Schwarzenegger Plans to Keep Stolen $10,000 from Ohio "CoinGate" Scandal, page 1

As the Ohio GOP "CoinGate" scandal continues to grow and grow highlighting questionable fundraising among state and national Republicans alike, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger chimes in that he won't be returning his $10,000 in Tom Noe contributions stolen from Ohio State Workers' Compensation Funds.

California governor will not return Noe's donations

COLUMBUS - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger terminated any efforts to get him to return $10,000 that Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe contributed to his campaign.

On Thursday, President Bush joined a steadily growing band of Republicans opting to rid their campaign accounts of Mr. Noe's money, but the Republican governor of California is not planning to return the campaign cash he received from Mr. Noe, who is facing a flurry of state and federal investigations.

"The allegations about Mr. Noe became public a year after we accepted his contribution," said Martin Wilson, a spokesman for Mr. Schwarzenegger. "As he was an active Ohio Republican Party fund-raiser and donor, we had no reason at the time to question his contribution and have no intention of refunding the money."

Last week, Mr. Noe's lawyers told Ohio authorities that up to $12 million in assets of the state's $50 million investment in rare coins was missing.

While many found it odd that the California Republican so diametrically opposed to Bush on core issues campaigned for him in Ohio at all, none found it odd I'm sure that so much of the diverted Ohio funds found their way into Schwarzenegger's campaign.

But since Bush gave his Tom Noe contributions back upon getting busted (well at least $4K of the $100K Bush took anyway), why won't the Governator?

[edit on 6-6-2005 by RANT]