Our local News-Herald has the story:
TOLEDO - Coin dealer Tom Noe made a name for himself in Ohio politics with
the lavish dinners he bought for Republican power brokers and the big checks he
wrote to GOP candidates.
He became one of the state's top fund-raisers and a friend to many, turning
those connections into several political appointments.
Now questions about how he raised money for President Bush's re-election
campaign are the basis for a federal indictment that accuses Noe of illegally
funneling $45,400 to the president's 2004 campaign through Noe's friends and
associates.
Prosecutors say Noe wrote checks to his friends in the eight days leading up
to a Bush fundraiser at a downtown Columbus hotel on Oct. 30, 2003. Noe's
friends then made the campaign donations in their own names, skirting the $2,000 limit on individual contributions, the indictment said.
It's one of the most blatant and excessive finance schemes we have
encountered," said Noel Hillman, section chief of the U.S. Department of
Justice's public integrity section.
In the pay-to-play world of Republican politics, S45,400 gets you face time with the President of the United States. (Click Here For Picture)
