Driehaus: There's no Dann $ to return

The Ohio Republican Party today called on state Rep. Steve Driehaus to return money raised at a fundraiser at the Aronoff Center last year with tainted Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann.

Driehaus, the Democrat running against Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot in the 1st Congressional District, has called for Dann to resign.

"If Driehaus truly believes Dann should go, he would reject Dann's financial support and return the tainted funds," ORP spokesman John McClelland said in a news release. "Condemning Marc Dann while lining your campaign coffers with money he raised is just pure hypocrisy."

The only problem?

Dann never made it to the Dec. 3 fundraiser, Driehaus told The Enquirer.

"Marc didn't have the fundraiser for me. I had a fundraiser for Cincinnati attorneys in which Marc was the invited guest - and he couldn't make it," Driehaus said. "Sometimes those Republicans don't get their press releases exactly right."

So ... That would be a "no" on the returning of the money?

"I find it ironic that the Ohio Republican Party is chastising me for bringing in the Ohio attorney general, whose actions I was unaware of at the time, when the congressman (Chabot) has held a fundraiser with (former House Speaker) Newt Gingrich," Driehaus said.

Gingrich left the U.S. House in 1999 after facing ethics scandals.

"It's just silly," Driehaus said.