OH Investment Scandal: Pair found guilty on ethics charge.

[mod mom]

Down go the first two found guilty relating to the Tom Noe "Coingate" Scandal:


OHIO INVESTMENT SCANDAL
Pair guilty on ethics charge
Former Taft aides wooed by Noe


Brian Hicks — a former aide to Gov. Bob Taft — received the highest possible fine, $1,000, but no jail time.

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK and JOSHUA BOAK
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


COLUMBUS — Two former aides to Gov. Bob Taft — former Chief of Staff Brian Hicks and his former executive assistant, Cherie Carroll — were convicted and fined by a judge yesterday for taking gifts from coin dealer Tom Noe — a political climber who golfed with the governor and sought audiences with President Bush.

Mr. Noe, over the 1980s and 1990s, worked hard to painstakingly chisel a powerful image — one for the governor’s staff to revere and for power brokers to admire as he spread hundreds of thousands of dollars across the state to Republican candidates.

Along that vein, he treated lobbyists and Mr. Taft’s staff to expensive meals and invited them on vacations. They helped him gain seats on some of the most influential boards in Ohio.

<http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050730/NEWS24/50730001>

[TroglodyteScholar]

1. $1000? That'll teach him... n/t

[DesEtoiles]

2. More important, I think, is the admission and legal finding of GUILT