Ex-Taft aides enter pleas of no contest

The governor pleaded no contest last year to similar charges.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Two former aides to Gov. Bob Taft pleaded no contest Friday to charges they failed to report loans from the coin dealer at the center of Ohio's government corruption scandal.
Doug Moormann and Douglas Talbott were the third and fourth former Taft aides to face charges as a result of their relationship with Tom Noe, a prominent Republican fundraiser who managed a controversial state investment in rare coins.
Taft and two other administration members pleaded no contest last year to similar charges of violating ethics laws.
Indictment
Noe was indicted on state charges of stealing up to $1 million of the coin investment and has pleaded innocent to federal charges that he illegally funneled $45,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign.
Moormann, Taft's former executive assistant for business and industry, pleaded no contest before Judge Scott VanDerKarr in Franklin County Municipal Court to violating ethics law by failing to report a $5,000 loan from rare coin dealer Tom Noe in 2004. He was fined $1,000.
Douglas Talbott, Taft's former director of boards and commissioners, pleaded no contest to violating ethics law by failing to report a $39,000 loan from Noe in 2002 and his participation in dinners at a downtown Columbus steakhouse hosted by Noe in 2003 and 2004.
Although the two had left Taft's office when they received the loans, they both served on state boards that required they report any outstanding loans.
Talbott also pleaded no contest to taking $1,960 from Noe, combining it with his own money and making contributions of $1,000 each to three Ohio Supreme Court justices in violation of state campaign finance law. He was fined $3,960.