Ohio Gov. Charged With Ethics Violations

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TweetOhio Gov. Charged With Ethics Violations


COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican Bob Taft has become the first Ohio governor charged with a crime, accused of violating state ethics laws that he championed to his subordinates.



Taft was scheduled to appear in a courtroom Thursday to answer allegations that he failed to report 52 gifts, including dinners, golf games and professional hockey tickets. He has been charged with four ethics violations.

If convicted, Taft could be fined $1,000 and sentenced to six months in jail on each count, though time behind bars was considered unlikely. City Prosecutor Stephen McIntosh told The (Toledo) Blade that Taft is expected to reach a plea agreement.

The governor, whose great-grandfather was President William Howard Taft, will respond publicly Thursday and is not planning to resign, spokesman Mark Rickel said.

The gifts were worth about $5,800 and given over four years, prosecutors said. Taft earlier had revealed that he failed to report some outings but said the omissions were accidental.

Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said the gifts included two golf outings worth $100 each paid for by embattled coin dealer Tom Noe. Noe is a Republican fundraiser whose $50 million investment of state money in rare coins launched the scandal that led to Taft's revelation that he failed to list golf outings on financial disclosure forms.

State law requires officeholders to report all gifts worth more than $75 if the donor wasn't reimbursed. O'Brien said the gifts also included meals and tickets for a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game.

The Ohio Ethics Commission last week concluded its investigation into Taft's golf outings and forwarded the results to prosecutors.

A state task force and the commission are investigating public employees for similar offenses and O'Brien said he expected more serious felony charges to be brought, although not against Taft.

The alleged ethics violations against Taft are another blow to the GOP in the Republican-controlled state that won President Bush re-election. Democrats have found hope for the 2006 midterm elections in the investment scandal and a surprisingly close congressional race this month for an open seat in a GOP stronghold.

Taft released records Aug. 5 showing he accepted invitations to 21 golf outings since 1999, including one in 2001 with Noe. The coin dealer has contributed $22,190 to Taft's political campaigns, state records show.

Taft's golf partners included John Snow, then the head of transportation company CSX Corp. and now the U.S. Treasury secretary; and Tony Alexander, president and chief executive of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.

Some partners have said Taft paid for the golf; others have said they picked up the tab.

Taft's former chief of staff Brian Hicks pleaded no contest last month to failing to report stays at Noe's million-dollar Florida home. He was fined $1,000.

Noe has acknowledged that up to $13 million is missing from the rare coins fund, and Attorney General Jim Petro has accused him of stealing as much as $4 million.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006, said the charges are part of a "culture of corruption" in Ohio.

Some residents also are fed up with the corruption.

"It's a sad state of affairs," said Bruce Lively, a Maumee resident who said he had backed Taft in the past but now thinks he should step down.

Taft was elected governor in 1998, following the most expensive campaign in state history. He also had been secretary of state, a state representative and a county commissioner in his hometown of Cincinnati.

His distinguished political family also includes his father and grandfather, who were both U.S. senators from Ohio.

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[Equalizer]

TweetHe and his adminstration are crooks and buy votes.