"Did a Reporter w/ GOP Ties Suppress Story That Could Have Cost Bush WH?"

[Hissyspit]

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

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

By Bill Frogameni
salon.com

Oct. 06, 2005 | 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.

MORE

[MnFats]

1. why am I not surprised?

and the Blade has a good reputation, or used to.

[aquart]

2. Not even a little.

The media is a criminal co-conspirator.

[Hissyspit]

3. Well, so did the New York Times.

The article puts all this story put together very well, so it is worth the Salon subscription if you have been thinking about getting one. I can email the full text to anyone who PM's me.

[MADem]

11. If you watch an ad, you can access SALON for free

Todays sponsor is A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (the film).

It's a good article. The salient bit:

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.

Wenzel says that he heard allegations of Noe's misdeeds only in spring 2004 and that he promptly informed his editors of them.

Wenzel, who worked for years as a GOP political operative in Oregon before the Blade hired him, quit the Blade in May 2005 to take a job as a paid political consultant to Jean Schmidt, the Republican congressional candidate who in August narrowly defeated Democratic challenger (and Iraq war vet) Paul Hackett.

Of course, no one can say for sure whether Ohio voters would have cast their ballots differently if they had known about allegations that Bush's campaign boss in Toledo was hijacking money from the state to keep the campaign humming. But native Ohioan John Robinson Block, publisher and editor in chief of the Blade, which endorsed Kerry, thinks it's a strong possibility. Had the "Coingate" scandal blown up before the election, Block says, "most Republicans I know agree that Kerry would have won Ohio and won the presidency." Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat whose district includes Toledo, feels the same. "I think it would have tipped the election," she says.

[Hissyspit]

13. Yes, thanks for both those points...

Amazing:

Of course, no one can say for sure whether Ohio voters would have cast their ballots differently if they had known about allegations that Bush's campaign boss in Toledo was hijacking money from the state to keep the campaign humming. But native Ohioan John Robinson Block, publisher and editor in chief of the Blade, which endorsed Kerry, thinks it's a strong possibility. Had the "Coingate" scandal blown up before the election, Block says, "most Republicans I know agree that Kerry would have won Ohio and won the presidency." Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat whose district includes Toledo, feels the same. "I think it would have tipped the election," she says.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. I can't wait to read more

I've followed the coin scandal and always thought the two were tied with the election. Also, once Sam of the Majority Report mentioned how some involved in the coin scandal were making interesting housing investments. :shrug: I'm glad the investigation is still going on. What will happen if it is proven Noe gave the money from the coins to Bush/Cheney?

[NVMojo]

5. If DeLay did this and this guy did it, it was a widespread GOP practice ..

Bet yer life on it!!!

[Hissyspit]

6. "The Aspens back in Colorado are turning. Come back to life."

Or whatever that crap "Scooter" wrote to Judith was...

[cassiepriam]

7. Wherever there is slime, bush people not far behind? nt

[crispini]

8. K & R

good article!

[Dora]

9. kicked and recommended

[mom cat]

10. The election was stolen outright. I am sure that the supression of this

story made the theft easier, but what is adding a few more votes if the machinery is in place.

[Angry Girl]

12. Why not? NYT suppressed the bulge story for the elections:

If you found out a few days before a presidential election that one of the candidates was cheating, would you change your vote?

If you were a major newspaper with such a block-busting story, would you warn your readers?

Shortly before the elections, NASA scientist and photographic expert Dr. Robert Nelson demonstrated how Bush was wearing a wire and earpiece during the presidential debates.

The New York Times ran a thorough investigation, found the story to be true, and was going to run it.

Despite this, New York Times executive editor Bill Keller still was quoted as saying,

I can’t say categorically you should not publish an article damaging to a candidate in the last days before an election. . . . If you learned a day or two before the election that a candidate had lied about some essential qualification for the job—his health or criminal record—and there’s no real doubt and you’ve given the candidate a chance to respond and the response doesn’t cast doubt on the story, do you publish it? Yes. Voters certainly have a right to know that.


Oddly, though, despite Keller’s having taken such a position, the Times apparently chose not to run the Nelson pictures story on the grounds of proximity to Election Day. Even more oddly, despite the fact that the Times had thoroughly researched and reported Nelson’s story before deciding not to run it—even after the story had run in both Salon and Mother Jones—the Times still ducked (and continues to duck) the whole bulge story itself, ignoring an important issue that it knew to be factually substantiated.

No mention of the Bush bulge was made in either the Times or the Washington Post between October 29 and Election Day....http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2012

http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/72245

[Hissyspit]

14. I heart angry girl.

I have a thing for Valerie Plame, too, but I feel guilty about that, she being married AND CIA.

I wish someone had asked Bush point blank "Did you have a wire/earpiece assist during the debate?" (I don't recall anyone doing that.) It would have been revealing to hear his (clumsy) answer.

[Angry Girl]

15. Too kind! :-)

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