Scandal Hits Ohio's Gov. Taft

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft is facing four misdemeanor charges for allegedly failing to report dozens of gifts that included dinners, golf games and professional hockey tickets, deepening a scandal that has rocked Ohio's Republican Party.

Prosecutors say the gifts, received over a period of four years, were worth about $5,800. Taft earlier had revealed that he failed to report some outings but said the omissions were accidental.

Taft spokesman Mark Rickel says the governor will respond publicly on Thursday and is not planning to resign. Prosecutors said they expect the governor to appear in court Thursday for his arraignment.

Taft could be fined $1,000 and sentenced to six months in jail on each count if convicted, although time behind bars is considered unlikely.

A state task force and the Ohio Ethics Commission are investigating public employees for similar offenses and prosecutor Ron O'Brien says he expects more serious felony charges to be filed, although not against Taft.

Taft, 63 and nearing the end of his second and final term, is the first governor in Ohio history to be charged with a crime. The charges are an embarrassment for a politician who has pushed for high ethical standards in his office.

"I am disappointed in the governor's failure to report these outings," said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. "He set a high ethical standard for his administration, and in this case he failed to meet that standard."

Politically speaking, the GOP governor comes from a royal bloodline. His father and grandfather were senators and his great-grandfather, William H. Taft, was president of the United States and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Other Ohio governors have come under investigation, including Republican George Voinovich, investigated for unproven allegations he laundered campaign money, and Democrat Richard Celeste, whose connections to a contributor who owned the failed Home State Savings Bank were examined.

Authorities say the gifts included two golf outings worth $100 each paid for by embattled coin dealer Tom Noe. Noe is a Republican fundraiser whose $50 million investment of state money in rare coins launched the scandal that led to Taft's revelation that he failed to list golf outings on financial disclosure forms.

The golf games are defended by Brian Hicks, Taft's former chief of staff, as a break from the pressure of work.

"I don't believe for one minute that anybody got a contract, got an investment, got a policy decision made because they played golf with the governor," says Hicks, who was convicted of an ethics violation in July and fined $1,000.

State law requires officeholders to report all gifts worth more than $75 if the donor wasn't reimbursed.

O'Brien said the gifts also included meals and tickets for a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game.

"If he says it's an oversight, I believe him," says Jon Husted, a Republican who is speaker of the House in the Ohio state legislature.

The charges against Taft are another blow to the GOP in the Republican-controlled state that won President Bush re-election. Democrats have found hope for the next election in the investment scandal and a surprisingly close congressional race this month for an open seat in a GOP stronghold.

Taft was elected governor in 1998, following the most expensive campaign in state history. He also had been secretary of state, a state representative and a county commissioner in his hometown of Cincinnati.

In a speech in May, the governor stressed the importance of ethical behavior for public employees.

"Public employees can enjoy entertainment, such as golf or dining out, with persons working for a regulated company, or one doing business with the state, ONLY if they fully pay their own way," he said in the speech at Xavier University.

Taft released records Aug. 5 showing he accepted invitations to 21 golf outings since 1999, including one in 2001 with Noe. The coin dealer has contributed $22,190 to Taft's political campaigns, state records show.

Taft's golf partners included John Snow, then the head of transportation company CSX Corp. and now the U.S. Treasury secretary; and Tony Alexander, president and chief executive of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.

Some partners have said Taft paid for the golf; others have said they picked up the tab.

Taft's former chief of staff Brian Hicks pleaded no contest last month to failing to report stays at Noe's million-dollar Florida home. He was fined $1,000.

Noe has acknowledged that up to $13 million is missing from the rare coins fund, and Attorney General Jim Petro has accused him of stealing as much as $4 million.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006, said the charges are part of a "culture of corruption" in Ohio.

Some residents say they are fed up.

"It's a sad state of affairs," said Bruce Lively, a Maumee resident who said he had backed Taft in the past but now thinks he should step down.