Free Republic

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."...

-- Gov. Bob Taft gave some ethics advice to a Cincinnati symposium six weeks ago: "Public servants must pay if they want to play." Taft told participants in the Xavier University event: "Public employees can enjoy entertainment, such as golf or dining out, with persons working for a regulated company, or one doing business with the state, ONLY if they fully pay their own way." Yet, on Wednesday, Taft found himself working to determine how many times he played -- golf, that is -- and didn't pay. Taft volunteered the reporting errors to the media, without details, in a statement...

Already under fire for his administration’s role in an investment scandal, Gov. Bob Taft admitted yesterday that he failed to disclose a number of golf outings as required by state law. One of Taft’s playing partners on at least one occasion was scandal-tarred Toledo coin dealer Thomas W. Noe, a wellplaced source said on condition of anonymity. The men played at Toledo’s storied Inverness Club, the source said. But it was unclear whether Taft was required to disclose to the Ohio Ethics Commission any golf he played with Noe. If the governor paid his own way, he would not be...

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett told Belmont County Republicans there are problems ahead for the state GOP in 2006 at a fund-raiser this week at Undo's West in St. Clairsville. His words came amid allegations of financial and ethical wrongdoing by some Republican officeholders in Ohio just as the 2006 race for governor begins - and as 2008 presidential campaigns start to take shape. "There are a few people in our party who have abused their trust," Bennett said, making reference to a scandal in which Republican office holders invested state money in rare coins. As...

Toledo, Ohio -- A disastrous investment by the state in rare coins has erupted into both a financial and political scandal, with Ohio's Republicans running for cover and the Democrats seeing great opportunity. At least $10 million is feared missing from a $55 million fund that the Ohio Workers' Compensation Bureau set up in a risky and highly unorthodox foray into the buying and selling of coins. The investment was managed by coin dealer Tom Noe, a prodigious fundraiser who has showered contributions on Republicans in Ohio and beyond. In the past few weeks, a slew of Republicans, including President...

COLUMBUS — Federal and state authorities are pursuing criminal and civil charges against Tom Noe for allegedly misappropriating $10 million to $12 million from the state’s rare-coin investment. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said yesterday that he has “reason to believe” Mr. Noe, a prominent Toledo-area Republican fund-raiser and rare-coin dealer, has misappropriated “more than $10 million” in state assets. “I have reason to believe it is more than just missing assets or lost assets or otherwise,” said Mr. O’Brien, a Republican. “I have reason to believe there is actual misappropriation of state funds involved ... I’m talking about conversion...

Since 1998, Ohio has invested millions of dollars in the unregulated world of rare coins, buying nickels, dimes, and pennies. Controlling the money for the state? Prominent local Republican and coin dealer Tom Noe, whose firm made more than $1 million off the deal last year alone. The agreement to invest the money in rare coins is rare itself: The Blade could find no other instance of a state government investing in a rare coin fund. Neither the state nor Mr. Noe could provide one. "I don't think I'd be excited to invest in rare coins," Vermont Treasurer Mike Ablowich...

Federal authorities confirmed yesterday that they are investigating prominent Republican donor Thomas W. Noe, who was President Bush’s re-election chairman in northwestern Ohio and has given tens of thousands to GOP candidates. U.S. Attorney Gregory A. White in Cleveland said the investigation of Noe, of Maumee, is related to campaign contributions. He declined to elaborate. "We are publicly acknowledging there is an investigation," White said. "It is ongoing." He said the investigation has been proceeding "for several months" but that there’s no date for completing it. Sources said a federal search warrant of Noe’s River Road home was executed last...

Columbus - A politically connected investment firm lost $215 million in Bureau of Workers' Compensation money, triggering an agency shake-up, a wide-ranging criminal investigation and calls by Democrats for Gov. Bob Taft's recall. Losses by the Pittsburgh-based MDL Capital Management dwarf the estimated $10 million to $13 million missing from BWC's rare-coin investments and raise new questions about the abilities of former bureau administrator Jim Conrad, who initially soft-pedaled information that surfaced about the losing investments. Agency officials believe the losses are among the largest by a single money manager in BWC history, but emphasize that the $14 billion portfolio...

Workers' comp bureau concealed $215M loss; Taft, Petro knew about fund's woes many months ago By MIKE WILKINSON and JAMES DREW BLADE STAFF WRITERS COLUMBUS — Democrats were screaming “cover-up” yesterday after state officials admitted that a high-risk hedge fund that the embattled Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation had invested in had lost $215 million in just a few months last year. The bureau acknowledged that the fund, managed by a Pittsburgh-based investment firm, lost the money between February and September, 2004. MDL Capital Management relinquished control of the fund in November. Although the bureau has known about the losses...

SACRAMENTO - President Bush is returning $4,000. The Republican National Committee is donating $2,000 to charity. Top Ohio politicians are giving up $60,000. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has "no intention" of giving back $10,000 he received from a prominent Ohio coin dealer under investigation for possibly defrauding his state of millions. Despite the unfolding controversy, Schwarzenegger's chief fundraiser said Friday the governor plans to keep $10,000 donated by Ohio businessman Tom Noe. "The allegations about Mr. Noe became public a year after we accepted his contribution," said Schwarzenegger fundraiser Marty Wilson. "As he was an active Ohio Republican Party fundraiser...