COLUMBUS Tom Noe s legal problems continued to mount this morning as the Ohio Elections Commission referred for possible prosecution an allegation that Noe illegally funneled campaign contributions to state candidates through other people.
The commission unanimously found that Noe violated election law by concealing or misrepresenting campaign contributions. By a vote of 6-1, it then asked that the prosecutor in either Lucas County or Franklin County consider pursuing a formal criminal charge against the former Toledo area coin dealer and influential GOP fund-raiser.
"This is enough to show that Mr. Noe, as he did in the federal system, has funneled contributions to state candidates," said Rick Brunner, the attorney representing Marc Dann, who filed the complaint last year while he was a Democratic candidate for attorney general.
Noe is currently serving a 27-month federal sentence for illegally pouring more than $45,000 into the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush in 2003.
The commission voted 4-3 to hold a full hearing later on the alleged role of Sue Metzger, Noe s former executive assistant, as a conduit for the campaign cash, delaying a final decision because of unsuccessful attempts to reach her under two names in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The case against her is based largely on an article in The Blade last September in which Ms. Metzger admitted outside the Lucas County Courthouse to serving as a conduit for at least $5,000 from Noe to candidates.
Noe s attorney, Craig Calcaterra had urged the commission to delay a decision in Noe s case, saying transfers from prison in Lucas County to federal facilities in Michigan, Oklahoma, Georgia, and finally Florida made it next to impossible for Noe to respond to 58 assertions of fact submitted by Mr. Brunner in February. Those assertions claimed Noe used others to funnel money to the campaigns of then Gov. Bob Taft, Auditor Betty Montgomery, Attorney General Jim Petro, Supreme Court candidate Judith Lanzinger, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, Justice Terrence O Donnell, and other candidates.
The commission, however, declined to accept Mr. Calcaterra s argument and instead, given Noe s lack of response, accepted the assertions as admitted facts in the case against him.
"If you had a full pardon, would you have been able to get a hold of him?" asked Commissioner William Ogg, a Democrat.
"Absolutely," said Mr. Calcaterra.
Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.
Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com.
First Published May 31, 2007, 10:51 p.m.
