Ohio University graduate student and journalism instructor Ed Simpson pleaded guilty Thursday to ethics violations from his time spent as chief of staff to Ohio's top lawman.
Appearing in a Columbus courtroom, Simpson agreed to cooperate in the investigation into his former boss, former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, and Dann's wife, Alyssa Lenhoff.
Simpson was fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to not reporting more than $1,100 of Dann's income on mandatory state financial-disclosure forms.
Simpson left the attorney general's office in May 2008, just two weeks before state Democrats pressured Dann into resigning and federal investigators stormed his office.
After leaving Columbus, Simpson came to OU, where he is now teaching introductory-level journalism courses, such as news editing.
Several of the investigations surrounding Dann's office address ethical violations related to the press, and Simpson's testimony may help prove whether Lenhoff, a journalism professor at Youngstown State University, used her marriage to Dann to secure a grant for the school's journalism and criminal science programs.
Tom Hodson, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, said in an e-mail that Simpson has been a good instructor and that pending investigations have not interfered with his teaching.
He has been an excellent graduate student and has received very good teaching evaluations
Hodson wrote. To my knowledge he has kept his role in the Dann investigation separate from his graduate studies and from his teaching. However he has kept our graduate directors informed about the latest incident that just came to court last week.
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Emily Grannis
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