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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: June 2, 2005 Ohio Politicians to Return Tainted Cash; Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team Fails to Turn Over Funds Ohio governor Bob Taft, U.S. Senators George Voinovich and Mike DeWine, and three other top statewide officials in Ohio announced yesterday that they would place the political contributions they received from coin dealer Tom Noe into an escrow account. Noe also contributed $10,000 to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team in 2004, which has not yet been returned. Schwarzenegger’s failure to take swift action to return the contribution is indicative of his approach to the role of money in politics, according to watchdog group TheRestofUs.org. “Although his committee is sitting on $10,000 that was likely stolen from the people of Ohio, the Governor and his fundraising squad have failed to take action to restore that money,” said Ned Wigglesworth, analyst for TheRestofUs.org. “It’s as though these guys have raised so many million-dollar contributions that $10,000 doesn’t even make their radar, even if it was apparently stolen from the people of Ohio.” Attorneys for Noe, a major political contributor to Ohio and national politicians, announced last week that Noe is unable to account for some $10-12 million of the $55 million he received from the Ohio Workers Compensation Bureau to invest through his coin business. Several state and federal investigations have begun, including one by the FBI into whether Noe reimbursed contributors to President Bush’s 2004 campaign, thus violating federal campaign finance laws. Governor Schwarzenegger’s unique relationship with Ohio, where he holds an annual bodybuilding event and multiple political fundraisers, makes his failure to return the money even more puzzling. “Governor Schwarzenegger’s approach to fundraising is to raise as much money as possible in donations as big as possible, even attacking the campaign finance laws if he feels it restricts his access to the checkbooks of rich folks around the country,” said Derek Cressman, Director for TheRestofUs.org. “He is guilty of the very sin of which he accused Gray Davis – selling out the people of California in exchange for big bucks from big-time contributors. Now, it looks like it’s the people of Ohio’s turn.” #-#-#
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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