There is a big growing story here about how out of control the Ohio GOP has become. The actions taken by Tom Noe, who is the ultimate GOP fundraiser in Ohio, and others associated with this case show a complete and utter disdain for the law or good public policy. And, think about it, if they are this brazen, what else is out there?
The Blade has a good synopsis of what Coin-gate is:
Tom Noe, a friend and financier to Republican office seekers and office holders from Toledo to Columbus to Washington, is at the center of the biggest scandal to hit state government in years.This scandal just keeps giving. And, without doubt, there is much more out there. Read the rest of this post...
The Maumee coin dealer and the rare-coin fund he convinced the workers' compensation bureaucrats to invest $50 million in is being investigated by several state agencies.
The state's rare-coin investment was first uncovered by The Blade early last month. The initial story was followed by additional reporting about missing and stolen coins - one was a $3 gold piece the state paid $150,000 for - and Noe campaign contributions to almost every top Republican officeholder in Ohio, including Gov. Bob Taft.
Ohio Democrats quickly dubbed the story-turned-scandal "Coingate" and called for investigations and legislative reforms.
Mr. Noe's problems only worsened when the U.S. Justice Department announced it was investigating him for alleged campaign finance violations. Law enforcement sources said contributions he allegedly made to the Bush re-election campaign through other contributors - a violation of federal law if proven - are at the heart of the federal probe.
FBI investigators interviewed several local GOP politicians about the contributions they had made to the President's campaign.
On May 9, as investigations and revelations in The Blade about additional missing coins mounted, bureau officials announced they had decided to sell off their rare-coin investment and would try to recoup their now $55 million investment from Mr. Noe's coin fund. Instead of paying the state $5 million in profits he claimed he had made on coin sales over the past year, he was allowed to reinvest them in the fund, it was disclosed last week.
State officials said they would hire coin experts and appoint independent auditors to recover the state's investments, as well as attempt to recover the lost and possibly stolen coins. But they did not mention the biggest loss to date in the Noe coin scandal - the $850,000 in state money Mr. Noe wrote off from his dealings with Chrans.
