IG Says Former Governor's Conviction Erroneously Absent From Coingate Report

The Ohio watchdog's office will consider reissuing its report on a 2005 rare-coin investment scandal after inaccurate information suggested then-Gov. Bob Taft's criminal record was expunged. The top lawyer for Inspector General Randall Meyer said Tuesday that Taft's no-contest plea on ethics violations was omitted from mention in Friday's long-awaited Coingate report because the office believed the Republican Taft's record was among those shielded from public view. Chief legal counsel Jim Manken cited "false research results." Taft's record has not been expunged. The historic conviction appears on the website of the Franklin County Municipal Court, where Taft became the first Ohio governor convicted of a crime. Taft's lawyer Bill Meeks says no request was ever made or granted to seal the records. Manken says the report may require a rewrite.