Corruption is a bi-partisan malady:

Scandal rocks Ohio GOP insider
He can't account for millions state put in his rare coin fund
James Dao, New York Times

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Columbus, Ohio -- For nearly a decade, Thomas Noe has been the Republican Party's man to see in northwest Ohio, a confidant of governors and a prodigious fund- raiser for legislators, judges and just about every Republican statewide elected official.

He also happened to be a dealer in rare coins. And in 1998, the state's Bureau of Workers' Compensation agreed to invest in a rare coin fund that he controlled as a way to hedge its holdings in stocks and bonds, an investment that experts have called highly unorthodox.

But this week, Noe's lawyers said as much as $13 million of the state's $50 million investment in his funds cannot be accounted for. Noe, meanwhile, has become the focus of at least six investigations or audits involving either his handling of the coin investments or his campaign fund raising. Federal investigators are also looking into his contributions to President Bush in 2004, when he was a "pioneer" for Bush, raising more than $100,000.

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