Ohio Supreme Court panel backs reprimand for Taft [View All]

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Justices to decide possible penalty in ethics case

COLUMBUS — It’s now up to the Ohio Supreme Court to decide if Gov. Bob Taft should be publicly reprimanded for his conviction last year on misdemeanor ethics violations.

Yesterday, the high court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline announced it agrees with a recommendation from a three-member panel that Mr. Taft, a lawyer in Ohio since 1976, should receive that sanction.

The great-grandson of a U.S. president, Mr. Taft pleaded no contest in August, 2005, to four misdemeanor violations of state ethics laws.

In his court-ordered apology to Ohioans, Mr. Taft admitted that over seven years he failed to report 45 golf outings provided to him, including one in 2002 with Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe, as well six other social events and a Senior Open gift set from Noe...