Veteran Mediator to Referee Harassment Cases

Posted on: Friday, 25 July 2008, 12:00 CDT By Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Jul. 25--Niki Schwartz, the Cleveland lawyer who helped negotiate a peaceful end to the 1993 Lucasville prison riot, will mediate a settlement of two sexual-harassment cases in the attorney general's office. Sessions will begin Aug. 18 to resolve complaints by Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout. The women's complaints filed against Anthony Gutierrez, then head of general services for former Attorney General Marc Dann, were the first trickle in what became a tidal wave of charges about sexual harassment, cronyism and misuse of public funds that led to Dann's resignation on May 14. Gutierrez and Leo Jennings III, Dann's communication director, were fired. A third administrator, Edgar C. Simpson, chief of staff, was allowed to resign. A... [read full story]