Toledo Blade Brings Us More on Much-Not-Covered Ohio Coingate Scandal

If not for the Toledo Blade, we would know nothing about a scandal that apparently helped cook the November 2004 election for Mr. Bush.

From the most recent installment of Democracy Akron style:

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday denied Gov. Bob Taft's motion to throw out a lawsuit by a state senator who is seeking correspondence between the governor's office and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.


Shortly after Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown, unveiled two bills designed to bulk up state ethics laws, the feisty legislator received news that the Supreme Court would hear his suit challenging the Taft administration's claims of executive privilege.

The court also will rule on competing motions about whether the senator can depose Governor Taft and members of his staff.

"It makes it more likely that the depositions are going to go forward so that we can get to the truth of the executive privilege claims," Mr. Dann said.

Although the governor has released many of the bureau's weekly reports to his office, he has declined to produce several requested records and erased details from some of the reports.

"The governor strongly believes that communications between his cabinet and senior staff are protected by executive privilege," said Taft spokesman Mark Rickel. "And the governor is prepared to defend it in court."

Mr. Dann has sued to determine when and what Mr. Taft knew about the bureau's failed investments in $50 million rare-coin funds run by GOP fund-raiser Tom Noe and Pittsburgh-based MDL Capital Management's offshore hedge fund that lost $215 million.

With the court's denial, Mr. Dann and the governor must bide their time as the justices weigh how much protection the governor's staff has from public records requests.