'Coingate' may be tip of corruption iceberg

Rare coin dealer Tom Noe, who has long been a major fund raiser and contributor to Republican officeholders and candidates, has been charged with stealing at least $1 million from the $50 million the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation funneled to him for an investment scheme that involved buying and selling rare coins. Noe, 51, has pleaded innocent to the embezzlement charge, as well as 52 others, including racketeering, forgery, theft, money laundering and tampering with records.
The BWC-Noe investment scandal has been dubbed "coingate" and could well be the tip of a corruption iceberg in the state of Ohio. Why? Because at the heart of the scandal is the connection between state government contracts and contributions to officeholders and political parties. And since Republicans have controlled the governor's office, the Legislature and most statewide elected positions for 12 years, Democrats have justifiably blamed the GOP for this "pay-to-play" culture.
"The logical place to where this investigation should lead is to look at all the soft service contracts in state government," says state Sen. Marc Dann, D-Liberty Township, who has been aggressive in his pursuit of Noe and others involved in "coingate."
Quid pro quo?
Dann says Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles, who has been involved in the investigation of Noe and his ties to the Republican-controlled state government, should determine whether other contracts were given in exchange for campaign contributions.
"If we're overpaying for everything we're buying in state government in no-bid contracts and consulting fees, we could be looking at $1 billion to $2 billion in overpayments," the senator contends. Such money could go a long way toward boosting funding for higher education, or even addressing the inequities in funding for primary and secondary education.
Because of the statewide elections this year, including the contest for governor in which there is no incumbent -- Republican Gov. Bob Taft is prohibited from seeking a third consecutive term -- the GOP can be expected to down play "coingate" and to confine the investigation into government corruption and influence peddling. That would be a mistake.
Given that Noe has acknowledged that up to $13 million is missing from the rare coins fund and given that Attorney General Jim Petro, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, has accused the GOP operative of stealing up to $6 million, any effort to dismiss this scandal as an aberration will be met with public disdain.
And, given that the Republican governor and two former aides pleaded no contest last year to ethics charges in a case spun off from "coingate," it does appear that there is a need for a wide-ranging investigation into the link between political contributions and state government contracts.
Government corruption will be a key issue in this year's statewide election, with Democrats charging that the Republicans have used their political power to reward their major donors. The only way for such a charge not to stick is for all the GOP candidates this year to call for an independent investigation into all no-bid contracts and consulting fees paid over the past 12 years.