Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro—who wants to be governor, by the way—has boxes and boxes of records relating to the Ohio Coingate scandal that he has not released despite an Ohio Supreme Court order to do so.

Yesterday, the Toledo Blade returned to the Ohio Supreme Court to ask for enforcement of its order of July 13 and got it. According to the Blade

The court gave the state until 5 p.m. on Monday to show "why they should not be held in contempt for failure to comply, for sanctions, for the appointment of a receiver, and for other ancillary relief."

Frankly though, I'm a little put off by what the Blade requested—

The Blade asked the court to impose monetary sanctions against the attorney general's office and "coercive monetary sanctions" until the court's order is complied with.

Surely Petro, the highest law enforcement officer of the State of Ohio, would be better off in a jail cell if he refuses to comply with an order from the State's highest court.

Could the delay have anything to do with Tuesday's Hackett-Schmidt Congressional election? There are an estimated 120 boxes of material. If Petro releases them by 5 pm Monday, there just might be time for reporters to dig through enough to get some headlines out by election day the following morning, but it will be tough. If they're willing to go for it, I'll buy the coffee.

Meanwhile two of Ohio Governor Taft's former top aides have been indicted on ethics violations charges. According to reporters Christopher D. Kirkpatrick and Joshua Boak—

Living the high life off coin dealer Tom Noe brought state ethics violation charges yesterday against Gov. Bob Taft’s former top aides — Brian Hicks and Cherie Carroll.

The two are expected in Franklin County Municipal Court at 11 a.m. today to answer the charges. Prosecutors were trying to meet a two-year statute of limitations deadline to bring the charges by today.

Mr. Hicks and Ms. Carroll worked out a deal this week to plead guilty to first-degree misdemeanors, a source close to the investigation told The Blade.

Prosecutors are not recommending a sentence, but are leaving that to the discretion of Columbus Municipal Court Judge Scott Vanderkarr. The maximum sentence for a first-degree misdemeanor is a $1,000 fine and 180 days in jail.

What's interesting about these cases, trivial in themselves, is that Tom Noe, the Godfather of Coingate, is cooperating with the investigation—

The complaints filed yesterday evening were brought with the help of Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, who met with investigators last Friday and provided information.

And the Noes should be able to offer a lot of help—

He regularly treated groups of lobbyists and government aides to free meals at Morton’s steakhouse in downtown Columbus as part of what became unofficially known as the “Noe Supper Club.”

The connected coin dealer was a frequent and generous political contributor to Republican candidates and is the former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party.

Mr. Noe lobbied in e-mails to the governor’s office to be invited to the White House with the 2002 Ohio State University football championship team. He played golf with Mr. [Governor] Taft, who himself is under investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission for not disclosing free rounds, and had the ear of lobbyists and governor’s aides, whom he wined and dined and offered his vacation property to, according to sources and records.

It's a great time to be a defense attorney in Ohio.

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