The Toledo Blade has an in depth story on the man behind the Ohio Coingate controversy, Tom Noe. Noe, along with his wife, was a Bush pioneer, used his campaign cash to buy influence and, after submitting a request to the White House and Speaker  Hastert’s office, was granted a seat  and ultimately chairman of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. From here, he used his influence and position to get insider information that would benefit his rare coin business. 

Jean Schmidt, the Republican candidate for the special election in Ohio's second congressional district (the seat was left vacant with Rob Portman's appointment to US Trade Representative), received two $5,000 contributions from Tom DeLay's...