MORE ON THE GOP OHIO COIN SCAM-- AND BUSH
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I love this story-- ignored by the mass media-- because it ties together one-party (in this case, the Republican Party) corruption, the GOP's successful attempt to thwart Democracy in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election, and the GOP's plans to get their hands-- and the hands of their corporate unindicted co-conspirators-- on the Social Security fund (honey-pot). I wrote something about the Great Ohio Coin Heist here on May 28 (GOP COIN THIEVES IN OHIO... AND SOCIAL SECURITY) and about the stealing of the election in Ohio and Florida on May 23 (VOTING IN THE U.S.A.). Yesterday I suggested everyone rush out and buy WHAT WENT WRONG IN OHIO: THE CONYERS REPORT ON THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, which goes into so many ways that the Ohio Republican Party rigged the election. Today The Cleveland Plain Dealer has another story linking GOP County Chairman/kingmaker/Bush Pioneer Tom Noe to the theft of the presidential election. (You can read the whole story at http://www.cleveland.com/budgetscandal/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1117791231263120.xml&coll=2.
The new revelation centers on the federal grand jury and Douglas Talbott, the former top aide to both the current corrupt Republican governor, Bob Taft and former Governor/now U.S. Senator George Voinovich. Talbott has admitted that the powerful Republican kingpin Noe, who had already ensnared him in a web of financial corruption, persuaded him to donate $2,000 to the Bush/Cheney campaign for which he was illegally reimbursed (probably with the money stolen from the Ohio Workers Compensation Fund which Taft allowed Noe to get his hands on through his bogus coin fund).
Even Taft, who should be marched directly from the State House to the Big House, is now admitting that Ohio investment funds "might" have landed in Republican campaign coffers. This story gets more outrageous by the day and the mass media continues to studiously, aggressively ignore it.
Labels: Bob Ney, Culture of Corruption
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 10:49 AM
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BUSH WON'T GIVE UP THE STOLEN MONEY; OH REPUGS PANIC BIG TIME
The Associated Press, June 3, 2005
http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1117779450170820.xml&storylist=cleveland
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will return $4,000 in campaign contributions by a Toledo area coin dealer who is under state and federal investigation, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee said.
Aaron McLear said the RNC also will return $2,000 donated by Tom Noe, who is under investigation for his handling of $55 million the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation gave him to invest in rare coins. Noe's lawyer has reported that $10 million to $12 million is missing.
The money will be refunded to charity, McLear said Thursday.
But McLear said Bush has no immediate plans to return more than $100,000 raised by Noe for the Bush-Cheney campaign last year.
"At this point, all the other donations appear to be completely appropriate, but ... we'll take further action if the situation necessitates it," McLear said.
Meanwhile, a former governor's aide has told federal authorities that he gave $2,000 to Bush's re-election campaign at the urging of Noe and was later reimbursed by the embattled coin dealer, a newspaper reported Friday.
H. Douglas Talbott appeared this week before a federal grand jury in Toledo that is looking into whether Noe, who headed the Bush-Cheney campaign in northwest Ohio, skirted campaign finance laws by giving others money to donate, The Plain Dealer reported.
The grand jury is examining whether Noe illegally reimbursed up to two dozen contributors to a Bush fund-raiser in October 2003. Campaign finance laws limit how much an individual can donate.
Government officials are barred by law from discussing grand jury proceedings.
Talbott was an aide to former Gov. George Voinovich and current Gov. Bob Taft. Talbott, who is currently on the state's cosmetology board, did not return a phone message left Thursday at his office in Columbus.
With regard to investigations into Noe's handling of the coin investments, The Columbus Dispatch reported Friday that investigators are looking into whether Noe bought coins with his own money, had them valued at a higher price, then sold them to the state. If that happened, the state might own coins that are worth much less than it paid for them, the newspaper said.
Also, the Ohio Ethics Commission is trying to determine if there were improper gift exchanges among officials involved in the coin investment deal. Inspector General Tom Charles has asked the governor's office for the records of four former and current aides, including Talbott.
The (Toledo) Blade reported Thursday that Talbott received a $39,000 loan from Noe to help him buy a Lake Erie vacation home. Talbott told the Toledo newspaper that he plans to repay the loan with interest. Talbott did not disclose the loan on his ethics forms, as required by state law.
The Plain Dealer reported Friday that Doug Moorman, another former Taft assistant, accepted a $5,000 loan from Noe last year, about 13 months after he left state government to join the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. Moorman told the newspaper he plans to repay the loan when he sells his home in Columbus.
"We continued to have two house payments, and Tom had offered to me that if things got tight, he'd help out if he could," Moorman said.
Asked on Thursday if he knew of any other former or current staff members with links to Noe, Taft said, "I don't know what may come out. We're cooperating with providing all the information that anybody is asking for. I'm not aware of any violation of the law."
Taft and other Republicans announced this week that they were giving up campaign contributions they received from Noe. Contributions went to House lawmakers, Auditor Betty Montgomery, Attorney General Jim Petro, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, and the state Republican party. Montgomery, Petro and Blackwell are candidates for governor next year.
Voinovich, now a U.S. senator, and Sen. Mike DeWine also said they would give up contributions from Noe.
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