Convicted coin dealer settles in at new confines in southeast Ohio (Coingate's Noe)

[Robbien]

Source: Toledo Blade

Tom Noe, once a political insider who rubbed elbows with governors, senators, and President Bush, is now on laundry duty at Hocking Correctional Facility in Nelsonville, Ohio.

The former Toledo-area rare-coin dealer - who is serving an 18-year sentence stemming from his conviction for stealing millions of dollars from a
$50 million rare-coin fund he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation - is settling into the state prison, about 60 miles southeast of Columbus.

Noe, 54, arrived at the minimum and medium-security prison that houses 481 inmates earlier this month. His life consists of lining up for head counts several times each day and working as a laundry attendant, making $16 to $24 per month - a far cry from the millions the state allowed him to invest and the million-dollar homes he lived in along Lake Erie and in the Florida Keys.

. . .

In 2006, a Lucas County judge sentenced Noe to 18 years in prison and ordered him to pay $13.7 million after a jury convicted him on 29 charges connected to his management of the state's rare-coin funds.

Noe - the former chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents and Ohio Turnpike Commission and former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party - was the central figure in a scandal that became known as 'Coingate,' which resulted in nearly 20 criminal convictions, including that of former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft on ethics charges. Noe is appealing his conviction on corruption, theft, money laundering, and forgery charges, asserting he didn't get a fair trial because of the large amount of media coverage focused on his case.

Read more: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081228/NEWS24/812280316/-1/NEWS

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Nice to see at least one of these GOP corrupt bastards behind bars. Without Ohio's newspaper The Toledo Blade this case would have been quietly swept under the rug and Ohio would still be in the vise grip of corruption.

[mod mom]

1. Some background on Tom Noe:

Noe Attended White House Strategy Session With Ken Mehlman and Possibly Karl Rove, While His Wife Was an Ohio Elections Official. According to emails released by Ohio Governor Bob Taft's office, Thomas Noe used his influence to obtain a coveted invitation to a White House ceremony honoring the Ohio State University football team. The emails also revealed that Noe attended an "Ohio political strategy session" with Ken Mehlman and Collister "Coddy" Johnson, Bush's campaign manager and field director. Karl Rove was also listed as a possible attendee of the meeting. At the time, Noe's wife Bernadette was an elections official in Lucas County Ohio, an area that experienced extreme voting difficulties during the 2004 election, causing Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to ask for her resignation.

Noe Was "Man to See" in Northwest Ohio For Republicans. For nearly a decade, Thomas Noe has been the Republican Party's man to see in northwest Ohio, a confidant of governors and a prodigious fund-raiser for legislators, judges and just about every Republican statewide elected official.

Noe was Regional Chairman of Bush-Cheney Campaign and Frequently Spoke with Rove. As a regional chairman of the campaign, Mr. Noe had frequent contact with Karl Rove, the architect of the President's re-election. And Ohio, it turned out, was the pivotal state in the election, narrowly pushing President Bush to victory.

Bush Thanked Noe for "His Leadership". On October 29, 2004 at a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, Bush singled out Noe for his work on the campaign. Bush said, "I want to thank the grassroots activists. I want to thank my friends Bernadette Noe and Tom Noe for their leadership in Lucas County." After the speech, Bush and the first lady met with Noe and his wife backstage, to thank them for their "work on the campaign."
Noe was Pioneer for Bush's Reelection and Raised at Least $100,000. According to FEC filings Thomas Noe joined the elite ranks, and gained the access, of the Bush Pioneers, raising at least $100,000 for Bush's reelection campaign.
Noe Under Federal Investigation for Making Illegal Donations to Bush Campaign. According to FEC regulations, individuals can only donate $2,000 to a presidential candidate in the primary and another $2,000 in the general election. Noe is under investigation for possibly laundering additional contributions through other individuals, to skirt campaign finance rules. According to the Toledo Blade, "Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, confirmed that his office, in conjunction with the FBI, is looking into Mr. Noe, who was chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in northwest Ohio. 'We have publicly confirmed the investigation of Mr. Noe in relation to some campaign contributions,' Mr. White said last night. He said the investigation has been ongoing for a couple of months, but declined to comment on its details. Officials with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington are aware of the investigation, Mr. White said."
Noe Was Bush Pioneer and Opened His Own Wallet for Bush. According to FEC filings, Thomas Noe has donated thousands of dollars to National Republican politicians. Besides raising at least $100,000 for Bush's reelection and becoming a Bush Pioneer, Noe also donated his own money to the Republican political machine. During the 2004 election Noe donated $2,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign and $2,000 to the Republican National Committee. Also, in 2000, Noe donated $1,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Noe Was Recommended to Coinage Advisory Committee by Hastert and Nominated by Secretary of Treasury John Snow. On April 23, President Bush signed into law the "American 5-Cent Coin Design Continuity Act of 2003" (Public Law 108-15), which established the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC). According to a Treasury Department press release Noe was recommended by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and nominated by Snow.


Noe Was a Long Time Contributor to National Republicans. Noe has been donating to National Republicans for years. Noe has donated $21,000 in the past two years to Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) and has donated to Republican Representatives Deborah Pryce GOP Conference Chairwoman, David Hobson Assistant Majority Whip, and Paul E. Gillmor Deputy Majority Whip. Noe and his wife also gave $5,000 a piece to the CARE political action committee and Ohio's 17 Star PAC. These PAC's have donated money to various national Republicans including Senator John Thune (R-SD), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). Noe has also donated to the Republican National Committee.





Voinovich Administration Approved Ohio's $25 Million Investment in Noe's Coin Scheme. "In the 1990's, Mr. Noe, 50, was chairman of the Republican Party in Lucas County, which includes Toledo. His wife held the same position until last year. He was a friend of Gov. George V. Voinovich, now a senator, whose administration first approved a $25 million investment in Mr. Noe's rare-coin funds in 1998." Noe also, has given $21,000 in the past two years to Voinovich.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/10/noe_to_republic.php

[VeraAgnes]

2. Did Ohio ever regain any of the stolen money?

Gov. Taft and all of *bush's side-kicks in Ohio crime need to return what was stolen!

[mod mom]

3. I believe the $ was a payoff for the 2004 election, besides helping the GOP:

Article published Sunday, October 9, 2005
OHIO SCANDAL
Noe transferred coin cash before giving to politicians
Records show deposits into personal business account

By STEVE EDER and JAMES DREW
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

COLUMBUS — Tom Noe often transferred tens of thousands of dollars from the Ohio rare-coin funds he managed to his personal business before bankrolling Republican candidates and causes with contributions and loans.

A Blade examination of the accounting records from Mr. Noe’s $50 million rare-coin venture shows a pattern of large sums of money moving from the coin funds to his personal business, Vintage Coins and Collectibles, in the days and weeks before the coin dealer and his wife, Bernadette, made contributions to Republican candidates ranging from President Bush to U.S. Sen. George Voinovich and Gov. Bob Taft down to Lucas County Auditor Larry Kaczala.

Mr. Noe typically listed the payments from the coin funds to Vintage Coins as "profit distributions" or "coin purchases."

But both of those explanations have been assailed as fraudulent by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, who has branded Mr.
Noe a thief and accused the former Toledo-area coin dealer of running a Ponzi scheme and making questionable coin trades with the state fund.

-snip

According to the computerized accounting records of Capital Coin I, II, and their subsidiaries, Mr. Noe since 1998 transferred more than $19 million from the state coin venture into his business accounts at Vintage Coins, including more than $13 million for "coin purchases" and more than $1.7 million in "profit distributions." In that same time period, Vintage Coins transferred about $5 million back to the coin funds, the records show.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051009/NEWS24/51009002

HERE'S THE KILLER: "William Wilkinson, a Columbus attorney representing Mr. Noe, said no state coin funds were used to make campaign contributions." YEAH RIGHT!




I PERSONALLY HAVE ALWAYS HOPED THAT THE HOUSE JUDICIARY WOULD CALL TOM AND HIS WIFE BERNADETTE (MAJOR PLAYER IN 2004 ELECTION) TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS. I BELIEVE THEY PLAYED A ROLE IN THE 2004 ELECTION THEFT.

Noe was Regional Chairman of Bush-Cheney Campaign and Frequently Spoke with Rove. As a regional chairman of the campaign, Mr. Noe had frequent contact with Karl Rove, the architect of the President's re-election. And Ohio, it turned out, was the pivotal state in the election, narrowly pushing President Bush to victory.
SOURCE: Toledo Blade, 4/28/05


BERNADETTE WAS CHAIR OF THE LUCAS COUNTY BOE IN 2004, A DEM STRONGHOLD W SUCH BLATANT ISSUES THAT GOOD OLE KENNY BOY BLACKWELL "INVESTIGATED IT" TO COVER HIS OWN BEHIND:

OH SOS Investigation of the Lucas County BOE includes the fact that REPUBLICAN VOLUNTEERS were allowed UNSUPERVISED ACCESS to UNSECURED BALLOTS prior to the election, as well as this list:

*failure to maintain ballot security
*Inability to implement and maintain a trackable system for voter ballot reconciliation .
*failure to prepare and develop a plan for the processing of the voluminous amount of voter registration forms received.
*issuance and acceptance of incorrect absentee ballot forms.
*manipulation of the process involving the 3% recount.
*disjointed implementation of the Directive regarding the removal of Nader and Camejo from the ballot .
*failure to properly issue hospital ballots in accordance with statutory requirements.
*failure to maintain the security of poll books during the official canvass
*failure to examine campaign finance reports in a timely manner.
*failure to guard and protect public documents ....etc.


-One-half of the ballots printed and used in the 2004 general election in Lucas county were stored in an open space on the fhird floor of the county warehouse with no security measures in place.
SOURCE: SOS Investigation on Lucas County BOE page 4



-Live ballots were delivered to polling locations a week in advance of the election. Although the ballots were retrieved, one board employee who was assigned to the warehouse informed the SOS staff that he did not believe all the ballots were successfully retrieved.
SOURCE; SOS Investigation, page 5



-Lucas County BOE failed to record or retrieve ballot stub numbers of absentee voters’ ballots as required by statute OH Revised Code 3505.23. It was reported by an elector that her mother had received not one, but three absentee voter ballots. there was no way to determine if similar incidents occurred and if so how many.
SOURCE: SOS Investigation, page 7




-October 4, 2004 was filing deadline for new voter registrations. At that point there were approximately 20,000 unprocessed voter registration applications with less than a month before the election. One mail tray containing 4,500-7,000 (estimates vary) unprocessed “Project Voter” registrations were discovered on or about October 18,2004.
SOURCE: SOS Investigation pg 10

***Of interest here is information obtained from the SOS website entitled ElectionsVoter/results 2003 and 2004 which show the # of registered voters number change from ‘03-’04 was 11,947 in Lucas County: reg voters 2003 in Lucas=288,190 ; registered voter in 2004=300,137.



-In late September or early October an employee of the Ohio Republican Party contacted Sam Thurber (*involved with politician wife Maggie Thurber in Noe scandal.) wanting to inspect and have copies made of all recently returned voter registrations, Ohio Republican Party offered to furnish volunteers to assist with copying postcards. No one at the Lucas County BOE can confirm that anyone was assigned to supervise Republican volunteers. On their second day of copying, a BOE employee, Jennifer Bernath, Democratic Booth Official) saw republican party volunteers peeling off the yellow return stickers applied by the post office. (Violation of RC 149.43 (B) (I) , and agruably a violation of 149.351.
SOURCE: SOS Investigation, pgs 18-19



-The Swanton 3 poll book turned up missing and has never been recovered.
SOURCE: SOS Investigation pg 16

http://www.solarbus.org/election/docs/lucas.pdf

[LiberalHeart]

4. In other Noe-related news today, the FEC issued $65,000 in fines to conduits....

...in the illegal campaign fund-raising (Bush/Cheney) scheme. Seven of the conduits out of 24 the FEC identified have to pay, but they didn't name the folks yet. I'm thinking it's a list that'll probably include a current council person in Toledo, a former commissioner for the county, and a former Toledo mayor, and a woman involved in charter schools via White Hat -- but that's all it is, a guess. Hope they release the list soon.

[shraby]

5. Took long enough to get him there.

[LiberalHeart]

6. He had to serve his federal sentence first -- the one for the illegal campaign funds scheme.

[Jambalaya]

7. oh,oh,Ohio

What is up with Ohio? Is this just about the most corrupt state in the union? Diebold voting machines. dead GOP IT whiz Mike Connell, Ken Blackwell and voter fraud, Rod Parsley and Patriot Pastors assissting Blackwell in electioneering, Carl Lindner,Jr. of Colombian death squad and Chiquita Banana infamy, untimely death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the list goes on.....

[pilsner]

8. Barely and rarely

I live in Ohio, these stories rarely get covered in the Republican-owned newspapers here.

[Jambalaya]

9. Ney sayers

I forgot to add in Bob Ney of Ohio-linked to Mike Connell and also to Abramoff. Served time in federal prison for Abramoff related activities. epluribus media has some first rate pieces about Connell and Ney setting up the IT system on Capitol Hill.Especially good is "Who is Mike Connell" Parts One and Two.

[Lasher]

10. Oh Noe!

You started it. :D