toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - On May 13, 2001, as they changed into business suits after showering in the locker room of Toledo's Inverness Club after a round of golf, Tom Noe told Gov. Bob Taft about the $25 million rare-coin fund he operated for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, according to an account released by Mr. Noe's attorney yesterday.

And Mr. Noe used the discussion to tell the governor "about his pending application for the second $25 million coin fund," the statement said.

The bureau approved the second $25 million installment two months later - in July, 2001.

Mr. Taft repeatedly has maintained he didn't know about the state's rare-coin investment with Mr. Noe until April 3, when The Blade first reported it.

Mr. Noe is facing multiple criminal and civil investigations triggered by the state's failed investment in rare-coin funds that he controlled. Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has accused Mr. Noe of stealing millions of dollars from the funds and a federal grand jury in Toledo is investigating whether he violated federal campaign-finance laws by laundering money to President Bush's re-election campaign.

Mark Rickel, Mr. Taft's press secretary, again last night denied that Mr. Taft previously knew of the state rare-coin investment with Mr. Noe: "The governor did not learn personally of the coin investment until April of this year."

William Wilkinson, Mr. Noe's attorney, would not provide any more details about Mr. Noe's account of the discussion on Mother's Day in 2001, including why Mr. Noe brought up the topic three years after he received the first $25 million and whether he asked Mr. Taft for help in getting the second $25 million.

Mr. Wilkinson said more information would be shared with the U.S. Attorney's offices from the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, and the prosecutors of Lucas and Franklin counties.

"More was said, and the remainder of what was said, Mr. Noe would discuss only with the official government investigators,'' said Mr. Wilkinson, who said it's unclear when that would happen. "I think they would have an interest in it."

Mr. Rickel said, to his knowledge, Mr. Taft had not been questioned by criminal investigators looking into Mr. Noe's case.

No one else in the Inverness locker room was in "earshot" of the discussion on May 13, 2001 between Mr. Noe and Mr. Taft, according to Mr. Wilkinson.

"Noe and the governor; that's it ... It's 'he said' and 'the other guy can't remember,' " Mr. Wilkinson said.

Mr. Wilkinson said there were no other occasions when Mr. Noe and Mr. Taft discussed the state's rare-coin investment.

Both the Senate President, a Republican, and the top Democrat in the House, called on Mr. Noe and his attorney to provide more evidence of the discussion, if it exists.

Democrats last night said Mr. Noe's accusation is another reason why a bipartisan legislative commission needs to investigate, but Senate President Bill Harris (R., Ashland) said he would expect the Inspector General to follow up on such leads involving the governor during hisa investigation.

Mr. Wilkinson released Mr. Noe's account a week after Mr. Noe asked Mr. Taft to issue a public statement correcting his Aug. 18 accusation that Mr. Noe "made a great effort to conceal" his role in the state's $50 million investment in rare coins.

"We all know that is an incorrect statement,'' wrote Mr. Noe in an e-mail he sent to the governor's office on Aug. 20.

That same day, Mr. Wilkinson said if Mr. Taft did not acknowledge that he had made a "simple mistake,'' then Mr. Noe "will help people to understand that it was incorrect."

Mr. Taft made his assertion about Mr. Noe concealing the existence of the coin fund at a news conference after the governor appeared in Franklin County Municipal Court to plead no contest to four misdemeanor charges that he knowingly failed to disclose dozens of golf outings and gifts he received from lobbyists and businessmen.

Governor Taft was found guilty, fined $4,000, and ordered to apologize to Ohioans and state employees.

On 52 occasions since 1998, Mr. Taft failed to disclose the source of golf outings, gifts, meals, and sports tickets he received, including the May 13, 2001 golf outing with Mr. Noe. Under the state ethics code, officeholders must report the source of gifts valued at above $75.

Rejects resigning

Mr. Taft has rejected calls from some Republicans and Democrats - and groups from both ends of the political spectrum, the Ohio Roundtable and Ohio Citizen Action - to resign.

Mr. Taft's office has said a conversation probably took place on May 13, 2001, but Mr. Taft does not recall a discussion about coins. Mr. Noe golfed that day at Inverness with Mr. Taft, Toledo businessman Mike Wilcox, and state Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green).

"We want the governor to finally retract his false accusation that Noe was concealing his involvement in the coin fund,'' Mr. Wilkinson said yesterday afternoon.

If he does not, then "we're finished with him and everyone else is too,'' said Mr. Wilkinson, who added that Mr. Noe has made it clear that Mr. Taft's accusation that Mr. Noe tried to conceal the rare-coin investment was false.

The outing

Mr. Noe's account states that in late April or early May, an assistant to Mr. Taft - whom he didn't identify - called Mr. Noe to tell him that Mr. Taft would be in Toledo on Mother's Day weekend, that he wanted to golf at Inverness, and wanted Mr. Noe to arrange it.

A former golf member at Inverness who had let his membership lapse, Mr. Noe contacted Toledo businessman Mike Wilcox, a golf member of Inverness, who arranged for a foursome including state Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green) to golf the morning of May 13, 2001.

Mr. Noe, a tennis member of Inverness, kept a locker because he could golf a certain number of times each year with a golf member who invited him, Mr. Wilkinson said.

"Mr. Noe had arranged for he and the governor to share adjoining lockers on the second floor of the Inverness Men's Locker Room,'' the statement says. "They showered and were changing from golf attire into business suits for the brunch and photo session to follow.

"As they dressed, Mr. Noe discussed with Governor Taft his operation of the first $25 million coin fund, and told the governor about his pending application for the second $25 million coin fund," according to the statement.

Mr. Noe released information about the May 13, 2001 discussion with Mr. Taft about the rare-coin investment because of Mr. Taft's "faulty memory,'' Mr. Wilkinson said.

"I would presume that these details will refresh his memory,'' said Mr. Wilkinson. "I've seen it many times in the courtroom. A witnesses memory is refreshed when other details of a forgotten event aroused a memory that had been forgotten."

Mr. Wilkinson said he didn't know where Mr. Wilcox and Mr. Gardner were when Mr. Noe spoke with Mr. Taft.

Mr. Wilcox last night said he "didn't know about any conversation" between Mr. Noe and Mr. Taft, and he declined further comment.

After the golf outing, Mr. Taft, Mr. Noe, and Mr. Wilcox attended a brunch at the exclusive club. Mr. Gardner has said he didn't attend the brunch.

Senate president's view

Mr. Harris, the Senate president, encouraged Mr. Noe and his attorney to release any documentation they have about Mr. Taft's knowledge of the coin funds. He said he did not consider the statement released yesterday to provide any clear evidence.

"Certainly the governor has to be held accountable," Mr. Harris said. "The governor has been very adamant that he did not know about Noe being involved in the coin investment with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. If there was something that would show the governor did know, then we need to know what that is."

Mr. Harris said "two people talking in a locker room with no one else present" does not serve as sufficient evidence.

Despite calls by Democrats for a legislative committee to review what took place, Mr. Harris said he plans to abide by the request of Inspector General Tom Charles to refrain from conducting investigations until his probe is wrapped up.

"If the inspector general gets the lead that there were any dialogue between Tom Noe and the governor, he would follow that lead completely, and in his report, he will tell us what that lead told him," Mr. Harris said.

After receiving the report, Mr. Harris said legislators will review the findings and will have the option of holding additional hearings.

With a flurry of public appearances around the state and a steady stream of news releases, Mr. Taft is trying to put his misdemeanor convictions behind him.

But the dispute with Mr. Noe - and ongoing developments in the Bureau of Workers' Compensation scandal - has made that impossible, several Democrats said.

House Minority Leader Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island) said at the minimum, Mr. Noe yesterday confirmed that "it's a pay-to-play system."

"Noe was golfing with the governor because of the access that provided,'' said Mr. Redfern, citing the bureau's approval of the second $25 million for Capital Coin Fund II that Mr. Noe controlled just two months after arranging a golf outing that Mr, Taftvhad requested.

The question is whether Mr. Noe and Mr. Wilkinson have further evidence about a discussion between Mr. Noe and Mr. Taft.

"At first blush, those kinds of details seem hard to make up. Perhaps the governor is suffering some type of short-term memory loss and I hope that Mr. Noe and Mr. Wilkinson have tangible evidence that the conversations have taken place. If they have, then Mr. Taft and his days as governor are numbered," Mr. Redfern said.

U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Democrat looking to succeed Mr. Taft as governor in 2006, questioned Mr. Noe's credibility in alleging that the governor knew about the coin funds and Mr. Taft's truthfulness about what he knew about the state investment.

"It looks as if the governor has been totally incompetent and disengaged, or he is not being honest with what he says publicly," Mr. Strickland said.

Also knew

Mr. Wilkinson also released the names of two current and former Taft administration officials who Mr. Noe said knew about the state's rare-coin investment because of Mr. Taft's assertion that Mr. Noe "made a great effort to conceal" his role in the state's $50 million investment in rare coins.

Both Doug Moormann and Jim Samuel knew about the investment because part of their jobs as executive assistant for business and industry included oversight of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Mr. Wilkinson said.

Mr. Moormann, vice president of governmental affairs for Cincinnati's chamber of commerce, couldn't be reached for comment last night.

Mr. Samuel, who in July, 2003, joined the governor's office after working eight years for the bureau including as press secretary, succeeded Mr. Moormann in the post.

On June 17, Mr. Taft demoted Mr. Samuel for keeping him out of the loop about the bureau's $215 million investment loss through Pittsburgh-based MDL Capital Management.

Mr. Samuel last night said he felt "very uncomfortable" at Mr. Taft's May 27 press conference when Mr. Taft said neither he nor any member of his senior staff knew about the rare-coin investment until The Blade's April 3 story.

Mr. Samuel said he made his concerns known to Mr. Taft's chief of staff, Jon Allison; chief legal counsel Elizabeth Luper Shuster, and chief policy adviser Kate Bartter (cq).

"I was assured the statement the governor made was technically accurate because I was not a member of senior staff,'' Mr. Samuel said.

Mr. Samuel said he first knew about the rare-coin investment "at least a year prior, if not more."

Mr. Samuel said bureau officials contacted him in March to tell him that The Blade was preparing to publish a story about the Noe coin fund. Mr. Samuel said he shuttled a copy of a memo about the rare-coin investment written by Jim Conrad, the bureau's CEO-Administrator, to the governor's residence on April 1, two days before The Blade first reported on the coin fund.

Mr. Taft has said he didn't read the memo until April 3, the day The Blade story was published.

Mr. Wilkinson said Mr. Noe had previously spoken with 14 other members of Mr. Taft's "senior staff, cabinet members, and appointees" about his rare-coin investment for the Workers' Compensaton Bureau, but those names won't be released.

Seeking commission

Mr. Strickland said the information released yesterday by Mr. Noe's lawyer isn't enough to call for Mr. Taft's removal from office.

But, he said, its another reason to establish a legislative commission to investigate what has transpired in Ohio.

"I believe the best way to sort all of this out and to tell who knew what and when is to have the legislature form a commission and subpoena these people, hold public hearings, and ask the questions," Mr. Strickland said. "The only way to get to the bottom of this is to have people under oath."

After Mr. Taft's conviction earlier this month, Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, called for the governor's resignation due to fears that his administration would be paralyzed by continuing developments in the scandal.

Yesterday, the mayor's spokesman, Dan Trevas, said "the allegations continue to banter back and forth" between Mr. Noe and Mr. Taft.

"Mayor Coleman asked for the resignation simply because of what is happening now, the constant revelations of new information back and forth, the denials that have that office in gridlock and paralysis in trying to deny its actions regarding Tom Noe," Mr. Trevas said, adding the impact is "getting nothing accomplished for the benefit of the citizens of Ohio."

Mr. Trevas said it is difficult to decide who to believe because the Taft administration has contradicted its own statements about Mr. Noe since early April. Additionally, he said Mr. Noe hasn't been charged with a crime, while Mr. Taft and his former chief-of-staff Brian Hicks have been sentenced for ethics violations.

"The only [people] we know who have been convicted of not telling the truth in this instance are Brian Hicks and Bob Taft," Mr. Trevas said.

Paul Tipps, the former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party and longtime lobbyist, said from his 30 years in politics, "it's impossible to believe" that the governor and Mr. Noe would not have discussed the coin fund.

"I'm not saying the governor is telling an untruth or that Noe is telling the truth," said Mr. Tipps, who recently formed an organization to study the problems in Ohio's government.

"I'm telling you what the practice would be. I've been with many public officials at many events and the first thing you discuss is what business you are involved in,'' Mr. Tipps added.

Although Mr. Tipps said it is unclear to him exactly what the governor knew, he wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Taft didn't recall the conversation.

"The governor has been so disengaged it is possible he didn't focus on it and didn't know about it," Mr. Tipps said.

Catherine Turcer, legislative director of Ohio Citizen Action, said: "For a long time, Taft has been getting away with gosh, golly, gee willikers, I don't know what's going on. It's about time someone called him on it.

"What is surprising in this is it's Noe calling him on it. My guess is he got tired of hearing the governor saying he didn't know what was going on and pleading ignorance,'' Ms. Turcer added.

Contact James Drew at: jdrew@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

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