Three testify about writing of checks

Tom Noe will be back in Toledo on Monday to face arraignment.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
TOLEDO -- Two officeholders and a former mayor who were friends with a major GOP donor indicted on charges of illegally funneling campaign donations don't appear in danger of similar charges themselves, an attorney said.
Prosecutors say Tom Noe, a coin dealer embroiled in an Ohio state government scandal, wrote checks to friends and associates who then wrote their own checks to the Bush campaign. None of the others has been charged.
An attorney for Toledo City Councilwoman Betty Shultz, Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber and former Toledo Mayor Donna Owens said Noe asked them to make the donations ahead of the fund-raiser, telling them he'd reimburse them afterward, which he did.
"It was more, 'If you go ahead and write a check, I'll go ahead and reimburse you when I see you next,"' attorney William Connelly said Friday.
He likened it to providing free tickets to an event to ensure a big crowd. "You want to see the president, that's a big inducement," Connelly said.
A former state lawmaker and a one-time aide to Ohio's governor also were among those who testified this summer before a federal grand jury that indicted Noe Thursday.
Noe made his first court appearance in U.S. District Court on Friday in Orlando, Fla., wearing handcuffs and chained around the waist. He surrendered to the FBI earlier in the day.
He posted a $1 million bond that was secured with his wife's property in Florida before leaving the courthouse without speaking to reporters with his attorney, Myles H. Malman. Noe is to be arraigned Monday in Toledo.
Taft weighs in
Gov. Bob Taft called the federal indictment "a serious charge" and said he supports a thorough investigation.
"Obviously, it's very disappointing. [Noe] was not the person who he portrayed himself to be," Taft said during a stop Friday at Exal Corp. in Youngstown to campaign for passage of state Issue 1.
Taft said he considers the federal investigation to be separate from the investigation of Noe for the ill-fated $50 million investment of funds at the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
He said he has asked the Legislature to separate the duties of investing funds from the oversight of the operating funds for the agency. Legislation already has been passed to prohibit speculative investing.
More potential trouble
Noe also is under investigation over an ill-fated $50 million investment in rare coins he managed for the state workers' compensation fund. Noe has acknowledged that up to $13 million is missing, and Ohio's attorney general has accused him of stealing as much as $6 million. No charges have been filed in that case, though state officials say they plan to do so.
Investigations into Noe's coin investment, which were first revealed by The Blade, led to the conviction of Taft in August on charges he accepted golf outings and other gifts that he didn't report.
Many of those who went before the grand jury investigating the campaign contributions attended a Bush fund-raiser at a downtown Columbus hotel Oct. 30, 2003, and gave the maximum donation of $2,000. Some were prominent Republicans in northwest Ohio.
Others fare better
Prosecutors did not rule out more charges against the others, but they did indicate Thursday that at least some of those who contributed will not face charges because they cooperated with the investigation. They could have faced misdemeanor charges of violating campaign finance law.
"We went after the biggest player," said Noel Hillman, chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's public integrity section.
Noe was the focus because he was the source of the money, Hillman said.
Shultz, Thurber and Owens all appeared before the grand jury.
All three gave the Bush-Cheney campaign the maximum donation or a little less around the time of the fund-raiser, records show.
Connelly said some of the four he represents had suspicions about Noe but no idea of his plan.
Sally Perz, a former GOP House lawmaker from Toledo, and Douglas Talbott, Taft's former director of boards and commissioners, were among others called before the grand jury.