Noe gets 27 months in prison; ex-coin dealer says he was pressured by Bush campaign ... Bush "Pioneer"

Noe gets 27 months in prison; ex-coin dealer says he was pressured by Bush campaign | By MIKE WILKINSON and STEVE EDER | BLADE STAFF WRITERS

Tom Noe, the GOP fund-raiser at the heart of Ohio’s biggest political scandal in a generation, claimed that pressure from the Bush-Cheney campaign led him to commit the campaign-finance crimes for which he was sentenced yesterday to federal prison.
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Judge Katz allowed Noe to remain free on bail because he still faces an Oct. 10 trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on charges he embezzled more than $3 million from coin funds he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Yesterday, however, Noe was punished for using friends and associates — including several current and former local Republican elected officials — to back his candidate for President. He would later become a Bush “Pioneer,” someone who raised more than $100,000 for the President. ...