'The Blade' Takes Scalpel to GOP Funding in 2004 Campaign

By: Joe Strupp The Blade of Toledo is at it again.

On Sunday, just six months after blowing the lid off a major coin investment scandal that rocked Ohio's Republican Party, the Blade launched a four-part series looking into statewide GOP fundraising practices.

Whereas its "Coingate" reporting focused largely on fundraiser Tom Noe, who was indicted last Thursday for allegations of illegally funneling money to Bush's 2004 re-election effort, the latest investigation is far broader in scope. What the paper uncovered is evidence that the Republican Party's fundraising efforts reward big-money donors with influence, state contracts, and appointments, a practice that goes back some 20 years.

"The Republicans organized, did grass-roots campaigning and found key support in business," Luann Sharp, assistant managing editor, told E&P today. "They basically planned and were successful in delivering Ohio for George W. Bush." Ohio, as it turned out, was the key state that swung the 2004 election to the Bush/Cheney camp.

But the series goes beyond just that piece of the puzzle, noting how local Republican donors were rewarded for their contributions with hundreds of millions in state monies. For example, the series determined that the state "paid out about $800 million to the companies and lobbying clients of Ohio's 30 Pioneers and Rangers during the last six years." Pioneers are those who raised at least $100,000 for the Bush campaign, while Rangers brought in at least $200,000.

"We have looked at the largest fundraisers and how they have been organized for about two decades to make Ohio vote Republican," Sharp added. "We are not saying it was illegal -- there were ways to do this within the law."

One example of influence cited in Sunday's main story involves W.R. "Tim" Timken, chairman of Ohio's Timken Co., which manufacturers ball bearings and related products. Timken became a "Ranger" in 2004 and was appointed ambassador to Germany last month, the story reported.

"Because Tom Noe was such a large fundraiser, we decided to look at who else was," Sharp said.

The package also includes a look at the top Democratic fundraisers in the state, but they appeared to be on a much smaller scale. "They were outmatched," she said of the John Kerry campaign fundraisers.

The series, which utilized six reporters working for some four months, follows the paper's reporting last spring on Coingate, the scandal in which Noe invested tens of millions of state dollars in a rare coin scheme that went sour.

The Coingate coverage is credited with exposing numerous state-level financial problems, as well as Noe's ties to Ohio Gov. Robert Taft, who has since pleaded no contest to four misdemeanor charges related to breaking state ethics laws on reporting gifts. He was fined $4,000 but has yet to resign.

Sharp said the latest series actually used one more reporter than the Coingate coverage, but includes no finding of illegal behavior by those involved. "We are not trying to say anything was right or wrong, we just want readers to know what is going on," she said.

She also called it a coincidence that the series began three days after Noe's indictment, adding, "It just worked out that way."