Posted on 07/27/2005 8:14:35 AM PDT by Columbus Dawg
Gov. Bob Taft’s former No. 1 aide could become the first to fall in a mushrooming ethics-and-investment scandal rocking state government.
Prosecutors are prepared to file ethics charges against Brian K. Hicks, Taft’s former chief of staff, if Hicks does not plead guilty by week’s end, according to Columbus City Prosecutor Steve McIntosh.
"We’re looking at filing charges and we’ve had some discussions with his attorneys, but there has been no agreement on a resolution yet," McIntosh told The Dispatch yesterday afternoon. "We’re running up against the statute of limitations. We will file something by the end of the week."
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien declined to confirm that charges will be filed if Hicks does not plead to what apparently would be misdemeanor ethics violations.
"Everybody concerned is aware that the statute of limitations expires on Friday, and in light of that fact the investigators and lawyers are attempting to resolve the issues before Friday," O’Brien said.
Unless charges are filed against Hicks by then, prosecutors worry they might lose the opportunity under Ohio’s two-year statute of limitations. Hicks resigned as Taft’s chief of staff on July 31, 2003.
If Hicks pleads or is charged, he will become the highest-ranking official from Taft’s administration to become ensnared in an ethics scandal that also could result in charges against Taft.
Hicks and his attorney, Terry Sherman, declined to comment.
Possible action against Hicks follows information that Thomas W. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, gave Friday to members of a task force investigating corruption at the Statehouse.
Noe, a Maumee rare-coin dealer, has been accused by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro of stealing nearly $4 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, which gave him $50 million to invest in coins.
Prosecutors reportedly are looking at two areas for potential charges against Hicks. One involves two occasions when Hicks and members of his family stayed at the Noes’ $1.8 million home in Islamorada, Fla. Hicks has said he paid $300 to $500 in 2001 for five nights of use of the property, and also spent time there a year later.
Hicks said he didn’t report the rental as a gift because he said he paid fair market value for it. Comparable homes in the area reportedly rent for between $2,000 and $3,500 a week.
Prosecutors also are looking at one or more golf outings involving Hicks, sources said.
Taft is under investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission for his admitted failure to disclose on his annual ethics statements what sources say are up to 60 golf outings and other events over a period of years.
Taft admitted the "errors and omissions" on May 23 and recently, through his attorney, William Meeks, submitted a list of the events to the ethics panel. Noe’s attorney has acknowledged that his client played golf with Taft at least twice, but he declined to say who paid.
As a state vendor, Noe could not legally give Taft or any public official gifts worth more than $75 a year.
The Noes were interviewed separately in Columbus for about three hours Friday by members of a task force investigating whether Taft and former staffers failed to properly report gifts from Noe.
Get Taft!
He sucks and is an embarassment to the State of Ohio and good people of Hamilton County (from whence he slimed his way to Columbus).
Of course, Schmidt, like most Republicans, is letting his lies go unchallenged and is not calling him on other misrepresentations (he has President Bush in his commercials, but he opposes the Iraq war and calls Bush "the greatest threat to our security"). We can't expose Democrats for the lying frauds that they are.
That would be mean-spirited, you know.
Could it be just a coincidence or revenge that folks driving on I-71 from Cincinnati are greeted to a real bad smell around S.R. 104 once they hit the Columbus city limit?
Of course Voinovich was a photo-finish second. Now he's a senator where he can support bills that would increase all forms of federal taxation.
It is a certainty that Blackwell will be an excellent choice to replace the outgoing Taft who will be remembered for about as long as it takes to swear in Mr. Blackwell.
Of course Voinovich was a photo-finish second. Now he's a senator where he can support bills that would increase all forms of federal taxation.
It is a certainty that Blackwell will be an excellent choice to replace the outgoing Taft who will be remembered for about as long as it takes to swear in Mr. Blackwell.
Excuse the hiccup.
Unfortunately, she did vote for all the tax increases while in the State House. She was closely associated with certain people (Larry Householder and others) who appear to be in deep trouble for past activities. I don't blame Hackett one bit for doing that.
Nonetheless, Schmidt has plenty of stuff to go against Hackett (the Bush comment).
The only comment I'll make on that point is that it is likely the blame of Square Bob Sponge Tax.
I find the "Bob Taft and Jean Schmidt" line nauseating in Hackett's ads. Somehow, I don't think conservatives outside of Cincinnati spent the last six years saying "D*mn that liberal Taft and that state rep from Clermont County, too ... uh, Jean Schmidt. Yeah, that's it."
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