The Toledo Blade has been doing great work on the growing Ohio GOP rare-coin scandal, a.k. "coin-gate." Sometimes, when you hear about scandals, you wonder if they will lead anywhere. This one has "legs."
In case you missed it earlier, the Ohio Workers Compensation Fund invested $50 million in a rare coin fund...which is considered a very risky investment. The person who controls the fund is Tom Noe who is a major, major player in the Ohio GOP. He's close to all the big names out there, has contributed hundreds of thousands to the state party and major candidates. And, he was a Bush Pioneer.
The Toledo Blade first broke the rare-coin story in early April. Then, it turned out that 121 of the coins purchased by Ohio were missing. Gets even better.
Apparently, Tom Noe, the major GOP fundraiser/Bush "pioneer" with whom the state of Ohio invested $50 million in a rare-coin fund, failed to tell the authorities that 121 of the coins were missing. The coins were allegedly stolen in Colorado:
"What's frustrating to me is I'm getting information from so many other people, but no legitimate victim … has ever called me with further information or further concerns," said Jennifer Gilmore, an investigator for the Jefferson County, Colo., sheriff's office.Maybe if you're Tom Noe the rules are different. He is, after all, good pals with the hierarchy of the GOP in Ohio. And sounds like he is an arrogant prick to boot:
"I get information from [The Blade] that there's 119 additional coins missing, but no one has ever called us to make a report of it or to add this to it. We would be more than happy to look into that for them."
An official at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation - the agency that gave Mr. Noe $50 million to buy rare coins as investments for the state - said Friday the bureau also is concerned. A bureau spokesman said Mr. Noe took almost a year before informing them - in an audit report - of the loss of 119 of the coins.
And, the spokesman said, the state didn't learn until being informed by Blade reporters in March that two additional gold coins also were missing, two of the most valuable rare coins purchased for the state by an employee of Mr. Noe's at a cost of $250,000.
Mr. Noe acknowledged on Friday that he has not contacted police about the state's rare coins that went missing in October, 2003.Mr. Noe has an extensive GOP pedigree. He is extremely close to Blackwell, Voinovich and Taft. And, obviously, he played a role in "delivering" the state to Bush last fall. Typical GOP fatcat:
"We are finalizing a forensic accounting at this time, [and] when it's time, we'll turn it over to the Colorado authorities," said the Maumee coin dealer and prominent local Republican fund-raiser. "I think once we give them what we have, it will make the investigation very easy. We're the experts in the coin business and they are not."
Ohio's inspector general has launched an investigation into Mr. Noe's rare-coin investments for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. He is also under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly violating campaign finance laws involving contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign.Ohio is completely controlled by the Republican Party (much like the Federal Government.) The state is a fiscal mess. Rare-coins are a glaring example of corrupt policies that can bankrupt a state.
