Guest blogged by Winter Patriot
Regular BRAD BLOG readers will know that Thomas Noe has been in big trouble for a long time. As reported previously on these pages, the former head of the Lucas County, OH GOP and a “Pioneer” level (responsible for more than $100,000 in contributions) fundraiser for Bush/Cheney ’04, pled guilty to three charges including funnelling more than $45,000 in illegal contributions to the Bush/Cheney re-election effort in Ohio. Noe’s wife, Bernadette, was the head of the Lucas County board of elections and was forced to step down after “irregularities” were found in their management of the 2004 election. Some of those points are discussed in Bobby Kennedy’s Rolling Stone article on the gaming of the 2004 election.
Today we got the first meaningful indication of how much time Tom Noe is going to spend in prison. The Toledo Blade has very good coverage, and more than I can quote here. So hurrry on over and get yourself some of this: Noe gets 27 months in federal prison for illegal Bush contributions
U.S. District Court Judge David Katz also ordered Noe to pay $136,200 in fines for sending more than $45,000 into a 2003 Bush fund-raiser by using two dozen friends and associates — including several current and former local Republican elected officials — in violation of federal election laws.
Noe, 52, remains free on bond until the conclusion of his trial next month on 48 felony counts in state court related to allegations that he stole millions from a $50 million rare-coin fund that he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
Noe, a former Maumee rare-coin dealer whose large donations made him a powerful political figure, apologized in court for the scheme to give friends money to donate to Bush to fulfill his promise to generate $50,000 for a presidential fund-raiser.
Noe said he arranged the scheme because “in 2003 I was pressured by Bush-Cheney officials to become a Pioneer,†a name the campaign gives to people who raise $100,000.
It’s an incredible tale in the American-dream mold: rags-to-riches-to-prison!
And Mike Wilkinson has done a fine job on the story so I really want you to read it all.
But I can’t resist this bit:
Two years ago he was attending parties at the White House and had the ear of Ohio’s governor. A college dropout, Noe was appointed to head the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Turnpike Commission; he served on a key committee of the U.S. Mint, and he helped plan and implement the strategy that helped President Bush win Ohio and the nation.
Now he faces time behind bars — and possibly an even longer term if he is convicted in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. His trial on the state charges begins Oct. 10.
Oh No, Noe!
Noe gets 27 months while we get 4 years!
And thousands more get life!
Oh YES!
Tommy-boy,
If ya drop the soap make sure ya pick it up.
They don’t make soap on the rope anymore.
The Republicans think it’s worth it, if some lower guy gets jail time, and they get to fuck up the world with their stolen president. (see the New England phone-jammer) They are willing to sacrifice lower guys like Noe & the phone jammer to prison, and these jokers are willing to GO to prison, for the “greater cause”…they are sick nuts! (Abramoff) They’ll steal MORE elections and send toady boys to prison, in 2006 & 2008, as long as they get “their guys” in. It’s got to stop! We should recind the elections, instead of letting the politicians they sacrifice themselves for, serve their years in office. We should start pulling the creeps out of office!!! They will keep doing this, because they have endless zeolats who will go to jail to get “their guys” in office.
Ought to be 27 years! What is this some kind of reduced sentence? WTF! WTF! WTF!?
27 months,.. try 27 years,.. like the rest of us.
This fascist pig brown-shirt storm-trooper from Ohio like the rest of the national GOP army of Republican operatives brought this Nazi administration to Washington DC. They should be made to suffer the maximum penalty,.. not the minimum.
tHE bUSHIT aDMINISTRATION sTEALS tHEIR pOWER tO tAKE oFFICE.
tHE bUSHIT aDMINISTRATION aRE lYING mURDERERS wHO cAUSED 911 aND tHEN aTTACKED iRAQ.
tHE bUSHIT aDMINISTRATION wILL dO wHATEVER iT tAKES tO kEEP aMERICA cONTROLLED bY tHEIR nEW fASCIST gOVERNMENT wITH tHESE gREEDY cRIMINAL fCKS aT tHE wHEEL.
sELLING oFF tHE pUBLIC WESTERN wILDLANDS TO tHEIR dEVELOPER cRONIES aS tHEY aCCELERATE tHE cLIMATE cHANGE cRISIS.
iMPEACH aND pUT tHESE bASTARDS iN tHE nEW u.s. jAILS tHEY aRE hAVING bUILT aROUND tHE cOUNTRY.