Coingate

[brettdale]

www.conyersblog.com

Coingate Scandal
My Letter to the U.S. Attorney in Ohio

Many of you not from Ohio may not have followed the growing scandal enveloping the Ohio GOP, also known as "coingate." If ever there was a case of truth being stranger than fiction, or absolute power leading to absolute corruption, this is it. Every single statewide office in Ohio is held by the Repubicans, along with the State Senate, State House, and the Supreme Court (sort of scary, but not too dissimilar from DC). Anyway, a big time GOP fundraiser, Tom Noe, from Toledo, somehow convinced these Republicans that it would be good idea to invest state workers' compensation funds in his rare coins. Not surprisingly, this has proven to be a bad investment for everyone but Noe, and many of the coins are now missing. Noe is under investigation for illegal campaign donations as well. Nearly every Republican in the state is involved in some way or another, and state and federal investigations are pending.

What caught my attention was that the U.S. Attorney in Northern Ohio -- Gregory White -- a Bush appointee, appears to have sat on the investigation for several months. He learned about it before the election, yet did not appear to pursue the matter in earnest until fairly recently. (It goes without saying that if this story had broke before the election, it could have changed tens, if not hundreds of thousands of GOP votes in Ohio to the Democratic column.) Yesteday, I asked Mr. White to explain the delay as well as describe the extent and nature of any contacts he has had with the GOP in DC. The Toledo Blade -- which has done a superb job in investigating and reporting this matter -- has a story on my letter and White's response. I will be interested to see whether and how he responds to me. Given that White was willing to go on the record with the Blade to challenge my letter, I think he owes me the courtesy of a formal response as well.