The details have been unsettling. Three men in positions of authority, including Ohio's chief law enforcer, sharing a town house apartment marked by heavy drinking, pizza and young women _ including one who claims she was the victim of an unwelcome sexual advance while there.

A story from the AP says, though Attorney General Marc Dann has not been accused of any wrongdoing in a pair of subsequent sexual harassment claims, the case has raised myriad issues for a man who promised voters he would return ethics to state government.

During his 2007 inauguration, Dann pledged "my staff and I will adopt and adhere to the highest possible ethical standards."

Then came text messages like this: "Girl...im in a weird situation...iem w marc dan....drunnnnk."

The text message, others like it, and a string of allegations of sexual advances, threats and graphic talk by Anthony Gutierrez, Dann's general services chief, to two office employees have been one aspect of the case that catch Dann in a political bind.

Another is that e-mails written by at least one of the women suggest that someone in the office of Dann, an advocate for open government, sought to keep the complaints hush-hush.