How Big Is The Ohio Coin Scandal?

by DemFromCT

From the Columbus Dispatch (subscription):

Noe wasn’t only broker financing GOP

Money trail points to ‘systemic’ problem, Democrats contend

Gov. Bob Taft, the Ohio Republican Party and other statewide GOP candidates received at least $200,000 in campaign contributions from about 50 brokers who invest taxpayers’ money for the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

That total doesn’t include more than $121,000 in state campaign contributions by embattled Maumee coin dealer Thomas W. Noe, whose newly disclosed investment losses led to the resignation of bureau Administrator James Conrad.

Senate Democrats, at a Statehouse news conference after Friday’s announcement that Conrad will resign June 30, called for new restrictions on campaign contributions from contractors doing business with state government.

"I believe Tom Noe is a little minnow in the pond," said Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Toledo Democrat. "We want to clean it up now."

of course, there are state SC judges involved, and some familiar and recognizable names:

[Democratic State Sen. Marc] Dann, [Democratic State Sen. Teresa] Fedor and Mayor Michael B. Coleman, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2006, called on any officials who received campaign contributions from Noe and his wife, Bernadette, to return that money to the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

President Bush and U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich are among them, Dann said. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Noe’s role in raising money for Bush at an event Oct. 30, 2003, in Columbus.

Because Attorney General Jim Petro, Auditor Betty D. Montgomery and Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell received money from Noe, they shouldn’t participate in investigating lost coin investments or campaign contributions, Dann added.

It's the Ohio way of doing business (which, btw, is a one-party state). Now explain to me how this helps Blackwell run for Governor? He's got more baggage than American Airlines. In any case, perhaps this will help the woeful Dem party in Ohio get their feet back on the ground. They might start with a decent candidate for Secretary of State. it might help us get a fair and balanced election held in Ohio.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

More from the excellent Toledo Blade. And it's still free.

Democrats called on Ohio GOP leaders yesterday to take responsibility for the rare-coin scandal and to rid Columbus of its "culture of corruption." ...

Mr. Taft and Mr. Petro declined interview requests and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell did not return telephone calls seeking comment last night.

[Coldblue Steele]

Ken Blackwell is a member of the Arlington Group, which includes James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Richard Land, and most of the significant activist Religious Right. I'm sure Ohioans will be told they will burn in hell if Blackwell isn't elected.

[cs]

Ohio is trying to get a referendum on the ballot that would remove elections from SOS jurisdiction to a state bi-partisan commission.