Noe lobbied in 1989 to exempt sales tax for coin sales -- in 1996

[KaliTracy]

Ohio legislature changed investment rules...

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1116754442201050.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

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Noe's years of networking gave him insight into how state government works. He helped successfully lobby the General Assembly in 1989 to exempt coin sales from state tax, when Democrat Richard Celeste was governor.

A couple of years after the Ohio legislature changed investment rules in 1996 to allow state agencies to invest in such items as coins, Noe won the first of two chunks of investment work from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

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As with past administrations, Noe easily developed a relationship with the administration of Gov. Bob Taft, whose campaign he contributed to. Taft appointed him to the Ohio Turnpike Commission in 2003, and state officials earlier had put him on Ohio's commemorative-quarter committee.

Noe, whose coin expertise led U.S. Treasury officials to make him chairman of the U.S. Mint's Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, is still trying to protect his reputation and business with the state. He sued the Blade and the Bureau of Workers' Compensation last week to block the release of records that detail the coin investment. His suit says that releasing the records would expose "trade secrets" and hurt the value of the investment.



From Ohio Citizen Action:

http://www.ohiocitizen.org/moneypolitics/mp.html

May 18: Coin dealer has long wielded influence

COLUMBUS -- "Long before being picked to handle the state’s rare-coins investments, Thomas W. Noe flexed his Statehouse muscle by persuading the General Assembly to exempt coin sales from state tax in 1989. . . . 'Basically (Noe) created a perfect world to have people keep their hands off his money,' said Catherine Turcer, legislative director for Ohio Citizen Action, a public-advocacy group. 'This is a perfect example of using your influence to relax enforcement mechanisms and the structure around you, and not pay taxes, to make a profit.' Turcer also wasn’t surprised that Noe’s success straddled successive governors from both political parties. That’s because movers and shakers often get their way regardless of the party in power, she said. A case in point was the 1989 tax exemption passed despite vocal opposition from then-Tax Commissioner Joanne Limbach," Mark Niquette , Jon Craig, Alan Johnson, Columbus Dispatch. Access fee; no link.
· Joanne Limbach is now the AARP Ohio President.

[Wilms]

1. kick n/t