle cases that the state could have won in court.

The long-awaited report by Inspector General Tom Charles blasted Dann, who resigned in a sexual harassment scandal in May, for misspending donations from supporters for personal items, including payments to his wife and friends, home improvements, family vacations and cell phones for his children. It concluded that he mismanaged his office, hired unqualified friends for top positions, spent state money unwisely and fostered a hostile work environment.

After the report was released, a defiant Dann emerged from seven months of silence to slam the report as "innuendo" and "hyperbole" and to accuse Charles of carrying out a vendetta against him.

Charles announced his findings at a press conference, characterizing Dann's 17-month tenure by saying, "This office was built for disaster.

"This office was built for disaster," Charles said in a news conference discussing the seven-month investigation.

"Marc Dann used his position as attorney general to indulge himself, his family and his friends," Charles said in the 63-page report.

"He supplemented his statutory wage from the state of Ohio and used money to pay personal expenses that had no relation to his office or his campaign ... he used money donated by campaign contributors as a personal honey pot."

Charles and a team of investigators from several agencies uncovered 25 acts of wrongdoing by Dann, his underlings and his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff Dann. The most serious concerned Anthony Gutierrez, Dann's head of general services and long-time friend.

"This office was built for disaster," Charles said in a news conference discussing the seven-month investigation.

"Marc Dann used his position as attorney general to indulge himself, his family and his friends," Charles said in the 63-page report.

"He supplemented his statutory wage from the state of Ohio and used money to pay personal expenses that had no relation to his office or his campaign ... he used money donated by campaign contributors as a personal honey pot."

Charles and a team of investigators from several agencies uncovered 25 acts of wrongdoing by Dann, his underlings and his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff Dann. The most serious concerned Anthony Gutierrez, Dann's head of general services and long-time friend.

Previous stories

• Jennifer Brunner accuses Marc Dann of misspending campaign funds

• Richard Cordray plans shake-up in Ohio attorney general's office

• Dann resigns.

COLUMBUS -- Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann formed an unregulated transition account after he was elected in 2006 that took in $195,000 in undisclosed donations and used much of the money for questionable purposes, the Ohio inspector general reported today.

Among the recipients of the money was a dinnerware sales firm controlled by Dann's wife, Alyssa Lenhoff, the report said, and Dann's friends who once served as his top aides, Anthony Gutierrez and Leo Jennings III. Just $8,838 remains in the account.

Former Attorney General Marc Dann "violated the public trust," misused his state office and his campaign and transition funds, and turned his office into a "house of scandal," Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles concluded in a scathing investigative report today.

Charles found 25 acts of wrongdoing by Dann, his several underlings and his wife, Alyssa Lenhoff Dann.

"Marc Dann used his position as attorney general to indulge himself, his family and his friends...," Charles said. "He supplemented his statutory wage from the state of Ohio and used money to pay personal expenses that had no relation to his office or his campaign."

In a separate special state audit, Auditor Mary Taylor identified 175 expenditures totaling $3.