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Saturday, July 23, 2005

Good, moral Republicans: Collect the whole set!
Posted by Jill | 8:19 AM

This week's GMR cards:

1) Tom Noe, Ohio Republican money launderer:

Tom Noe stole millions of dollars from the state and used a “Ponzi” scheme to fabricate profits within the state’s $50 million rare-coin investment, Ohio’s attorney general said yesterday.

“There was an absolute theft of funds going on,” Attorney General Jim Petro said.

Mr. Petro said there is evidence that Mr. Noe pocketed nearly $4 million in money invested with the coin fund through the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation since 1998.

Mr. Petro asked a judge to further restrict the former Toledo-area coin dealer from selling personal assets because he believes they may have been purchased with state money.

State officials yesterday laid out a complicated scheme of payments between companies Mr. Noe controlled, which they say resulted in the theft of state money.

The attorney general said the theft began on March 31, 1998, the day Mr. Noe received the first of two $25 million payments from the workers’ compensation bureau, and continued until late May — more than eight weeks after The Blade first reported on April 3 that there were problems with the state’s investment.

“On Day One, Tom Noe took $1.375 million and put it in his personal or his business account,” Mr. Petro said. Records show that Mr. Noe immediately began using the state’s money for his personal use, the attorney general said.

A week later, Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, made $4,500 in contributions to then-Secretary of State Bob Taft’s campaign for governor.

In the three months after the $1.375 million transfer of state funds, Mr. Noe made thousands of dollars in political contributions, including an additional $2,500 to Mr. Taft, $2,000 to then-Gov. George Voinovich’s Senate campaign, and $500 to Mr. Petro’s campaign for re-election to the state auditor post he held before becoming attorney general.

When asked if he believed the state’s money had been used for campaign contributions, Mr. Petro said: “I don’t see that. I mean, clearly, Tom Noe personally contributed to campaigns and the source of his funds could very well be public money.”

But Mr. Petro connected the dots on Mr. Noe’s personal purchases, saying the Noes used “public money” to acquire millions of dollars worth of homes, cars, and boats.

Mr. Noe’s attorneys acknowledged on May 26 that up to $13 million in state assets is missing from the coin funds, but they have not shed any light into what happened to the state’s money.

Mr. Noe did not return telephone calls yesterday, and Judson Scheaf, a Columbus attorney who is representing him, declined to respond to Mr. Petro’s claims that Mr. Noe illegally converted nearly $4 million in state money, except to say: “Mr. Petro will have to prove his case in court.”

Mr. Noe, who has contributed more than $200,000 to political candidates, parties, and committees, is facing multiple federal and state investigations, including a probe into whether he illegally funneled money into President Bush’s re-election campaign last year.


2) Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Hypocrisy), who backed off his story that he simply received a backrup from Cynthia Ore in a hotel room, and admitted that he had a five-year affair with the woman. His public statement is astounding for its lack of contrition and defiance:

For about five years I had an affair I deeply regret. Although it was intermittent and ended last year, nothing I say can diminish the pain and hurt I have caused my wife and family.

While I can't change or erase what I did, I accept full responsibility for my behavior, and I apologize to my wife, my family and to the people I represent in Congress. I ask the people of the 10th Congressional District to forgive my poor judgement on this personal matter. I want to assure them that I will continue to work hard as their Representative.

At the same time, I want to be absolutely clear that I never physically hurt or abused Ms. Ore. I will defend myself to the fullest extent possible against these malicious and baseless allegations, which in large part have already been fully investigated and rejected by law enforcement officials.

I am releasing today my legal response to the false allegations leveled at me. I intend to respect the counsel of my attorney and not discuss this case further outside the legal process.


I wonder what "accept full responsibility" means. These guys think all they have to do is make a statement of apology, and it wipes the slate clean. All that's missing here is "Jesus has forgiven me" as an indicator of the ridiculousness behind the Christian right's "clean slate" version of their faith. This guy isn't the least bit sorry about his infidelity, he's sorry he got caught.

Now, as for the wingnut trolls who are going to predictably weigh in with their mantra of "Buh...buh...but CLINTON.....", I say this: Yes, Bill Clinton had an affair. Yes, it was tawdry. Yes, it was a lousy thing to do, and yes I was furious at him about it. Not because of what he did to his family, that's for his family to work out; but because he foolishly gave the Republicans the ammunition they wanted. But Bill Clinton never set himself as some kind of icon of sexual restraint the way the Christian right does. If you're gonna talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk, and the moral scolds who don't are going to get blasted by me.

Don Sherwood has an 84% rating from the Christian Coalition. Don Sherwood voted "Yea" on a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In 1999, the year his affair with Ore started, Don Sherwood voted "Yea" on a bill to allow the Ten Commandments to to be posted in public schools and other government buildings. Obviously Sherwood, like so many other Republicans who go to church and regard themselves as Godly men, thought the commandment about "adultery" didn't apply to him.

Besides, if a Jewish guy got nailed to a cross 2000 years ago to absorb all the lousy things you could do, what motivation is there to behave yourself? After all, if you believe this, you get a free pass to do whatever the hell you want, right?
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