Lawyer: No Jail for Noe in Donation Case

TOLEDO, Ohio - A prominent GOP fundraiser who pleaded guilty to funneling $45,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign should be sentenced to community service instead of prison time, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Tom Noe, who was a high-level fundraiser for Bush's campaign, has been publicly humiliated and probation and community service are a more appropriate punishment, said his lawyer, Jon Richardson.

"Leniency is not just possible, it is appropriate," he said.

Prosecutors want Noe to serve at least two years in prison, but they indicated Tuesday they like more time added because Noe was involved in a "systematic and pervasive corruption of the federal and state election process."

Noe admitted in May to arranging a contribution scheme to fulfill his promise to generate $50,000 for a Bush fundraiser in 2003.

Federal prosecutors said in October the campaign money-laundering scheme was the largest prosecuted under the 2002 campaign finance reform law, which set limits on donations.

Noe had used his political connections to win political appointments to state boards that oversee the Ohio Turnpike and Ohio's public universities. He also was an official Bush-Cheney fundraiser.

Richardson said no one was harmed in the scheme and that Noe was not a public official who abused his power or took anything of monetary value. But federal prosecutors said that Noe took advantage of his position as a high level fundraiser for Bush's campaign.

Noe is to be sentenced next week in U.S. District Court for violating federal election laws. He faces from 2 to 5 years in prison on three charges, including exceeding federal campaign contribution limits.

Noe, a rare coin dealer, still is charged in an ill-fated $50 million coin investment that he managed for the state workers' compensation fund. The scandal led to ethics charges against Gov. Bob Taft, who pleaded no contest for failing to report gifts such as golf outings.

The coin investment has given Democrats a better shot at winning state offices this year, including the governor's office that has been under GOP control since 1991.