THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Thanks in no small part to Tom Noe. In the Toledo Blade today they have the story.

Tom Noe used state money to try to pump up an online gambling company in which he and other prominent Republicans were investors, records show.

Mr. Noe invested at least $100,000 of the state’s rare-coin money into financially troubled Games Inc., which has plummeted in value in the last year as its CEO Roger Ach II, a politically connected Cincinnati businessman, sought public contracts.

Mr. Noe is among several prominent Republicans who have invested in Games Inc.

Brian Hicks, former chief of staff to Gov. Bob Taft; Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party; former Senate President Stanley Aronoff, and Lucas County Republicans Patrick Kriner and Sally Perz all own shares in the company, records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.

What a wonderful idea, using state monies to support your investments. Still, most investors want some return on their investment. And it appears that some investors may have done so.

Mr. Ach has contributed $29,040 to state candidates and parties, and $16,000 to candidates for federal office, mostly Republicans. He has tried for years to get a contract from Ohio to allow people to buy lottery tickets online.

Also read about one of the first indictments in this whole sordid affair.

A Columbus prosecutor said yesterday he will file criminal charges against Brian Hicks, the former chief of staff for Gov. Bob Taft, for not reporting stays at coin dealer Tom Noe’s Florida Keys vacation home at below market rates.

Chief Columbus City Prosecutor Stephen McIntosh said his office is racing a judicial clock and has only until Friday to file the charges because of a two-year statute of limitations. Mr. Hicks left the governor’s office July 31, 2003.

The prosecutor said other former and current staffers from the governor’s office are also being investigated for a similar allegations of accepting gifts without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, as required by state law.

As the old saying goes, "A journey of a thousand convictions begins with a single indictment."