The party of fiscal responsibility, Pt. II

I posted about this way back on April 10th, but the story just keeps getting worse for the various Republican crooks involved.

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation admitted today that it lost $215 million in a high-risk fund that few people knew about.
The bureau had invested $355 million with a Pittsburgh investment firm, MDL Capital Management, beginning in 1998.

But last year, after diverting $225 million into a fund that works like a hedge fund, the fund lost $215 million. Although the bureau has known about the loss since last year, Gov. Bob Taft was notified about it today.

The news came to light as a handful of agencies are looking into the bureau and its dealings with Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe. The Ohio Ethics Commission on Monday said it was looking into other investments held by the bureau, the agency charged with providing assistance to injured workers.

Noe is a major Republican figure and fund-raiser in Ohio.

And this doesn't look good either.

A half-million dollars of Ohio’s coin money might have been poured into 3,500 bottles of wine stored in a cellar at the suburban Denver home of a former employee of Tom Noe, Colorado authorities say.

Investigators during the weekend took custody of the expansive wine collection, while seizing hundreds of rare coins, about 265 Cuban cigars, documents, invoices, and computers from the home and office of Michael Storeim, a former manager of a subsidiary of Ohio’s $50 million coin venture, said Jacki Tallman, a spokesman for the Jefferson County, Colorado, Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators believe items seized during the search might have been purchased with Ohio money or at least provide clues for law enforcement, Ms. Tallman said.