GOP Fundraiser Gets Jail Time

A former coin dealer at the center of an Ohio political scandal has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

Tom Noe illegally funneled $45,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign. He gave friends money to donate to Mr. Bush, in order to fulfill his promise to generate $50,000 for a presidential fund-raiser.

Noe apologized in a federal courtroom in Toledo today for the scheme. He said he'd been "pressured" by Bush-Cheney officials to become a big fund-raiser.

His large donations made him a powerful political figure in Ohio.

Prosecutors said the campaign-money-laundering scheme was the largest one ever prosecuted under a 2002 campaign finance reform law.

Noe pleaded guilty to three charges, including exceeding federal campaign contribution limits.

He's still charged with stealing at least $1 million from a rare-coin investment that he managed for the state workers' compensation fund.