In what is all-too predictably being labeled ''Coingate,'' state and federal authorities have sicced their investigative dogs on the activities of Thomas Noe, a Toledo coin collector who chaired President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign in northwest Ohio and who, over the years, has been a veritable lawn sprinkler of campaign cash to major Republican candidates in the state.
Political poison: Noe is in trouble because an estimated $12 to $13 million in state money from an injured workers fund is missing after being invested in rare coin funds that Noe controls.
Authorities say they are pursuing criminal charges, and Noe, the gregarious, 50-year-old, bankrolling confidante of Ohio Republicans, is now political poison. His former friends, including the governor, couldn't be running any faster to get away from him and the taint of scandal.
Gov. Bob Taft, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine and three other statewide officeholders with gubernatorial ambitions, announced this week they are giving up about $60,000 they had received from Noe.
In Washington, the Republican National Committee said Thursday it would donate to charities $6,000 that the Bush/Cheney campaign and the RNC received directly from Noe and his wife, Bernadette. The Bush campaign received more than $100,000 raised by Noe. RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said remaining contributions ''appear to be completely appropriate.''
Bush met with Noe last October to thank him and his wife for their fund-raising efforts. Bush narrowly won Ohio, whose 19 electoral votes enabled him to secure a second term.
In the meantime, a grand jury this week began investigating contributions to the Bush-Cheney campaign that had any connection to Noe.
The perception of money for injured workers going to support politicians is potentially explosive for Ohio Republicans, who control nearly all major statewide offices and who cleared the way for an unusual $55 million state investment in Noe's rare coin venture, starting in 1998.
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who is running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination next year, recently called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate.
Noe ''has done a great disservice to the people of Ohio by mismanaging our public resources and abusing our trust,'' Taft said in a joint statement with Ohio GOP chairman Robert Bennett. Bennett, with an eye toward next year's statewide election, has said he will require any candidate seeking the party's support to undergo ethics training.
Distinctive scandal: Coins - old coins that one would usually see only in collectors' shops or museums - certainly give this scandal the patina of distinction. Investigators say 121 coins bought with state money are missing and may have been stolen in Colorado. Little is known about the coins, except for two - a $3 gold coin minted in 1855 and a $10 gold coin minted in 1845. What is known is that the politically connected Noe benefited from the decision by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to invest state money in Noe's coin funds.
''This is such a vibrant example of the culture of corruption in Columbus,'' said Democratic state Sen. Marc Dann, whose party has not won a statewide race in Ohio in more than a decade.
''The people in charge have become too comfortable with churning government benefits in exchange for campaign contributions,'' Dann said.
Two weeks ago, investigators removed thousands of collectible items from Noe's Toledo-area shop, some of which were purchased with state money. Those items included a 1963 Christmas card signed by President John Kennedy; a 1790 water pitcher from Liverpool depicting George Washington; an autographed Mickey Mantle poster; a Marilyn Monroe print; and an assortment of vintage comic books.
Other than telling investigators that he expects the shortfall in the investment will be between $12 million and $13 million, Noe is not talking publicly. William Wilkinson, one of Noe's attorneys, said Thursday his client has ''not admitted any wrongdoing.'' Wilkinson said Noe had not been subpoenaed by the grand jury.
Even in politics-weary Ohio, the biggest battleground state in last year's presidential election, the coin scandal is attracting attention. Toledo television stations have, for the moment, forsaken their instinctive fascination with shootings and fires to first cover the almost daily development in the scandal.
''This just stinks. There's a bunch of people down there who think they're above the law,'' said Andrew Eklund, who operates a hot dog stand near the Toledo Police Department headquarters.
Public opinion polls - conducted before the controversy gained footing - suggest Ohio voters are unhappy. Taft, who was re-elected in a landslide in 2002 and is the great-grandson of the former president, received a 35 percent approval rating in a recent Ohio Poll.
''This state has been the poster child for a troubled economy, and there's much more pessimism out there now than there has been in some time,'' said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the University of Cincinnati Institute for Policy Research, which conducts the Ohio Poll.
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)
And that is all the more reason for Republicans to fret over next year's statewide elections. The three Republican candidates for governor - Blackwell, State Auditor Betty Montgomery and Attorney General Jim Petro - had received more than $17,000 in contributions from Noe. They said Wednesday they will either return the contributions or place the money into escrow accounts until it can be returned to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Rademacher and other political analysts say it would be premature to forecast the fallout from the scandal. But they note that in the wake of a statewide loan scandal in 1970, when Republicans were in control, Democrats won the governor's office.
---
(c) 2005, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
