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Article published August 18, 2005
Taft faces 4 charges; court appearance scheduled for today
Taft

By JAMES DREW and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

COLUMBUS — Gov. Bob Taft, his administration battered for months by scandal and accusations of corruption, yesterday became Ohio’s first governor to face criminal charges as prosecutors accused him of violating ethics law.

Mr. Taft knowingly failed to disclose on his state-mandated ethics forms dozens of golf outings and gifts he received from businessmen and lobbyists, prosecutors said.

The governor will appear at 11 a.m. today in Franklin County Municipal Court to face four first-degree misdemeanor charges, each carrying a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The violations stem from his failure to report 52 golf outings, meals, and professional sporting tickets, valued at nearly $6,000, which he has received since 1998.

“The governor is no different than anybody else,” said Inspector General Tom Charles. “If you committed some wrongdoing, you admit it, take your punishment, and move on.”

With the charges, Mr. Taft not only becomes Ohio’s first governor to have a head-on brush with the law, but he also becomes the highest-ranking state official to become entangled in the legal side of the scandal that began in the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation more than four months ago.

Records released yesterday by Mr. Taft’s attorney provide more clues as to the extent of Mr. Taft’s relationship with a number of key Columbus powerbrokers and business leaders, as well as the nature of his association with Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe, the central figure in the scandal that has engulfed the Ohio GOP.

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Taft accepted 47 golf outings, as well as gifts, meals, and sporting tickets on five other occasions valued above $75, but failed to disclose them. State officeholders are required to report the source of gifts valued above $75 on yearly ethics forms.

He is expected to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors, said Stephen McIntosh, chief prosecutor for the Columbus city attorney’s office, which is handling the case. The terms of a potential agreement were unknown yesterday, he added.

The four misdemeanors are for each year that Mr. Taft failed to disclose all golf outings and other gifts to the Ohio Ethics Commission, said Franklin Country Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, a Republican, during a news conference yesterday to announce the charges.

Mr. Taft repeatedly has said he initiated the probe by the Ethics Commission, but his office did not publicly acknowledge the problems with the governor’s disclosure statements until The Blade inquired about whether Mr. Taft needed to file an addendum to those statements.

Mr. Taft, who has prided himself as emphasizing ethics in government, canceled a public appearance in Port Clinton today and did not speak to reporters yesterday.

GIFTS AND GOLF: CHARGES AGAINST THE GOVERNOR
Yesterday, prosecutors charged Gov. Bob Taft in the following instances:

• April 8, 2002: The governor ‘‘did knowingly file a false statement . . . did fail to disclose 6 of 38 sources
of gifts valued in excess of $75.00 received during the 2001 calendar year, to wit: dinners and golf outing
from Ned Maxwell as well as golf outings from Curt Steiner, Ron Oshner, Michael Wilcox, Bob Massie, and Danny Kayne.’’

• April 15, 2003: The governor ‘‘did knowingly file a false statement . . . did fail to disclose 2 of 33 sources
of gifts valued in excess of $75.00 received during the 2002 calendar year, to wit: golf outings from Ned Maxwell and Thomas Noe.’’

• April 15, 2004: The governor ‘‘did knowingly file a false statement . . . did fail to disclose 11 of 27 sources of gifts valued in excess of $75.00 received during the 2003 calendar year, to wit: dinner and Blue Jacket tickets from Jerry Jurgensen, as well as golf outings from David Johnson, Jeff Arthur, Ned Maxwell, Mark Schwab, Bob Massie, Ron Oshner, the Longaberger Company, Mike Wilcox, and Dinon McFerson, and a Senior Open gift set from Thomas
Noe.’’

• April 15, 2005: The governor ‘‘did knowingly file a false statement . . . did fail to disclose 5 of 18 sources
of gifts valued in excess of $75.00 received during the 2004 calendar year, to wit: dinner and a golf outing from Ned Maxwell, as well as golf outings from Jim Hamilton, Ross Bridgman, Bob Massie, and
Ron Oshner.’’
Taft won’t resign

The governor has no intentions of resigning and will make a statement today after he goes before Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Mark Froehlich, said Mark Rickel, a spokesman for Mr. Taft.

Three high-ranking members of Mr. Taft’s administration — Randy Fischer, executive director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission; Ohio Turnpike Commission Executive Director Gino Zomparelli, and Rick Frenette, manager of the State Fair — resigned in part because they failed to disclose golf outings on their ethics statements.

But, Mr. Rickel said, “[The governor] said all along, he will finish his term.”

For Mr. Taft, the great-grandson of President William Howard Taft and the grandson and son of U.S. senators, yesterday’s announcement was a devastating blow to his family’s legacy.

“The culture of corruption has even cast a shadow over the Taft name,’’ said Dennis White, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

The Taft administration has been embroiled in a scandal that has prompted several federal and state investigations, and the resignation of the administrator-CEO of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

The controversy stems from the bureau’s $50 million rare-coin investments with Mr. Noe, which The Blade first reported on April 3. In the months that followed, Mr. Noe’s attorneys acknowledged that up to $13 million was missing from the coin fund, and the Ohio attorney general has accused the businessman of stealing millions of dollars from the state.

The governor initially defended Mr. Noe, whom he appointed to the Ohio Turnpike Commission and reappointed to the Ohio Board of Regents.

But after revelations of the missing millions, Mr. Taft said he was outraged by what had transpired and he reiterated earlier statements that he had no knowledge of the investments with Mr. Noe before The Blade’s reports.

Days before payment

Documents released by Mr. Taft’s attorney yesterday show that Mr. Taft allowed Mr. Noe to treat him to a round of golf on July 26, 2002, at Toledo’s exclusive Inverness Club, just five days before the coin dealer received his second installment of $25 million from the state.

Asked yesterday by a reporter if “we would be standing here today if it weren’t for the controversy surrounding Tom Noe and his role with public officials,’’ Mr. O’Brien replied: “I don’t think so.”

Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, have contributed more than $200,000 to Republican campaigns, committees, and candidates, including at least $20,000 to the governor’s political endeavors.

In addition to the contributions, Mr. Noe partook in at least three golf outings with the governor at the upscale club, including the July, 2002, outing. Toledo investment executive Mike Wilcox hosted the governor and Mr. Noe for golf during the other two outings, which took place in 2001 and 2003, records from the governor show.

After the 2003 Senior Open at Toledo’s Inverness Club, Mr. Noe also sent to the governor Senior Open golf souvenirs and a sweater, priced at $125. A reimbursement of $181.88 for Mr. Noe’s golf outings and gifts are pending, according to information released by Mr. Taft’s attorney yesterday.

William Wilkinson, an attorney for Mr. Noe, said yesterday that his client golfed on several occasions with the governor, but he refuted claims that the coin dealer paid for the outings.

The governor has refused to say if he disclosed the golf outings to the commission because more than a dozen investigations are focused on Mr. Noe, including a probe into whether the coin dealer laundered money into President Bush’s re-election campaign.

THE BOB TAFT FILE
PARTY: Republican.

AGE AND BIRTH DATE: 63; Jan. 8, 1942.

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, Yale University; master’s degree in government, Princeton
University; law degree, University of Cincinnati.

EXPERIENCE: Governor, 1999-present; Ohio secretary
of state, 1991-1998; commissioner, Hamilton County,
1981-90; member, Ohio House of Representatives, 1976-80. Budget offi cer and assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget, state of Illinois, 1969-
1973; served with U.S. State Department in Vietnam, 1967-69; volunteer teacher with the Peace Corps in Tanzania, in East Africa, 1963-1965.

FAMILY: Married, one child.
More charges possible

William Meeks, Mr. Taft’s criminal defense attorney, didn’t return messages seeking comment.

As the Ethics Commission phase of the investigation into Mr. Taft concludes, Mr. O’Brien would not rule out bringing additional charges against the governor if there is information that the state’s top official violated other state laws by allowing his relationships with business leaders and lobbyists to influence his decision-making.

A Blade review of Mr. Taft’s golf partners showed that the governor used the powers of his office to benefit some of the people who joined him on the putting greens:

• On July 6, 2001, Mr. Taft accepted an invitation from an executive with Newark-based Longaberger Co. to golf at the company’s golf course in Newark. Eleven days later, Mr. Taft issued a statement announcing that his administration would take “immediate action to assist” workers who would lose their jobs as a result of layoffs at the company, which makes baskets.

“I have directed the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to mobilize its Rapid Response team immediately to assist the affected workers and their families,” Mr. Taft said in the statement released the same month as his golf outing with Mike Bennett, the company’s vice president of corporate affairs and lobbyist.

The July, 2001, outing was included with information released earlier this month detailing some of Mr. Taft’s golf partners, but a 2003 outing with Mr. Bennett at the Longaberger course was identified in the documents as not reported.

The outing in 2001 was not among the 52 gifts disclosed yesterday by Mr. Taft’s attorney because Mr. Taft, and his former chief-of-staff, Brian Hicks, who also participated in the event, paid their own way.

Representatives from Longaberger could not be reached for comment last night.

• Mr. Taft also interceded on behalf of another frequent golfing partner, Bob Massie, the president of CAS, a Columbus-based chemical services company formerly known as Chemical Abstract Services, who felt his company was being forced to compete with the federal government.

Earlier this year, Mr. Taft wrote a letter on behalf of CAS to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, saying that a government-run scientific directory duplicated the work of Mr. Massie’s company and “threatens the very existence of CAS,’’ according to Associated Press reports.

On nine occasions since Mr. Taft took office in 1999, he accepted gifts from Mr. Massie but failed to disclose them on his ethics form. The gifts included a dinner and eight golf outings, as recently as September 12, 2004, at Columbus Country Club.

Mr. Massie could not be reached for comment last night.

‘Did not lobby’

Mr. Hicks, who served as Mr. Taft’s chief of staff until 2003, said “people did not lobby” Mr. Taft on the golf course.

“Most of these are longtime personal friends,” he said. “When he was on the golf course, I think it was an opportunity for him to be one of the guys.

“I think it is foolish for anybody to think that previous governors of both parties did not have dinner, did not play golf with friends of theirs without reporting it,’’ The scandal swirling around Mr. Noe led to the July 29 conviction of Mr. Hicks for failing to disclose that he twice rented a $1.3 million Florida Keys home owned by Mr. Noe for family vacations at below-market rates. Mr. Hicks is a lobbyist and consultant.

Herb Asher, a political science professor at Ohio State University, said Mr. Taft’s ethical lapse has more to do with influence peddling than golf.

“This isn’t about golf outings. It’s about people who want to do business with the state. The golf outings are just one little symptom here,’’ Mr. Asher said.

Yesterday, Columbus City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer, a Democrat, said prosecutors didn’t have any evidence that Mr. Taft showed favors to those who paid for his golf outings.

“There’s no information or evidence I have of any other misconduct by the governor,’’ Mr. O’Brien said.

While Mr. Taft’s attorneys acknowledged yesterday that the governor had failed to report golf outings dating back to 1998, the charges filed represent alleged ethics violations from 2001 to 2004, prosecutors said.

Even though the governor did not disclose golf outings and other gifts from 1998 to 2000, prosecutors did not believe they could prevail on criminal charges because they occurred before a 2001 Ethics Commission ruling, which barred state officials from accepting golf outings from people doing business with their agency.

‘Gave full disclosure’

Since June 21, when Mr. Taft announced he had failed to disclose golf outings on his ethics form, he had pledged to release details when the Ethics Commission had completed its work.

Mr. O’Brien said Mr. Taft had “fully cooperated” with the Ethics Commission.

“Much of what was found was reported to the Ethics Commission by the governor,’’ he said.

Mr. Meeks, Mr. Taft’s criminal defense attorney, said in a statement that the governor had provided “full disclosure.”

“Additionally, the governor has reimbursed all appropriate individuals and has provided verification of these reimbursements to the Ethics Commission,’’ Mr. Meeks said.

Mr. Taft has referred to his failure to disclose the golf outings as “not purposeful” and his attorney, Mr. Meeks, has said it was “inadvertent.”

The second term of the 63-year-old governor expires in early 2007.

Mr. Taft, who can’t run for re-election next year because of term limits, has watched his approval rating plummet over the past several months.

On Aug. 11, the Ethics Commission completed a two-month investigation into whether Mr. Taft failed to disclose golf outings and other events on his financial disclosure statements.

Blade staff writers Joshua Boak and Christopher D. Kirkpatrick contributed to this report.
Contact James Drew at: jdrew@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.