Cross-posted at DailyKos. The Toledo Blade reports that “Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, confirmed that his office, in conjunction with the FBI, is looking into [Tom] Noe, who was chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in northwest Ohio” in “relation to some campaign contributions.”
Denny White, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, “said he welcomed the investigation, especially since the Justice Department is behind it … If the investigation finds wrongdoing, it could topple one-party control of Ohio government in the 2006 election, Mr. White predicted.”
More below:
More from The Toledo Blade today:
His contract with the state to manage $50 million in two rare coin funds is currently under investigation by the Ohio inspector general.
Mr. Noe’s attorney, Jon Richardson, said his client is aware of the federal investigation pertaining to campaign finance issues.
“All we can say at the moment is we are aware there is an investigation going on,” Mr. Richardson said last night. “Until we see the government’s allegations, there isn’t much we can say to respond to them.”
The federal probe began with the Lucas County prosecutor’s office, which looked into Mr. Noe’s campaign contributions to the Bush re-election campaign after Mr. Noe’s wife, Bernadette, brought a separate issue to the attention of the prosecutor’s office.
Prosecutor Julia Bates said last night that Ms. Noe wanted the prosecutor’s office to look into possible wrongdoing by Joe Kidd, then director of the county elections office. Ms. Noe was then chairman of the county Republican Party and a member of the elections board.
During its investigation into Ms. Noe’s allegations, the prosecutor’s office developed other information and forwarded it to the U.S. attorney’s office, Ms. Bates said.
Mr. Richardson said federal agents have spoken to Ms. Noe but not Mr. Noe.
Local law-enforcement sources said investigators are looking at contributions made by people from the Toledo area to the Bush campaign. Of particular interest was an Oct. 30, 2003 fund-raiser in Columbus where the campaign raised $1.4 million. Mr. Noe played only a small part at the fund-raiser.
Mr. Noe, who was one of several dozen Ohioans who helped to raise at least $100,000 each for the Bush campaign in the 2004 election, sponsored a table at the event, and invited a number of people to attend.
An individual can give only $2,000 to a presidential candidate in the primary and another $2,000 in the general election, according to federal law. Throughout the 2004 campaign — primary and general — Mr. Noe contributed $2,000. His contribution came in August, 2003.
At issue is whether Mr. Noe gave people money in order for them to give to the Bush campaign, allowing Mr. Noe to exceed federal spending limits, the law-enforcement sources said. …
Go to the ToledoBlade for all the dirty details in its rather exhaustive expose, “Noe faces federal probe for Bush contributions: 2003 fund-raising activities draw interest.”
Couldn’t happen to a more rotten bunch of election thieves.
