COINGATE: Prosecutors to Charge Ex-Taft Aide

[barbaraann]

Article published Wednesday, July 27, 2005

NOE'S FLORIDA HOME
Prosecutor to charge ex-Taft aide
Reduced-price vacations weren't reported to state

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
BLADE STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS — A Columbus prosecutor said yesterday he will file criminal charges against Brian Hicks, the former chief of staff for Gov. Bob Taft, for not reporting stays at coin dealer Tom Noe’s Florida Keys vacation home at below market rates.

Chief Columbus City Prosecutor Stephen McIntosh said his office is racing a judicial clock and has only until Friday to file the charges because of a two-year statute of limitations. Mr. Hicks left the governor’s office July 31, 2003.
...
Mr. Taft is also under investigation by the prosecutor’s office for potential violations for not reporting free rounds of golf at the Inverness Club, the exclusive, U.S. Open-level course in Toledo, and possibly at other courses, sources also told The Blade yesterday.
...
The prosecutor said he would have to show that Mr. Hicks and others who might be charged in the future “knowingly” did not report the gifts.
...
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS24/50727006


It seems that if you're a Republican "gifts" just rain down from heaven! It also seems that Republicans have a special "I didn't know!" get-out-of-jail-free card. AND, there seems to be a special prosecutorial pace for Republican wrongdoers that's slightly slower than the slimy pace of a slug. Could it be that Republicans are slimier than slugs?

Baby Boomers amongst us will recall that the GOP used to position itself as the "law and order" party. :rofl:

[madmom]

1. And the article just below that in the same paper...

Noe invested state money in gambling firm ,is a very interesting read.The last two times legalized gambling was on the ballot the repukes beat the hell out of us as being strongly opposed to it, and religious fundies put these corrupt lieing asses back in power again.

[cmd]

2. Hip Hip Hip

pocrites.

[madmom]

3. lol my sentiments exactly. n/t

[Stevepol]

4. voting machines put them back in power again. n/t

[madmom]

6. Machines are only a part of the equation ...

imho it is also repuke control of the media that allows them to control narrow minded one issue voters such as ,abortion ,gambling ,nra take your pick they have an answer for everything (usually wrong).What ever happened to voting for the common good?

[Al-CIAda]

8. yes sir. nt

[barbaraann]

5. That's similar to the Abramoff/Reed scam.

"Washington, DC - Tom Delay patron Jack Abramoff has embroiled himself in another scandal involving Indian gaming, and again, this scandal involves the right wing lobbying industry. According to various news sources, Abramoff convinced a Mississippi tribe he was working for to donate money to Grover Norquist, who in turn donated it to an Alabama anti-gambling campaign. That campaign wrote a check to Ralph Reed's lobbying firm, who lobbied against gambling in Alabama. This benefited Abramoff's Mississippi casino clients, who paid Abramoff $7 million over the past 10 years to protect their monopoly on local gambling."

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/05/money_launderin.php

[BQueen]

7. McIntosh is the real thing, and a Dem

He's City, misdemeanors only, which explains the short statute of limitations. He's filing it to make sure *something* gets filed. There's more time for others, even on misdemeanors, because the time starts to run when they leave office. And "knowingly" is a tough standard with juries who seem to want to personally witness something to convict -- when you have to convince them of the defendant's thoughts, well...let's just say the phrase "reasonable doubt" gets a workout by defense counsel. (no intent to be snarky here, just know the ropes, and I knew Steve for years...he's playing it smart. He was one of those rare attorneys I never heard a bad word about. Just an all-round great guy. I was heartened to see his name connected with any part of this case.) That said, I think Hicks will be hard-pressed to claim a reasonable belief that the rental rate was competetive.

Also very interesting is the note that the governor's office was unaware of the coming charges, which I would take to mean that the County Prosecutor wasn't informed, either (he would have called Taft, imho)

Unfortunately, the County Prosecutor (O'Brien), who would deal with all potential felonies (and is one of the prosecutors in charge of investigating the whole "Coingate" enchilada) is a Rethug tool - in every sense of the word. (Look for his pic in connection with the Columbus freeway shooter case and see why he had the nickname "Lurch" long before anyone applied it to Kerry. Read the articles to despise his quest for publicity in seeking the death penalty, then AFTER mistrial saying he wouldn't seek it again, because "now" he understood how mentally ill the Defendant was -- did he even read the file before breezing in the courtroom? I could tell the guy was a mess from the photos! sorry, minirant over...)

[barbaraann]

9. Thank you for the info!

Let's hope the Republicans aren't able to derail everything.