Taft's conviction heads list of noteworthy stories in Ohio

The Cleveland-based 3rd Battalion's loss of 48 Marines came in second place.
Associated Press
Dateline?Gov. Bob Taft's lowest point, a conviction on ethics charges, topped the list of the state's most noteworthy stories of 2005, beating out the heavy casualties of an Ohio Marines battalion.
Taft's plummet -- from scion of the state's most prominent political family to first Ohio governor convicted of a crime -- also trumped investigations into investments by the state's insurance fund for injured workers, which was third in the rankings by Ohio Associated Press newspaper editors and broadcasters.
Taft, serving his second four-year term, pleaded no contest in August to failing to report 52 gifts worth nearly $6,000 that he received over four years. Franklin County Municipal Judge Mark Froehlich found him guilty, fined him $4,000 and ordered him to send e-mail messages to Ohio newspapers and state employees apologizing for his behavior.
"The court of public opinion and the court of history have already and will in the future continue to impose a far greater punishment than what I can impose on you today," Froehlich told the Republican governor.
Taft, who had declared high ethical standards a hallmark of his administration and had fired subordinates for ethics violations, immediately said he would not resign.
"I will continue to do the job to which I have been elected by the people of the state of Ohio," he said.
An October poll showed Taft's approval rating at 15 percent, and Time magazine last month named him one of the country's three worst governors.
More trouble
The case against Taft spiraled off a scandal over state losses from investments in rare coins and other funds. In October, federal prosecutors accused Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe of funneling $45,400 in illegal contributions to President Bush's re-election bid. He has pleaded innocent.
Noe, a prominent Republican fund-raiser and political appointee, has acknowledged that up to $13 million is missing from a $50 million coin fund that he handled for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Ohio attorney general Jim Petro has accused him of stealing as much as $6 million but no charges have been filed so far.
As the scandal unfolded, Republicans from President Bush to the local level rushed to return or donate to charity contributions they got from Noe.
"The man knows everybody," said Republican Larry Kaczala, the Lucas County auditor. "He's one degree of separation from everybody in the state."
Tragic tale
Between the Taft and Noe stories was the sad tale of the suburban Cleveland-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, which lost 48 members in Iraq, including 16 from Columbus-based Lima Company. Nine Marines from the company were among 14 killed in a roadside bombing in August that was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Iraq.
Two days earlier, the battalion lost six men patrolling for snipers.
Rosemary Palmer, mother of Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder, was making plans to attend the funerals for those six when Marines came to tell her that her son died in the bombing. He enlisted in 2002 despite her opposition to the war.
"He was persuaded that if he joined the Marines he would get a new sense of purpose," said Palmer, who wouldn't let her son play with toy guns as a child.