Did a reporter with GOP ties suppress a story that could have cost Bush?

The article is with Salon. If you don't subscribe they make you watch a short ad to read the full article. Salon is a great site and worth it!!


http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/10/06/ohio/index.html

Saving Ohio

Did a reporter with GOP ties suppress a story that could have cost Bush the White House?

By Bill Frogameni


Oct. 6, 2005 | TOLEDO, Ohio -- In April 2005, the Blade newspaper of Toledo, Ohio, began publishing a remarkable series of articles about a well-connected Republican donor, Tom Noe, chair of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign for Lucas County, which encompasses Toledo. The Blade, which had won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 2004, discovered that Noe, a Toledo coin dealer, was investing $50 million for the state through the novel practice of coin speculation: buying and selling rare coins to turn a profit. Noe, the Blade revealed, could not account for $10 million to $13 million in the fund.

The paper also divulged that Noe had been placed under federal investigation for allegedly laundering money -- perhaps state money -- to the Bush campaign. The Blade's initial reports on Noe started a chain reaction of related scandals for Ohio's dominant Republicans. Recently, Gov. Bob Taft pleaded no contest to accepting several gifts from influence peddlers -- including Noe -- without reporting them, as law requires. Noe is currently the subject of 13 investigations.

In November 2004, Lucas County was among the most hotly contested areas in the most hotly contested state. Kerry won the county by 45,000 votes, but George W. Bush went on to win Ohio by less than 120,000 votes, which swung the election for him.

But Bush's reelection may have been made possible by a Blade reporter with close ties to the Republican Party who reportedly knew about Noe's potential campaign violations in early 2004 but suppressed the story.

According to several knowledgeable sources, the Blade's chief political columnist, Fritz Wenzel, was told of Noe's potential campaign violations as early as January 2004. But according to Blade editors, Wenzel never gave the paper the all-important tip in early 2004.

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So in a nutshell, they're wondering if the Noe information was made public when they first heard about it, would Ohio have turned out differently? I mean, geez, Taft has a 15% approval rating which means that 15% of Ohio is so diehard repuke Bush-loving, warmongering people that Taft could host live sex shows in the State Capital and they would still support him.

But the other 85% might have voted differently if they knew of the corruption before the election instead of afterwards

:sarcasm: The hypocrite repukes moral values are showing. Hide corruption, throw out journalistic ethics and win at any cost. Repukes would murder half the population if they thought it would keep them in power.

but 1,945 so far:cry:

Thanks for this story. Americans of all stripes hate dirty politics. It is time to clean house, and this makes for a stronger vacuum.

and of course, Jeff Gannon, shouldn't this be investigated for criminal misconduct?

But under the Bush regime? I'm not holding my breath

By the way, Nixon's pardon damaged the Republicans nearly as much as Watergate did....and I don't think we've made nearly as much about Ken Lay not being prosecuted as we could.