Bush backer gets prison for funneling campaign aid

TOLEDO, Ohio — A rare-coin dealer and GOP fundraiser at the center of a scandal that has rocked Ohio's Republican Party was sentenced to more than two years in prison Tuesday for illegally funneling about $45,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign.

Tom Noe, 52, apologized in court for a scheme in which he gave money to friends with instructions to donate it to Bush. "I knew it was wrong to do so," he said. "I alone accept responsibility."

He had pleaded guilty to three charges, including exceeding federal campaign contribution limits, and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. He also was fined $136,200.

Noe is also charged with embezzling at least $1 million from an ill-fated $50 million rare-coin investment that he managed for the state workers' compensation fund. The case is set to go to trial next month, and Noe has pleaded not guilty to 46 charges. Federal prosecutors did not indicate during the hearing whether the coin money was used for the donations.

Federal probe sought of polygamists in West

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The U.S. Senate's top Democrat called Tuesday for a federal investigation into the activities of polygamists in Western states.

Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that a task force should be formed. He also asked the Justice Department to help state prosecutors dealing with polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs.

"For too long, this outrageous activity has been disguised in the mask of religious freedom," Reid said. "But child abuse and human servitude have nothing to do with religious freedom and must not be tolerated."

Reid, a Mormon, added that Jeffs belongs to a sect that broke away from the Mormon church more than a century ago. Jeffs is charged with two felony counts of rape as an accomplice, accused of arranging a "spiritual marriage" between an underage girl and an older man.

Also

A federal judge declined Tuesday to throw out a conviction or order a new trial for a former Bush administration official convicted of lying about his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. David Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration, was convicted in June of making false statements and obstruction.

Compiled from The Associated Press