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“People who have more money should be free to buy more cars, more homes, more vacations, and more gizmos than the rest of us. They should not be able to buy more democracy." -Bill Moyers |
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For Immediate Release: May 27, 2005 Major Ohio Political Donor Cashes In Political Contributions: $10-12 Million Missing The attorneys for major political contributor and coin dealer Thomas Noe informed Ohio state officials Thursday that $10 to $12 million of the state worker compensation fund’s $50 million dollar investment with Noe is missing. Since 1990, Noe and his wife Bernadette have contributed nearly $130,000 to candidates and committees in Ohio. The recent developments raise the possibility that the money Noe may have embezzled from the people of Ohio was used to make political contributions to the current Ohio Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, and Attorney General, according to campaign finance watchdog TheRestofUs.org. “Noe’s $100,000 investment in politicians was very effective; the state of Ohio’s $50 million investment with Noe was clearly ineffective and likely influenced by Noe’s campaign contributions,” said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestofUs.org. “When rich folks can make contributions to candidates that the rest of us can’t afford, they end up with their candidates in office, while we’re left wondering where our $10 million went. This is a perfect example of why Ohio needs to tighten, not loosen its campaign finance laws.” The Ohio scandal echoes a recent scandal in California, where Secretary of State Kevin Shelley resigned in disgrace after allegations surfaced that a major donor to his campaign, Julie Lee, had used a state grant intended for a community center to launder more than $200,000 in contributions to Shelley. While TheRestofUs.org called for an impeachment investigation of Shelley, it is not clear that such an inquiry is warranted in Ohio, unless it is shown that any elected official knew of any wrongdoing. When the Shelley controversy first came to light, Shelley rightly put the questionable contributions into escrow. “We call on all the politicians and party committees who received contributions from Tom Noe to return the contribution or to place the money into an escrow account pending the outcome of the investigation,” said Ned Wigglesworth. “That includes all the major state officers in Ohio, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more than twenty federal candidates, including President Bush.” Since 1992, Noe and his wife have contributed $66,800 to federal candidates and committees, and $10,000 to California Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team. #-#-#
Background: TheRestofUs.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization working to make democracy work for ordinary citizens.
TheRestofUs.org is involved in campaign finance ballot measures
in Oregon and Ohio and independent redistricting policy in
California, Florida, and Ohio. We will soon file an amicus
brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review and uphold Vermont’s
mandatory spending limits. We also support federal efforts
to eliminate the 527 loophole for soft money electioneering.
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