Noe, 52, remains free on bond until the conclusion of his trial next
month on 48 felony counts in state court related to allegations that
he stole millions from a $50 million rare-coin fund that he managed
for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Noe, a former Maumee rare-coin dealer whose large donations made him a
powerful political figure, apologized in court for the scheme to give
friends money to donate to Bush to fulfill his promise to generate
$50,000 for a presidential fund-raiser.

Noe said he arranged the scheme because "in 2003 I was pressured by
Bush-Cheney officials to become a Pioneer," a name the campaign gives
to people who raise $100,000.

The campaign money-laundering scheme was the largest prosecuted under
the 2002 campaign finance reform law, which set limits on donations,
prosecutors said last October.

Judge Katz told Noe that he was trying to feed his ego and made a bad
decision.

"He has risen in the past to positions of respect and power and he
violated the trust of those who placed him in those positions," Judge
Katz said during sentencing.

Noe had pledged to raise $50,000 for the fund-raiser and, overall,
raised more than $100,000, earning him Pioneer status.

Prosecutors said he raised the money in an attempt to win invitiations
to the White House and the President's Crawford, Texas, ranch.

After having trouble finding enough donors, Noe began writing checks
to a number of friends and associates, underwriting many of those who
attended the $2,000-a-plate Columbus fund-raiser.

The Noe conduits included Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber,
Toledo City Councilman Betty Shultz, former state representative Sally
Perz, and former Toledo mayor Donna Owens;

two former aides to Gov. Bob Taft, and other political and social
friends.

The federal case is separate from a 48-count indictment against Noe in
state court, in which he is alleged by prosecutors to have stolen
millions from the $50 million rare-coin fund investment he managed for
the Ohio BWC.

Prosecutors allege he used money from the coin fund to pay the Bush
conduits, however they said it was "merely fortuitous" for him that it
wasn't proven.

State coin-fund money, they said, poured into his checking account
just prior to the Bush fund-raiser, although there was other money in
the account as well, an amount that would have covered the $45,400 he
gave to the conduits.

Combined with the state charges, the accusations against Noe prompted
candidates from across the state and country to return their Noe
campaign cash.

For Noe, the sentencing is but one coda in his political swan song.

Two years ago he was attending parties at the White House and had the
ear of Ohio's governor.

A college dropout, Noe was appointed to head the Ohio Board of Regents
and the Ohio Turnpike Commission;

he served on a key committee of the U.S. Mint, and he helped plan and
implement the strategy that helped President Bush win Ohio and the
nation.

Now he faces time behind bars -- and possibly an even longer term if
he is convicted in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. His trial on the
state charges begins Oct. 10.

The fallout from the Noe scandal has been far reaching.

It contributed to the historic plunge of Governor Taft's approval
rating and emboldened Democrats to mount -- for the first time in
years -- substantial campaigns for numerous statewide offices.

The scandal also contributed to the political downfall of Ohio
Attorney General Jim Petro, who lost to Ken Blackwell in the
Republican primary for governor.


From The Toledo Blade, 9/12/06:
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060912/BREAKINGNEWS/60912029

OHIO SCANDAL

Noe gets 27 months in federal prison for illegal Bush contributions

By MIKE WILKINSON
BLADE STAFF WRITER


Tom Noe, the GOP fund-raiser at the heart of Ohio's biggest political
scandal in a generation, was sentenced today to 27 months in a federal
prison for illegally funneling money into President Bush's re-election
campaign.

U.S. District Court Judge David Katz also ordered Noe to pay $136,200
in fines for sending more than $45,000 into a 2003 Bush fund-raiser by
using two dozen friends and associates -- including several current
and former local Republican elected officials -- in violation of
federal election laws.

_____________________________________________________

27 months in federal prison is only the beginning for this Republican
miscreant.

Harry