Reply #2: Lavish lifestyle opened political doors for Noe [View All]

Article published Sunday, October 2, 2005

Lavish lifestyle opened political doors for Noe
Attorney general claims extravagance came at expense of state of Ohio

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
BLADE STAFF WRITER

J. Gilbert Reese remembers sacrificing an expensive bottle of Italian wine - the one he was saving for a special occasion - to the discerning palate of Tom Noe.

Mr. Reese, a folksy lawyer who helped found a technical trade school in his Newark, Ohio, hometown, invited the Noes over for drinks while they were all in the Florida Keys at their vacation homes a few years back. The two men served on the Ohio Board of Regents together.

At the home, Mr. Noe spoke of Pierre's, a fancy nearby restaurant, and the fine wine he bought there - not the cheap stuff of $80 a bottle and less. Mr. Reese knew then the bottle he stashed would have to come out. He didn't want to be embarrassed by serving cheap wine, he said.
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Far removed from the days of buying wine at Pierre's, Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, are now accused by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro in a civil filing last week of stealing from a $50 million state rare-coin fund to finance a heady lifestyle and to cultivate a millionaire's image. He is accused of using $43,773 in state money to buy palm trees and pay for other landscaping at a Florida Keys home, and to help purchase Mr. Noe's in-laws' lake- side property on Catawba Island for $270,000.
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http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWS24/510020327