Ohio Governor Issues Apology, Vows to Stay
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS Associated Press Writer, August 18, 2005

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(AP) - COLUMBUS, Ohio-Gov. Bob Taft issued a public apology Thursday after pleading no contest to state ethics violations, saying "I accept total responsibility for my mistake" but insisting he would not resign.

"I will continue to do the job to which I have been elected by the people of the state of Ohio," Taft said. "There is no connection between golf or contributions and state contracts in our administration."

Taft said he chose not to plead guilty but was taking responsibility for failing to report golf outings and other gifts. Franklin County Municipal Judge Mark Froehlich found him guilty and fined him the maximum $1,000 for each of four misdemeanor counts. As expected, no jail time was ordered; he could have faced up to six months per count.

Taft, a great-grandson of President William Howard Taft, nodded as the charges were read.

He has forced out underlings for ethics offenses, but he said those cases were different. Taft said his golf outings were mostly weekend events with friends and he didn't know they needed to be reported. The Ohio Ethics Commission found no evidence that he had given political access in exchange for the outings.

In addition to the fine, the judge ordered Taft to send e-mails to Ohio newspapers and state employees apologizing for his behavior.

A statement Taft issued shortly after his conviction will serve as the media e-mail, with a separate apology to employees to follow later, spokesman Mark Rickel said.

"I accept total responsibility for my mistake, and I'm sorry," the governor said.

"Words are not adequate to express the remorse that I feel personally for the embarrassment that I have caused to my administration and to this great state. ... I hope you will understand that my mistake, though serious, was not a purposeful one and hope and pray that you will accept my heartfelt apology and allow me the opportunity to restore your trust."

The ethics violations 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 2006 midterm elections in the investment scandal and a surprisingly close congressional race this month for an open seat in a GOP stronghold.

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.

Asked Bush's reaction to the court proceedings, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "Governor Taft apologized today, he has paid the fine and said it was a serious mistake, and the president accepts that."

Taft, 63, entered the cramped city courtroom accompanied by his attorney, his wife and two state troopers. Just minutes before, the room had buzzed with the daily sound of defendants pleading guilty to minor traffic violations and theft offenses.

Taft stood respectfully as he apologized to Froehlich, saying his actions were inconsistent with the standard he set for his employees.

"As governor I have made it clear that I expect all state workers to comply and follow both the spirit and the letter of Ohio's ethics laws, and I have demanded no less of myself," Taft said.

But at a news conference just minutes later, Taft said repeatedly he would not resign, saying he had too much to do in his remaining 16 months as governor.

Three former directors under Taft have resigned following accusations that they accepted golf outings and other gifts from companies that did business with their agencies.

State law requires officeholders to report all gifts worth more than $75 if the donor wasn't reimbursed, and a May 2001 Ohio Ethics Commission memo specified that golf rounds should be reported as gifts.

Taft drew a distinction between what those employees did and his own behavior.

"If you look at the Inspector General reports on those particular individuals, you will see that their issues went beyond financial disclosure," he said.

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

An Ohio Ethics Commission report into Taft's golf outings found no evidence that Taft traded golf for political access. "Further, attendees at these events largely indicated that the purpose and discussions were social in nature," said the report, released Thursday.

Taft said the reporting omissions were accidental and he did not learn until this summer that the Ohio Ethics Commission requires golf outings of any kind to be reported if paid for by others. His office had no system for recording such gifts, so they were not included on the annual disclosure forms, he said. Such a system is in place now.

Ohio's Taft Fined $4,000 for Violating Ethics Law (Update2)
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Ohio Governor Bob Taft was found guilty and fined $4,000 for violating state law by not disclosing golf outings and other gifts, becoming the first governor in the state's history to be convicted of a crime.

Taft, the son and grandson of U.S. senators and the great- grandson of the 27th U.S. President, William H. Taft, pleaded no contest to four criminal misdemeanor charges. Franklin County Municipal Judge Mark S. Froehlich imposed the maximum fine on Taft and spared him jail time.

``The message is simple and clear; No one is above the law in the state of Ohio,' Froehlich said during the sentencing hearing. ``Even the governor can be charged and convicted of a criminal offense.'

Taft, a Republican, announced in June that he hadn't properly disclosed golf outings he played in, and began turning over information about the events to the state ethics commission. He failed to report about $6,000 of golf outings and other gifts.

``There are just no words to express the remorse I feel about the embarrassment that I've caused my family and friends and supporters,' Taft, 63, told reporters in a televised news conference following his arraignment at the Franklin County Municipal Courthouse in Columbus. ``I'm apologizing to the people of Ohio for this unintentional, nevertheless serious, mistake.'

Taft signed a plea agreement with prosecutors from Franklin County and the city of Columbus where he agreed not to contest or appeal the guilty finding. Ohio law requires officeholders to report all gifts valued at $75 or more, and it's a first-degree misdemeanor to knowingly file a false financial disclosure form to the state ethics commission.

Won't Resign

Taft, who was first elected in 1998 and can't seek re- election next year because of term limits, told reporters at the news conference that he won't resign.

``I want to make it very clear that I will continue to do the job to which I have been elected by the people of the state of Ohio,' Taft said.

The charges are related to federal and state investigations into the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation loss in a rare coin investment managed by Thomas Noe, a Republican fundraiser and Toledo coin dealer.

Noe, who was sued by the state's attorney general last month and accused of stealing almost $4 million from the state fund, played golf with Taft several times. Noe also paid for at least one golf outing for Taft in 2002 at Toledo's Inverness Club.

According to a statement released yesterday by Taft's attorney, R. William Meeks, Taft is reimbursing $5,989.14 to various people for the golf and other gifts, including $181.88 to Noe for golf at Inverness and another $125 to Noe for golf souvenirs, including a sweater.

Taft holds a law degree from the University of Cincinnati and degrees in government from Yale and Princeton universities. Taft's great-grandfather was U.S. President from 1909 to 1913, and later was Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Eddie Baeb in Chicago at at ebaeb@Bloomberg.net.

Ohio governor charged in ethics probe
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press | August 18, 2005

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Governor Bob Taft was charged with four ethics violations yesterday, accused of failing to report dozens of gifts that included dinners, golf games, and professional hockey tickets, in a deepening scandal that has rocked Ohio's Republican Party.

Taft, a Republican and member of a distinguished US political family, becomes the first Ohio governor to be charged with a crime. The charges are also an embarrassment for a politician who has pushed for high ethical standards in his office.

Taft will respond publicly to the charges today, and is not planning to resign, spokesman Mark Rickel said yesterday. Prosecutors said they expect the governor to appear in court today, but declined to say whether a plea agreement was in the works.

The gifts were worth about $5,800 and given over four years, prosecutors said. Taft earlier had disclosed that he failed to report some outings, but said the omissions were accidental.

Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said the gifts included two golf outings, worth $100 each, paid for by embattled coin dealer Tom Noe. Noe is a GOP fund-raiser whose $50 million investment of state money in rare coins launched the scandal that led to Taft's revelation that he had failed to list the outings on disclosure forms.

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 Columbus Blue Jackets hockey tickets.

Taft spent yesterday in his office, announcing the signing of two minor bills in a statement that came less than an hour before the charges were disclosed. He returned to the governor's residence without making any comment.

Brian Hicks, Taft's former chief of staff, said the governor's golf outings were 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," Hicks said. He was convicted of an ethics violation last month and fined $1,000.

The Ohio Ethics Commission last week concluded its investigation into Taft's golf outings and forwarded the results to prosecutors.

The alleged ethics violations against Taft are another blow to the GOP in the Republican-controlled state that won President Bush reelection. 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's great-grandfather was President William Howard Taft.