Democrats say Noe case concealed to assist Bush (campaign contributions)

[KaliTracy]

“To assume that information probably wasn’t controlled is to assume the American people don’t have minds of their own. Connect the dots...” state Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo)



please see this article... very in-depth. I love the part where Bush gives Noe and his wife each a hug.



Allegations arose before ’04 election
Democrats say Noe case concealed to assist Bush
By JAMES DREW
and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


COLUMBUS — In the final weeks of the 2004 presidential race, the nation focused on Ohio as both campaigns carefully choreographed every move by their candidates, knowing one misstep could throw the keys to the White House into the hands of the opponent.

The national media scrutinized every detail of the high-stakes political battle, as President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry crisscrossed Ohio, energizing their bases and reaching out to swing voters in the Buckeye state, which ultimately decided the race by fewer than 120,000 votes.

At the same time — beneath the surface and out of public view — allegations were swirling that Tom Noe had laundered contributions into President Bush’s campaign, and facts were emerging that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation had lost $215 million meant for injured workers in a Bermuda hedge-fund.

Now, more than six months later, those bombshells have created the biggest state government scandal in decades in Ohio. Democrats are charging that Republican leaders suppressed the potentially explosive information until all the votes were counted to save the President’s re-election campaign.

more ... http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050619/NEWS24/50619020

[babsbunny]

1. YEAH!

I am so pround to be born and raised in Ohio!

[mod mom]

2. and thanks to NOE campaign contributions 5 of the 7 sumpreme court justice

in Ohio had to recuse themselves. NOE/Lucas county BOE problems are are key to success in Ohio. Wayne Madsen commented on the Ohio turnpike 'commission and Tom Noe was even on this commission! I think this is the key to the holy grail.

[meganmonkey]

3. Wow - great article

The Blade is a gift to the state of Ohio - It seems all the best things I have read lately are in that paper!

[kster]

4. Hope they make

that BIG connection, keep your fingers crossed.

[KaliTracy]

5. I think they are getting closer.... so many things starting to unravel...

it is like they are trying to push threads back to the other side of the favorite sweater, and if they pull the wrong one, everythings going to come apart....

[Botany]

6. This goes to blackwell & * this is as big as DSM

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050615/NEWS24/50615005
Wine missing?
Investigators from the Jefferson County, Colo., Sheriff’s Office on June 3 took custody of 3,500 bottles of wine valued at $500,000, and seized hundreds of rare coins, 265 Cuban cigars, computers, and documents from Mr. Storeim’s home and office as part of a criminal investigation.

to sum up known facts as of 6/15/05
Ohio workers comp lost 215 million in a republican run hedge fund ..... the repug Gov. of Ohio found out about this in Oct. '04 but kept it from the
public until after the election .... the same worker's comp program invested in coins and baseball cards sold by republican pioneer Tom Noe ...... Noe
also owned the company that put the value on the coins & cards ...... at least 50 million was spent on these collectables which were over valued by
at least 15 million ..... Noe was also connected to the Ohio Turnpike commission ...... which recently fired all state employees and replaced them w/
private contractors (less oversight for Money laundering ????) .... he was also connected to the Lucas County Board of elections by his wife ...... Lucas county
had voting machines "lock up" on 11/2/04 in democratic precincts .... had computers with voter data bases stolen from the Kerry HQs ...... a couple that had
lived in the same house from 1960 and voted at the same place since 1960 had to vote provisionally because they were no longer registered ..... all members of
the Lucas County BOE had to resign after the election ....... Congressman Sherrod Brown (D) Lorain, OH is on record as saying, "This calls into question the
outcome of the election." ....... and now a house in Colorado with evidence from the coin scam in Ohio is broken into and the evidence has disappeared ......

...... If I went to a producer in Hollywood and tried to sell this story how do you think it would go?

[mod mom]

11. May I add the Tom Noe (besides his wife) served on the BOE from 1993-2003

and it was during his tenure that Diebold machines were brought into the county:

Tom W. Noe served as the Chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party from 1992-1995 as well as on the board of the Lucas County Board of Election from 1993-2003. He was also appointed to the Ohio Board of regents in 1995.

http://www.regents.state.oh.us/people/noe.html

It was during his tenure on the BOE that Diebold machines were brought into Lucas County.

"TOLEDO, Ohio, May 10, 2002 ¯ Just about every county in the nation is rushing to update their voting technology, but no county to date has done it faster than Lucas County."
<snip>
"Lucas County Board of Elections Acting Chairman Tom Noe, who was present to observe the May 7th election, was pleased with the outcome. "I don't think there is another county in the nation that has implemented touch screen voting as quickly as Lucas County did for this trial run in a primary election," Noe said. "The people of Lucas County and of Ohio in general can be proud of this achievement.""
http://www.sequoiavote.com/mediadetail.php?id=57

http://www.diebold.com/news/newsdisp.asp?id=2997

[LightningFlash]

19. A dirty man committing a dirty deed....

Blackwell's little stooge.

[autorank]

7. KaliTracy...hot one. I love the Toledo Blade. The new Wash Post!

The Post has sunk so low Deep Throad didn't trust them enough to reveal his identity. What a comment. The Blade rocks and so do you!!!

[KaliTracy]

8. I was visiting my mom this weekend, or else I never would have seen it

The article took up an entire open page (and then some).

[Darkhawk32]

9. Can someone please give me the Cliff Notes version....

of this whole "Coin-gate" thing and how it relates to the election fraud of 2004?

[KaliTracy]

10. Hmmm... Well, Noe was the chairman of the Bush/Cheney re-election

committee in NWOhio -- his wife was the head of the Republican Board of Elections (he used to have this post). He's been involved in Investing in Coins since he was a teenager, has his own Coin business, which has an office in Colorado. He was given access to 50 million dollars to invest in rare coins for Ohio several years ago.

He was a George Bush "pioneer" (Helped raise over $100,000) -- what they are looking at is the possibility that he gave people $$ in order to attend his fund raiser.

The Coin thing started to be a couple of coins lost/stolen that were worth over 2 or 3 hundred thousand dollars, but then, with further scrutiny, the investing of the coins itself lost over 10 million.... there is speculation that some of this money may have been funneled to the Bush Campaign.

That's the short (and hopefully accurate) and dirty.

there is MORE... much much MORE

these two threads (there are others -- do a search if you can) cover a lot.

Noe's Billion Dollar Connection
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371800

I know.....follow the money...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=374922

[mod mom]

12. We really need to stress the BOE problems in Lucas County when refering to

Coingate. We need to not only investigate how money was illegally funneled into the bu$h/cheney campaign, but the other tactics the NOoes were able to do in helping b/c get elected. WE HAVE 5 OF THE 7 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES RECUSED DUE TO NOE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS, THIS IS OUR WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY TO GET A FAIR COURT!

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/lucas.htm

This report includes the fact that REPUBLICAN VOLUNTEERS were allowed UNSUPERVISED ACCESS to UNSECURED BALLOTS prior to the election, as well as this list:

*failure to maintain ballot security
*Inability to implement and maintain a trackable system for voter ballot reconciliation .
*failure to prepare and develop a plan for the processing of the voluminous amount of voter registration forms received.
*issuance and acceptance of incorrect absentee ballot forms.
*manipulation of the process involving the 3% recount.
*disjointed implementation of the Directive regarding the removal of Nader and Camejo from the ballot .
*failure to properly issue hospital ballots in accordance with statutory requirements.
*failure to maintain the security of poll books during the official canvass
*failure to examine campaign finance reports in a timely manner.
*failure to guard and protect public documents.
*failure to guard and protect public documents ....etc.

AND LET'S NOT FORGET THIS LITTLE TIDBIT:

Also Mr. Noe intervened with Blackwell in a court case:

Thomas W. Noe files to intervene in Democrat court Case v. BlackwellEdited on Fri May-27-05 05:57 PM by phoebe
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/docs/sandusky/doc5...

[mod mom]

13. Reason Blackwell investigated Lucas County BOE:

I have been asked why Blackwell would investigate Lucas County BOE if he was connected to the Noes (through BOE and campaign contribution) Today's Toledo Blade helps answer that question:

Questions arise early

The air was thick with talk in Toledo about investigations surrounding the Noes long before last year's election. It centered on contributions to the Bush campaign at an Oct. 30, 2003, fund-raiser in Columbus, where Mr. Noe sponsored a table and invited a number of people to attend.
At issue was whether Mr. Noe gave others money in order for them to give to the Bush campaign, allowing him to skirt federal spending limits, law enforcement sources told The Blade.
-snip-
Although Mr. Kidd made his allegation in March, 2004, it wasn't until September that the county prosecutor's office received information - generated by a subpoena that a county grand jury issued - that ruled out the allegation by Mrs. Noe and Mr. Thurber against Mr. Kidd.

www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050619...

BLACKWELL KNEW WHAT WAS COMMING DOWN ON THE NOES. He used them during the election to secure access and votes, then investigated to make it look like he wasn't connected.

[KaliTracy]

14. Blackwell had Noe and one other "citizen" as an Intervenor in TWO

Lawsuits against The Democratic party.

One just PRIOR to the the election -- about the use of Provisional Ballots. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/docs/sandusky/doc5.pdf


The other AFTER the election -- about/against the Recount Efforts.
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/docs/ohio/Rios/intervene.pdf

I agree he knew something was happening with the Noes... and was trying to make it look like he was "cleaning house" -- for what it's worth, if there IS anything to the fact that this occurred, I sent it to Steve E. from the Blade -- perhaps they can determine if there are damning connections.

[mod mom]

15. I have been sending info to the Blade writers, as well, have you

heard any response back from them?

a records request has been filed btw.

[KaliTracy]

16. I just sent it about a week ago after I stumbled upon a pretty

scathing report about Blackwell that was published June 5th.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/NEWS24/506050376&SearchID=73211749317009

Blackwell had few concerns at first
He now says scandal has 'smell' of crime

By STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITER


COLUMBUS - Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell was not initially concerned or even shocked that the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation had invested $50 million in rare coins.


In fact, Mr. Blackwell told The Blade on April 5 that "most people" wouldn't find it "unreasonable" that the state had invested in rare coins with Tom Noe, who has said through his attorneys that at least $10 million of the state's assets are missing.

"When you run a fund the size of $18 billion and you're looking at $50 million, beyond what one's disposition might be, is that an irresponsible amount of risk? Most people would say no," Mr. Blackwell said on April 5 - two days after The Blade's initial report on the coin investment.

Two months later, Mr. Blackwell told The Blade that the coin scheme carries the "potential smell of organized crime" and needs to be addressed in the federal government.

"It's serious," he said. "It's not a marginal issue or an issue that you play with in the margins. This gets to the heart of the integrity of governance. It is an important issue."


more...

[KaliTracy]

17. oh... I haven't received anything back. I sent it directly to the writer

not as a letter to the editor...

[mod mom]

18. I have done the same to individual writers w/o a reply. nt