Return to Ohio Corruption: The Second Abramoff

The extreme corruption of the Ohio Republican Party was one of the earlier stories I covered when I started discussing corruption. Ohio Republicans, along with Missouri and Kentucky Republicans, are among the most corrupt politicians in the nation. From Reps. Oxley and Ney to Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, Attorney General Jim Petro and all the way to Governor Taft, who has been found guilty of ethics violations.

Much of this had to do with GOP-fundraiser, Tom Noe. Well, first there was corrupt GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now we have corrupt GOP fundraiser Tom Noe. And this time it goes all the way up to Bush. From the May 31, 2006 issue of the Toledo Blade:

FEDERAL COURT CASE
Noe pleads guilty to illegally funneling donations to Bush

By MIKE WILKINSON
and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

Former GOP fund-raiser Tom Noe admitted today that he used politicians, former aides to Gov. Bob Taft, coworkers, and friends to illegally pour thousands of dollars into the effort to reelect President Bush.

Noe entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge David Katz in Toledo to all three felony charges he faced for violating federal campaign finance law. Appearing with his sister and brother-in-law and three attorneys, Noe was calm and responsive to Judge Katz' questions during the 47-minute hearing...

Noe, 51, was indicted in October on three charges related to the funneling of more then $45,000 into the Bush campaign at a $2,000-a-seat fund-raiser in Columbus in October, 2003. The Bush campaign later named Noe a “Pioneer” for raising at least $100,000 overall.

At the time of his indictment, a senior Justice Department official said the Noe case represented the largest campaign money-laundering scheme prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department since new campaign finance laws were enacted by Congress in 2002.

The Noe probe identified several current and former politicians as “conduits,” including Toledo City Councilman Betty Shultz, Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber, former Toledo mayor Donna Owens, and former state representative Sally Perz...

Noe is the new Abramoff...how long can America tolerate the blatant corruption and extreme cronyism of the Halluburton Republicans?

If you want to help fight the Republican corruption in Ohio, please help defeat them in Ohio. The OH-4 (Corrupt Republican Oxley) and OH-18 (Corrupt Republican Ney) are particularly important targets. On the State level, please help elect Ted Strickland to replace the corrupt Republican Governor, Jennifer Brunner to replace the corrupt Republican Secretary of State, and Mark Dann to replace the corrupt Republican Attorney General.