Ethics Training For Ohio Republicans
by TChris
Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett realizes that Republicans need a refresher course in ethics. His solution:
With an eye toward next year's election, Bennett said last week he will require any candidate seeking the party's support to have ethics training.
Bennett made the decision in the wake of a political scandal triggered by the loss of $12 to $13 million from the state's workers compensation fund. The fund inexplicably decided to invest in rare coins at the suggestion of Thomas Noe, a Toledo coin collector who was chairman of President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign in northwest Ohio. About 120 of the coins, supposedly in Noe's care, are missing.
Noe is described as "a lawn sprinkler of campaign cash to major Republican candidates in the state." Noe sprinkled money on a variety of Republican candidates, including President Bush, who is returning $4,000 in campaign contributions he received from Noe. The Bush campaign received more than $100,000 raised by Noe.
Other Republican candidates are also emptying their pockets of Noe's money.
Gov. Bob Taft, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine and three other statewide officeholders with gubernatorial ambitions announced this week that they are giving up about $60,000 they had received from Noe. In Washington, the Republican National Committee said Thursday it would donate to charities $6,000 that the Bush-Cheney campaign and the RNC received from Noe and his wife, Bernadette.
Ethics training might have alerted Republicans to the impropriety of trusting a man with a $55 million state investment simply because he's a generous contributor to Republican campaigns.
"This is such a vibrant example of the culture of corruption in Columbus," said Democratic state Sen. Marc Dann, whose party has not won a statewide race in Ohio in more than a decade. "The people in charge have become too comfortable with churning government benefits in exchange for campaign contributions," Dann said.
The ethics training may be coming a bit late. Ohio voters are unlikely to be understanding of politicians who decided to squander funds that were intended to compensate injured workers.
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