Ohio Gov. Bob Taft said he is taking full responsibility for a multimillion-dollar scandal involving bad state investments



Taft said, “I’m governor, and it happened under my watch. It happened under the director that I appointed, who I trusted and from whom I got glowing reports.” Ohio Governor Robert Taft served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania in the 1960's.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft said he is taking full responsibility for a multimillion-dollar scandal involving bad state investments

Taft Speaks About Coin Scandal

POSTED: 1:50 pm EST December 27, 2005
UPDATED: 2:01 pm EST December 27, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Bob Taft said he is taking full responsibility for a multimillion-dollar scandal involving bad state investments.

The statement came in a one-on-one interview with NewsCenter 7. The interview came just as investigators are moving closer to finding out exactly who is behind the loss of millions of dollars and where all of that money went.

Article: Bob Taft Speaks To NewsCenter 7 About Past Year

Early in his first term, Taft’s administration quietly approved a multimillion-dollar investment in rare coins using state money. And, it was all through a golfing friend of Taft’s –- Toledo coin dealer Tom Noe.

Officials said when that and other investments went bust, the state lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Taft said, “I’m governor, and it happened under my watch. It happened under the director that I appointed, who I trusted and from whom I got glowing reports.”

That director at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has since resigned. He did not report problems until it was too late. The state inspector general and a long list of agencies are investigating, including the FBI and prosecutors in Columbus and Toldeo.

Taft said that while the investigation is under way, he is moving forward. “We have a new administrator of the bureau who is taking charge and cleaning house. We’ve got a new, more aggressive investment policy.”

Much of the focus has been on Noe.

Taft said, “Noe was a friend of mine, but I really don’t know if any of us really knew who Tom Noe was.”

The inspector general recently told state lawmakers that 305 subpeonas have been issued, and now two grand juries are hearing evidence in the case.

At this time, no criminal charges have been filed.

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When this story was posted in January 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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