"Knowledge about government is power" --GovTrack
Millions Missing in Ohio "Coingate" scandal (I'm shocked!)
The scandal surrounding a $50 million rare-coin investment fund for the Ohio Bureaur of Workers Compensation managed by Republican campaign contributor/operator Tom Noe just keeps on growing. Noe, who has contributed to the war chests of every major Republican elected official in the state, served as the Toledo region's president of the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004.
Yesterday the Toledo Blade reported that the fund contained rare paper, paintings and other collectibles instead of only coins. What, baseball cards? The CEO of the workers comp bureau was said to be "outraged" at the news. Meanwhile, after Noe continually refused to show state investigators any of the coins said to be part of the fund, a judge ordered that the state be allowed to view the funds assets immediately.
Now comes the news that between $10 and $12 million of the fund's assets are unaccounted for!
The announcement was made by the state attorney general's office. AG Jim Petro is running for governor on the Republican ticket next year. So is State Auditor Betty Montgomery and Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell of 2004 election fraud fame.
Backpedaling as fast as he can, current Governor Bob Taft said in a statement released by his office that "Today’s news makes it clear that Tom Noe has irresponsibly mismanaged the monies of the state of Ohio . . . Such criminal action is outrageous and will not be tolerated."
Early on, when the story about Noe and the coin fund was just beginning to break, Taft defended the investments in an interview with the Blade:
BLADE: Ohio is the only state we've found that's invested in rare coins. Do you find that at least unusual?
TAFT: Because it's innovative it's a problem?
BLADE: What may be more unusual is that they lost some of the investment. Two of the coins were lost in the mail.
TAFT: What's the overall rate of return? Are you sure that none of the other companies that invested never lost a piece of paper? Certainly they had losses; they all have losses.
And when the Blade wondered if cronyism was involved in the appointment of Tom Noe to manage the fund, the governor grew a tad-bit defensive:
BLADE: Do you think Tom Noe was given the contract because of his political contributions to Republicans?
TAFT: The way you write the article it's like damning by association. If you're going to eliminate from being able to compete on state projects anybody up here in Toledo that happens to give a lot of contributions . . . What evidence do you have that there was any preferential treatment for Tom Noe?
BLADE: You appointed him to the [Ohio] Board of Regents that oversees higher education and he doesn't have a college degree. Why did you do that?
TAFT: What's that got to do with the price of eggs in Siberia?
What a guy . . .
(Tweaked 5/27/05, 12:10 pm: Oops. Left a few words of a deleted line there at the end of the text. They're gone now)
What movie had the scene where the jury finds the defendant "Incredibly guilty"? Seems like Gene Wilder's in it...!
"That's an indictment for you, an indictment for you, and one for you, too!"
Posted by: Jeff | Friday, May 27, 2005 at 07:06 AM