toledoblade.com --

Jack Ford's case for linking Carty Finkbeiner to two of the state's most troubled political figures rests on a breakfast, 15 minutes of televised niceties, alleged guilt by association, and a seven-year-old misdemeanor.

It includes no direct financial or political connections between Mr. Finkbeiner and former GOP power broker Tom Noe or Gov. Bob Taft, though Mr. Ford and his allies repeatedly attempted to group Mr. Finkbeiner with both men and their high-profile difficulties last week.

The spokesman for Toledo's Clean Campaign Committee says the strength of the evidence could pose "a problem" for Mr. Ford in the context of his pledge to avoid innuendo and personal attacks in his race against Mr. Finkbeiner for mayor.

"If, in fact, we had a paper trail or some other evidence that the campaign took money from Tom Noe," said the Rev. Gary Blaine, the committee spokesman, "that he was somehow on their payroll, that there was any kind of contractual relationship between Noe and the Finkbeiner campaign, then OK, I guess that's open for question.

"I don't think anybody has that."

Mr. Ford, Toledo's incumbent mayor, and Mr. Finkbeiner, the mayor from 1994 to 2002, are matched in the Nov. 8 general election. Both men signed a clean-campaign pledge earlier this month, which the nonpartisan Clean Campaign Committee will enforce.

Mr. Ford and his allies repeatedly questioned Mr. Finkbeiner's ethics last week and associated him with Mr. Noe, who is accused of stealing millions from a coin fund he operated on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and Mr. Taft, who pleaded no contest to four criminal ethics charges and was convicted of the same in August.

One of the mayor's top advisers, Jim Ruvolo, said Friday that "there's a connection" between Mr. Finkbeiner and Mr. Noe, which fits into a larger charge that Mr. Finkbeiner is "politically amoral."

Mr. Finkbeiner has dismissed the charges and asked the Clean Campaign Committee to investigate a claim about his relationship with Mr. Noe. His spokesman, Bob Reinbolt, on Friday called the attacks "just a stretch in my mind, a desperate stretch."

In public and in interviews, Mr. Ford's supporters offer four exhibits of Mr. Finkbeiner's connections to Mr. Noe, and one they say links him to Mr. Taft:

Mr. Noe appeared on Mr. Finkbeiner's talk show on WTVG-TV, Channel 13, in April, less than a week after The Blade first reported the state's multimillion-dollar investment in his rare-coin funds.

The story had raised questions about the propriety of investing money with a large political donor, but allegations had not yet surfaced that Mr. Noe stole millions from the state.

On his talk show, Mr. Finkbeiner called Mr. Noe "my friend." He allowed a WTVG-TV reporter to question Mr. Noe on whether politics influenced the state's investment in his funds and whether Mr. Noe would face further investigations.

Mr. Finkbeiner asked Mr. Noe if he and Mr. Taft ever discussed the state's rare-coin investment. (Mr. Noe said they hadn't.) He closed the segment by thanking Mr. Noe for coming on the show.

"Thank you for caring about the state of Ohio and northwest Ohio and trying to make a difference in our state," Mr. Finkbeiner said. He said the rare-coin investment had turned a profit and "that should be good news for the citizens of the state of Ohio."

Later in the show, Mr. Finkbeiner predicted the only result of the allegations would be a change in rules for investing state money with political contributors.

In late April, Mr. Noe joined more than 100 other "business leaders" at a breakfast meeting with Mr. Finkbeiner, who had not yet officially declared his candidacy. Mr. Finkbeiner paid for the meal with campaign funds.

Mr. Reinbolt said Mr. Noe received a mass-mailed invitation to the breakfast and never advised or donated to the campaign: "He was just never considered a significant factor to us," Mr. Reinbolt said.

At a time when other Democrats were criticizing Mr. Noe, Mr. Ford's supporters claim Mr. Finkbeiner was priming Mr. Noe for a campaign role.

"What is it about Carty that made him go in the opposite direction?" said Frank Szollosi, a city councilman who backs Mr. Ford. "That's the larger point."

'Using whoever he can'

Mr. Ruvolo speculated "Carty was counting on Noe for money.

"It's using whoever he can use," Mr. Ruvolo said, "whether they have a good reputation or bad reputation, as long as they can help him."

Two key members of Mr. Finkbeiner's campaign team have been associated closely with Mr. Noe or his wife, Bernadette, in the past, Mr. Ford's allies charge.

Mr. Noe provided last-minute help to former County Treasurer Ray Kest's mayoral campaign against Mr. Ford four years ago. A central adviser to that campaign, John Irish, now advises Mr. Finkbeiner.

Mr. Irish remained close to Mr. Kest after the campaign, while Mr. Noe publicly dubbed Mr. Kest "the worst candidate I have ever seen."

Another key Finkbeiner supporter, Teamsters Local 20 President Bill Lichtenwald, killed an effort to unionize county elections clerks at the last minute in 2003, when Bernadette Noe sat on the board of elections.

Mrs. Noe said afterward the move "relieved me of casting a very difficult vote, and I appreciate that."

Mr. Blaine of the Clean Campaign Committee said those charges against Mr. Finkbeiner appeared largely speculative. "Show me the documents" linking Mr. Noe and Mr. Finkbeiner directly, he said. "Show me the story. Show me the report."

The best-documented allegation involves Mr. Finkbeiner's guilty plea in 1998 to a misdemeanor ethics charge, as part of a deal with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

Mr. Finkbeiner led a city effort in the early 1990s to persuade Owens Corning to build its headquarters downtown. The project included moving the Commodore Island condominiums, one of which Mr. Finkbeiner owned.

$10,000 not reported

The city bought the 15 condominiums, including Mr. Finkbeiner's. The development company involved paid Mr. Finkbeiner $10,000 to move out of his condo early.

The then-mayor never reported the payment on state ethics forms.

Mr. Finkbeiner cut the plea deal in 1998, after a four-year investigation, and soon after he won a second term. He was ordered to pay a $400 fine and court costs and called the omitted disclosure "an honest mistake."

Mr. Ford declared last week in a news conference that "you don't forget a $10,000 check."

He and supporters compared Mr. Finkbeiner to Mr. Taft, whose ethics convictions last month stemmed from failing to report dozens of gifts, many of them from lobbyists.

Mr. Reinbolt has likened the comparison to "apples and vegetables."

Mr. Blaine called it a "gray area" under the clean-campaign pledge that Mr. Ford and Mr. Finkbeiner both signed.

"The ethics charge is there; it's a public record," Mr. Blaine said. "Making the association [with Mr. Taft], I think, is something of a leap."

Contact Jim Tankersley at: jtankersley@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.

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