Bush campaign fund-raiser indicted

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A prominent Republican fund-raiser for
President George W. Bush in Ohio has been charged with
illegally funneling money to Bush’s re-election campaign, a
federal prosecutor said on Thursday.

A federal grand jury in Toledo charged Thomas Noe with
making illegal contributions in the names of others to the Bush
campaign and with making false statements to the Federal
Election Commission.

The three counts lodged against Noe each carry a maximum
sentence of five years in prison and a fine.

A separate investigation is examining a money-losing
investment in rare coins Noe made for the state of Ohio.

The indictment alleged Noe had pledged to raise $50,000 for
a fund-raiser for the Bush campaign held in Ohio on October 30,
2003. Tickets to the event cost $2,000 each. It said Noe
disguised $45,400 in personal contributions by recruiting and
providing money to 24 friends and associates who made the
contributions in their names so he could avoid the individual
campaign contribution limit of $2,000.

In some cases, Noe’s reimbursements to contributors
differed just slightly from the amount provided to the campaign
to try to disguise their purpose, according to U.S. Attorney
for the Northern District of Ohio Gregory White, who announced
the indictment.

Noe’s lawyer, William Wilkinson, said he had not seen the
indictment and could not comment.

The 2003 event raised $1.4 million for the Bush campaign.
In 2004, Bush won Ohio by more than 100,000 votes over
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, and the state
was decisive in Bush’s re-election.

Bush and at least 17 elected Ohio officials, including
Republican Gov. Bob Taft and both the state’s U.S. senators,
returned campaign contributions from Noe when irregularities
were revealed in newspaper articles earlier this year. The Bush
campaign returned $4,000, while Taft gave back more than

$22,000.

Another state grand jury is looking into Noe’s $50 million
investment in rare coins on behalf of Ohio’s Bureau of Worker’s
Compensation. Noe, a coin dealer from Maumee, Ohio, has said up
to $13 million is missing from the investment, and Ohio
Attorney General Jim Petro has accused Noe of stealing at least
$4 million of it.

In August, Taft pleaded guilty to ethics violations and
agreed to pay a $4,000 fine for unreported gifts and golf
outings. Noe paid for at least one of the golf outings.