Here in the Buckeye state, we have been plagues with scandals at the state level. For the first time in History, we have had a governor convicted of a crime while in office and there are still numerous investigations going on. One of the biggest is the scandal to invest our worker’s compensation funds into rare coins – a move that cost our state millions. Now that scandal is reaching the White House:
In the months before Tom Noe came under scrutiny for his state-funded rare-coin venture, he used a federal appointment to forge relationships with U.S. Mint officials that opened doors for him on Capitol Hill, documents obtained by The Blade show.
And before he was brought down by scandal last year, the coin dealer helped persuade Congress — for the first time in the nation’s history — to authorize the minting of a 24-karat gold coin.
Mr. Noe’s quest to become a Washington power broker and to help redesign all U.S. coins fell apart last year when controversy gripped the $50 million rare-coin investment he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and federal authorities announced they were investigating the GOP fund-raiser for allegedly laundering political contributions to President Bush’s campaign
Now here is where the tie really comes in:
In May, 2003, the White House and House Speaker Dennis Hastert recommended that Mr. Noe get a seat on the influential 11-member committee. Treasury Secretary John Snow appointed Mr. Noe, less than six months after the Toledo-area coin dealer expressed interest in joining a Mint committee to Henrietta Fore, then director of the Mint.
For those not up to date on coingate, the article does give a little history on it:
The Treasury Department’s inspector general began its probe of Mr. Noe after The Blade first reported in April, 2005, on problems with the $50 million rare-coin funds he managed for the state, e-mails show.
At the time of the initial reports in The Blade, Mr. Noe — appointed by Republican governors to serve on the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Turnpike Commission — was gaining stature in Washington. And the state of Ohio was on the verge of giving him an additional $25 million to invest in rare coins — a plan that was reversed after stories about the coin funds appeared in the newspaper.
The interesting thing is that our state has tried to cover up this scandal for quiet sometime. Bob Taft, our governor, has denied any association with Noe even though emails prove otherwise. Numerous Republicans, including Rep. Jean Schmidt, have also denied any wrong doing but this investigation keeps going further.
This scandal is a perfect example of why Ohio is a key battle state for Democrats to take over this fall. Exposing what Republicans have done on a state level also influences how people will vote on a national level. It needs to be made known that the word Republican is synonymous with corruption.
I encourage you to read the very well laid out and detailed article about coingate in the Toledo Blade.