Ohio GOP's "Coin-Gate" Scandal Grows and Grows

Last month, Americablog posted an article from the Toledo Blade detailing how the State's Workers Compensation Fund had invested $50 million in rare coins. That story raised serious issues about how the Ohio GOP was handling public dollars. Rare coins are a risky investment.

You may also recall how GOP Candidate for Governor/Secretary of State Ken Blackwell had no problem with this kind of risky investment:

Mr. Blackwell said his position hasn't changed, but he said he would not criticize the bureau's investment in rare coin funds.

"I would never have any reason to question Jim Conrad's integrity. When you run a fund size of $18 billion and you're looking at $50 million, 'Beyond what one's disposition might be, is that an irresponsible amount of risk?' Most people would say no," he said.

Most people wouldn't think investing $50 million in a risky scheme was irresponsible...or just most leaders of Ohio's Republican Party?

Thanks to Holly for pointing us to the latest from the Toledo Blade which has nicknamed the saga "Coin-gate." This thing is ugly and getting uglier. The latest news is that 121 of the coins are missing:

The number of missing rare coins purchased with state money controlled by local Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe now totals 121, documents obtained by The Blade show.

An accounting firm hired to check the inventory of rare coins purchased by Mr. Noe or his associates for the state found last year that not only were the coins missing, but 119 coins were possibly stolen by a Colorado coin dealer, according to a 2004 audit report released last week.

Mr. Noe hired the dealer to run a coin subsidiary funded with money from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, the agency charged with paying the medical bills and providing income to workers injured on the job.

The 119 missing coins are in addition to two coins worth $300,000 owned by the state that were lost in the mail in 2003, confirmed Jeremy Jackson, press secretary for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

The state doesn't know what happened to any of the coins, Mr. Jackson said.

Now, if you have missed this scandal, you may be wondering why the hell Ohio is investing in rare coins. These passages from the Blade should answer that question:

The Blade first reported April 3 that since 1998 the bureau has invested $50 million in rare coin funds controlled by Mr. Noe, a local coin dealer and frequent contributor to local, state, and national Republican campaign committees.

He was President Bush's northwest Ohio campaign chairman in last year's presidential race and because of the contributions he raised for the President, he earned the coveted status of a Bush "pioneer."

and

Democrats in the legislature have claimed that the bureau gave Mr. Noe $50 million to invest because of his generous contributions to state GOP campaign committees and Republican candidates.

Records show that Mr. Noe has over the last decade contributed more than $11,000 to both Governor Taft and former Gov. George Voinovich, now a U.S. senator for Ohio.

He has contributed more than $70,000 to other Republican candidates over the last 11 years.

Bush's "Pioneer" Noe is a clearly a guy that the Ohio GOP feels comfortable with $50 million in public funds. That may change:

But his work raising cash for the President's re-election campaign has also made him the subject of a U.S. Justice Department and FBI investigation.

U.S. Attorney Gregory White, in Cleveland, disclosed last week that Mr. Noe is the subject of the federal probe into possible federal campaign contribution violations.

The Ohio Inspector General has also launched a separate investigation into Mr. Noe, his coin ventures, and into "alleged wrongful acts associated with the investment practices" of the bureau.

It slays me that people think the GOP can be trusted with public moneys, that somehow they are better managers of our economic future:

A spokesman for Gov. Bob Taft said yesterday the governor's office was unaware that a total of 121 coins are now missing. He referred questions to the bureau. "This is their management. This is news we'll have to talk to the bureau about," Mark Rickel, the spokesman, said.

Keep an eye on this one. It seems everyone in the Ohio Republican Party is connected to this scandal in one way or another. And they all have ties to this Noe character. The Ohio GOP has been in power for way too long. Few things symbolize how arrogant and out of touch they are than the $50 million investment in missing coins.

Youngtown's Democratic State Senator, Marc Dann, summed it up, "What's horrible is the Republicans are so addicted to the campaign contributions, they could not get out of this thing."

And what will be more horrible is if the GOP stays in control of Ohio.