Former Attorney General Marc Dann broke the law when he used campaign funds to pay for cell phones for family members and to install an elaborate security system at his home, the Ohio Elections Commission ruled this afternoon.

The panel fined Dann, who resigned in disgrace last May, $1,000 for each violation but did not refer either matter to prosecutors.

Dann's campaign account also was slapped with a $2,000 fine.

The allegations stem from Dann's 17 months in office, when he tapped his campaign account to pay for cellular service for his wife and children, and for a $40,000 security system at the family's Youngstown-area home.

The expenditures drew scrutiny last year after Dann was forced out of office during a scandal that began with allegations of sexual harassment involving a top aide.

Dann's attorney, Donald J. McTigue, told the Elections Commission that the expenditures were related to his service as attorney general and therefore were legitimate campaign expenses.

The security system was a response to death threats, McTigue said.

"If he's killed, how's he going to carry out the duties of office?" the attorney asked.

One of the commission members to support the fine against Dann, Yvette McGee Brown, said campaign contributors don't donate expecting their money to be used for a permanent improvement to a candidate's home.

Dann had no immediate comment on the decision.

This round of charges, brought by the secretary of state's office, was much less extensive than allegations from the Ohio inspector general that Dann misspent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign and transition fund money.

McTigue's attempt to throw out more serious charges against Dann brought by Inspector General Thomas P. Charles failed late this afternoon.

McTigue said Charles had been given temporary authority to investigate the attorney general's office under Dann, but not Dann's campaign or transition accounts. In addition, McTigue said, Charles never had authority to refer the allegations to the Elections Commission.

Had the commission accepted McTigue's argument, the case against Dann would have ended with a pair of fines assessed against Dann earlier in the day.

But that's not how it turned out.

The commission unanimously rejected McTigue's contentions and set the rest of the case against Dann for a full hearing, probably in May or June.

Among other things, the inspector general alleges that Dann paid his spokesman and political consigliere, Leo Jennings III, out of his campaign account and Jennings turned around and used some of the money to pay rent and utilities at a Dublin-area condo that he and Dann shared with Dann's general-services director, Anthony Gutierrez.

In an interview after the Elections Commission hearing, Dann said he had hoped that the commission would resolve all of the allegations against him.

"We're very confident that our position is going to be vindicated," he said.