Coingate-Petro's inaction on fees surprised SEC (Ohio R. running for gov)

[Algorem]

(Republicans are all crooks,so how many of their candidates can be run out even before elections?Even before primaries?)

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/112513558337090.xml&coll=2

Saturday, August 27, 2005
Julie Carr Smyth and T.C. Brown
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus

-- Attorney General Jim Petro's decision not to investigate excessive broker commissions unearthed at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation by federal regulators came as a surprise to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a lawyer on the case said Friday.

"The SEC can't tell the attorney general what to do, but certainly we were disappointed by the response and the inaction," said Diane Dallianis, an attorney-adviser in the SEC's Chicago regional office. "Why wouldn't they care when constituents' money is at stake?"

The SEC first identified the exor bitant fees paid to three politically connected firms -- Great Lakes Capital Partners, U.S. Dis count Brokerage and Mantor Watson Securities -- in a 2002 examination.

It was only after a fruitless 16-month exchange with members of the bureau's investment staff that Dallianis sought to involve Petro, letters show...

[jimshoes]

1. I can see why the people

who are stealing the money remain republicans, but why do the rank and file republicans who are clearly having their money stolen away from them (along with everyone else) continue to remain loyal to the thieves at the top of their party?

[pf99]

2. People of Ohio

Rise up and throw these republican crooks out

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Complacent good ole boyism.

It extends from top to bottom. Fitzgerald is an anomaly.

[salin]

4. The article from the "sister" thread (yesterdays) points to the political

dimension that links these players to a previous scandal (Jeters) and to MDL - which is the hedgefund that lost 251million.

Westlake bond broker Patrick White had worked at U.S. Discount Brokerage when it was entangled in the pay-to-play allegations that swept Republican State Treasurer Joe Deters' office in 2001. White left U.S. Discount in January 2002 to form Great Lakes Capital Partners, where he is still employed.

Great Lakes also worked for MDL Capital Management, another politically connected investment firm that employed the daughter of former bureau Oversight Commissioner George Forbes. MDL lost $215 million in bureau investments.

Anyone interested in this story should go back to the other thread (I will go get the link and add it) and read that article. IMO - this is one of the junctures of the series of scandals that will unfold in a very ugly way for taftgopco - per the nature of not just pay to play - but a bit of using public dollars as political slush funds and payola to those who "manage" the slush funds (such as Noe).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1728985

[salin]

5. WOW - cinci enquirer editorial

I have noticed, since following this story, that the one paper that consistently has downplayed the stories has been the Cinci paper. But this editorial suggests that the SEC story has finally started to turn them around.

from the editorial:

Admit 'pay-to-play' and end it


Another dime just dropped in Ohio's "Coingate" scandal with the revelation that the Securities and Exchange Commission sent letters to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation last year questioning why the bureau was overpaying brokerage fees - letters that essentially were ignored by the BWC.

Claims by top officials such as Gov. Bob Taft that Ohio doesn't conduct state business on a "pay-to-play" basis are becoming more and more laughable.

snip

According to a story in Thursday's Toledo Blade, one of the brokers the SEC specifically mentioned in its letters was Great Lakes Capital Partners, operated by Patrick White of Cleveland. White and his firm have been active politically, contributing thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, according to the story. The idea of political contributors getting paid more than the going rate for state business seems to be the very definition of "pay-to-play."

snip

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of all this is that those responsible for overseeing the state's business, from the governor to the Oversight Commission of the BWC, claim ignorance of it all. Taft, a friend of Noe, claims not to have known his sometimes golfing buddy invested state money in coins, something Noe disputes. When Taft pleaded no contest to ethics violations last week for failing to report gifts, he specifically said a "pay-to-play" system did not exist in Ohio.

more: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050827/EDIT01/508270320

IMO - this signals the wheels falling off, per public sentiment.