Noe report lags despite earlier vow from state
By Jim Provance, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
But no report has been released.
Noe, a former coin dealer and past chairman of the
BLADE INVESTIGATION:
State law requires the inspector general to prepare a detailed report following each investigation. Traditionally, the report would be followed with the release of the transcripts of interviews conducted during the investigation.
But Inspector General
"Our policy is to not talk about investigations until after a report of investigation is issued," Deputy Inspector General
"There's a point where going back and complaining about the past means you're not focusing on what's going on right now," said Common Cause's
"You always hope that serious problems and misdoings will be corrected, that there will be changes in the law, more oversight, and basic changes so that people can expect better," she said. "I worry that we will, in fact, forget our history unless we actually correct this."
Noe's indictment followed a yearlong investigation by The Blade that discovered missing and stolen coins, massive mismanagement of the state coin-investment funds, and influence peddling.
Noe began his 18-year state sentence in December, 2008, after serving two years in federal prison for using several notable area Republicans to launder campaign contributions to the 2004 re-election campaign of then President
Noe's state conviction was upheld by the
The Noe scandal resulted in 19 convictions, including then-Gov.
In 2011, as he was being named Gov.
It said at the time it would not issue a final report because no one directly involved in the investigation was left in the office to write it. A day later it reversed position but has been quiet since.
The Noe scandal swept Republicans from all but one nonjudicial statewide office. Not surprisingly,
"The Coingate report is several years overdue if guided by the criminal indictments and prosecutions in the case," he said. "The fact of the matter is
"There is no defense in delaying the issuance of this report,"
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