First Coingate indictment pending.

OD1 has kept me abreast of the situation, and this item could be just what we need for this scandal to hit the national news. If it does (keep your fingers crossed), we'll have a scandal that effectively calls the entire state GOP of Ohio to task for looting the state treasury. Judging from the evidence the Ohio papers have managed to compile, this should be an open and shut case for Ohio prosecutors. And a big assist for those of us interested in showing the public at large just how corrupt the Republican party is at this point in time.

Not unlike the Gilded Age, we can hope that another Teddy Roosevelt can be born from the ashes-- a reformer and a conservationist who'll end the legacy of 'Republican' being a dirty word. (That's a premature wish on my part, but we can always hope.)

Gov. Bob Taft’s former No. 1 aide could become the first to fall in a mushrooming ethics-and-investment scandal rocking state government.

Prosecutors are prepared to file ethics charges against Brian K. Hicks, Taft’s former chief of staff, if Hicks does not plead guilty by week’s end, according to Columbus City Prosecutor Steve McIntosh.

"We’re looking at filing charges and we’ve had some discussions with his attorneys, but there has been no agreement on a resolution yet," McIntosh told The Dispatch yesterday afternoon. "We’re running up against the statute of limitations. We will file something by the end of the week."