http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS09/602160374/-1/NEWSCOLUMBUS - The Democratic National Committee used President Bush's visit to a Columbus suburb yesterday to try to link his administration to the problems of one of its biggest Ohio fund-raisers, embattled coin dealer Tom Noe.
The DNC pointed out contacts between Mr. Noe and the President, his former campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, and political strategist Karl Rove.
"Thomas Noe, a prominent Bush fund-raiser who was publicly thanked by the President at an event in Ohio in 2004, is unlikely to receive the same praise today after being hit with a 53-count indictment," the DNC said in a statement.
Mr. Noe, who earned the status of a Bush "Pioneer" for raising more than $100,000 for the President's re-election campaign, was indicted this week on charges he stole more than $1 million from a rare-coin fund he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Separately, he was indicted last year on charges he laundered campaign contributions into the President's campaign. The DNC this week reiterated calls for Mr. Bush to return the money Mr. Noe raised for his campaign...
Bush takes health-care plan to Ohio
President cites Wendy's workers' insurance accounts as a model
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS09/602160367/-1/NEWSDUBLIN, Ohio - ...
"It's hogwash," said Cathy Levine, policy director for the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio. "An individual patient is not going to have more bargaining power than a huge pool of employees or insured people."
An estimated 45 million Americans have no health coverage, more than 1 million of them Ohioans...
The visit to Ohio marked the President's fifth since the 2004 battleground state kept him in the White House by a narrow margin. The state is considered to be a 2006 mid-term bellwether as Democrats hope to take advantage of federal and state scandals to unseat Sen. Mike DeWine, win the governor's office, and lay claim to a few competitive congressional seats...
Even as he praised the nation's overall economic performance, Mr. Bush noted that Ohio's economy continues to lag. Its unemployment rate of 5.9 percent eclipses the 4.7 percent national average...
Article published Thursday, February 16, 2006
COIN SCANDAL
Not all Noe deals involved criminals; indictment names unwitting partners
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS02/602160391/-1/NEWSIn its indictment of Tom Noe, a Lucas County grand jury identified a business network that it felt had participated in Mr. Noe's alleged crimes.
It listed the obvious: Mr. Noe's main business in Monclova Township, the two coin funds he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and most of the funds' subsidiaries.
But the grand jury also listed another group never mentioned before that collectively has done millions of dollars in coin business with Mr. Noe and the state-financed funds, with some buying and selling coins and others borrowing money.
The coin dealers, coin collectors, and the bureau itself were identified as "unwitting participants" in the "ongoing criminal enterprise."...