Coin Scandal Rocks Ohio GOP

May 31, 2005 11:15 PM

Invest $50 million of a workers comp trust fund in rare coins and collectibles. Lose some of the coins in the mail. Havoc ensues. Prominent Ohio Republican fundraiser and Bush-Cheney 'pioneer' Thomas Noe is under state scrutiny for $10-12 million in missing funds and subject of a federal probe for potential illegal Bush campaign contributions. Oh, and did I mention his wife Bernadette was chair of the Lucas County Board of Elections during the 2004 election? Suddenly the once-popular donor finds himself a political pariah as heads begin to roll - could this be the tip of an iceberg that will unravel the red state infrastructure? Follow the Toledo Blade's stellar investigative journalism as this story unfolds. Maybe the national media can watch and learn.
posted by madamjujujive (25 comments total)

Here's another timeline and summary to date.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:19 PM on May 31, 2005

could this be the tip of an iceberg that will unravel the red state infrastructure?

Hahahahahaha... oh lord. No. It's gonna take a few more stones than that David.
posted by basicchannel at 12:09 AM on June 1, 2005

could this be the tip of an iceberg that will unravel the red state infrastructure?

Hahahahahaha... oh lord. No. It's gonna take a few more stones than that, David.
posted by basicchannel at 12:09 AM on June 1, 2005

Poopsox, foiled by the double-post! (triple?)
posted by basicchannel at 12:10 AM on June 1, 2005

heh, I meant rather "the red state's Infrastructure" referring to Ohio itself. But basicchannel, you've given me pause for thought - why set my sights so low?
posted by madamjujujive at 12:34 AM on June 1, 2005

Hm. Funny on the basicchannel double-comment: the second one made it through because the first one lacked a comma that the second included. But enough of silly geeky pondering...

Just a note: Five Republican justices on Ohio's Supreme Court have removed themselves from hearing the requests. Noe contributed to their campaigns. That's five out of seven. Whoa.
posted by taz at 2:06 AM on June 1, 2005

Yeah... they're eating this up at DemocraticUnderground.com.
posted by Doohickie at 4:04 AM on June 1, 2005

Go back to bed America, your government is in control again...
posted by LongDrive at 4:36 AM on June 1, 2005

I'd heard about the investment/coin scandal, but didn't know it went this far. Thanks for the run-down of links, mjjj.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:38 AM on June 1, 2005

Regardless of the usual dem vs rep bikering (its pretty evident reps behave like the people they claim to hate when given a chance) I find the following disturbing

Mr. Jackson said the investment in coins represented only a tiny proportion of the state's $16 billion workers' compensation fund. "We felt that small allocation would potentially reduce the risk of that portfolio," he said.

Another theft of people pensions/funds..while there's nothing wrong in the idea of investing in low risk and nothing wrong into diversification strategies..the real problem is no one can do it but yourself (but you're really not competent most of times) One can't give control of savings to other people..what happens is some crook will steal it.

It's no wonder people don't want to invest and don't know their miserable savings are put at risk all too frequently ..in a system in which check & balance system is made by the same people that exploit it theft is only likely to increase.

And the answer to this line of reasoning is "life's unfair"..completely pointless senseless bullshit of blaming life for some people mistakes or malice.
posted by elpapacito at 5:25 AM on June 1, 2005

get over it. you lost. you lost twice. try again in "08.
posted by fijidan at 6:04 AM on June 1, 2005

Meh. An illegal war fought over made up lies couldn't dislodge Bush, nor could doing business with both Iraq AND Iran damage Dick Cheney, nor the multi-billion-dollar no-bid contracts coincidentally given to Halliburton... I doubt that a numismatic scandal will somehow become the Administration's kryptonite.
posted by clevershark at 6:09 AM on June 1, 2005

get over it. you lost. you lost twice. try again in "08.
posted by fijidan at 6:04 AM PST on June 1

First of all, we use capitalization and punctuation around here. Second, I would think that a principled conservative like yourself would want to know where millions of dollars of taxpayer money went. Oh, wait, you don't care about proper government or accountability: you just want to gloat about "your team" winning. If that's all you can contribute, Fark is just around the corner there; go hang out with them.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 6:52 AM on June 1, 2005

Burned!

/fark
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:58 AM on June 1, 2005

COINS. RARE COINS. Check this out: Someone looked at a pile of money and said, "Yeah we should replace all these nickels with a smaller pile of older nickels." What's next, comic books?

But, this scandal lacks a blowjob. No one will care.
posted by mkultra at 7:47 AM on June 1, 2005

First of all, we use capitalization and punctuation around here.

my ass
posted by quonsar at 7:49 AM on June 1, 2005

I don't think this will bring down Bush. But it may help to bring down a corrupt administration in a pivotal swing state - an administration that many think had a bit too much influence in a highly contested recent national election. Maybe not much we can do about that one, but this may help with the next one.

Gov Taft is feeling mighty uneasy about now and I doubt he is alone among the state's Republican powerbrokers. Well they might. In today's news, federal and state prosecutors are joining forces in a probe they say will cross several states, will involve criminal charges, and may lead to anywhere.

The workers comp thing is a blatant example of potentially criminal misuse of public funds and partisan cronyism at the highest levels. The campaign contribution charges may shed light on many things. While they are looking into things, I would still like to learn more about the bogus FBI terror threats used as a pretense to lockdown a precinct during the Ohio vote count.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:08 AM on June 1, 2005

my ass
posted by quonsar at 7:49 AM PST on June 1

I was talking about good posters.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 8:19 AM on June 1, 2005

stealing savings and pensions is whut made uhmurkuh grate. jesus threw the joo bankerz out of the temple cuz they wouldn't invest in rare dinarii, and yew uhmurkuh hatin' bitchizz should all be sent to gitmo.
posted by quonsar at 8:20 AM on June 1, 2005

Paging troutfishing
posted by adamvasco at 8:24 AM on June 1, 2005

When people who get paid a lot more money than I do, do things like this- which even I can see as a bad idea, I feel good about myself. It makes all the times I spent a little too much money or did something stupid at work pale in comparison.
posted by drezdn at 8:47 AM on June 1, 2005

My favorite part is the one where 121 of the coins are missing.
posted by alumshubby at 9:01 AM on June 1, 2005

Personally, I built up my 401k by investing heavily in Pogs. Admittedly, the Pog market has been in a pretty bad slump, but I'm betting on a big rebound in coming years.
posted by iron chef morimoto at 9:20 AM on June 1, 2005

“A-ha! Once again the conservative sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor.” - Dr. Zoidberg.

It seems to make about as much sense as putting a state's nest egg in rare coins anyway.
posted by clevershark at 9:37 AM on June 1, 2005

IOKIYAR.

So just STFU you librul merika haters!

And invest in Beanie Babies you sycophantic suckups form Ohio. FIFO (f*cking idiots from Ohio, my friend said)
posted by nofundy at 9:56 AM on June 1, 2005