Former Ohio House speaker & Former Ohio GOP Chair convicted in $60 million bribery scheme (ETA: more charged!)

‘They deserve it’ — FirstEnergy scandal whistleblower cheers new indictments in bribery scheme​

Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, former FirstEnergy Senior Vice President Michael Dowling and former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Sam Randazzo have been charged with a "combined 27 counts of felony violations, including engaging in a corrupt activity, all related to their joint enterprise to hijack Ohio’s regulatory structure for the benefit of First Energy Corporation and for themselves."

Back in 2019, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder took a $61 million bribe in exchange for legislation to give FirstEnergy a $1 billion bailout, named H.B. 6, all at the expense of the taxpayers.

Ohio AG press release

essentialsaltes said:

‘They deserve it’ — FirstEnergy scandal whistleblower cheers new indictments in bribery scheme​

... former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Sam Randazzo have been charged with a "combined 27 counts of felony violations, including engaging in a corrupt activity, all related to their joint enterprise to hijack Ohio’s regulatory structure for the benefit of First Energy Corporation and for themselves."

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Ex-PUCO chairman Sam Randazzo accused in FirstEnergy bribery scheme has died by suspected suicide​

Randazzo is the second man accused of crimes in the House Bill 6 case to die by suicide. Long-time lobbyist Neil Clark shot himself in Florida while awaiting trial in federal court. Clark, who was wearing a DeWine for governor T-shirt, had pleaded not guilty.

New texts show FirstEnergy allegedly working with Gov. DeWine to pass House Bill 6​

Now-indicted FirstEnergy executives allegedly worked with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and his team to pass legislation that was the result of the largest corruption scheme in state history, according to newly released text messages. DeWine denies knowing House Bill 6 was a bribe.

The governor has tried to distance himself as much as he can from the scandal, one where FirstEnergy spent $61 million dollars in exchange for legislation giving a $1 billion bailout for their failing energy company.

This landed former House Speaker Larry Householder in federal prison for 20 years, and he is now facing state charges, as well.

DeWine says he only signed the bill because it was good policy.

New records of communications about passing the bailout​

This week, public records revealed additional communication between DeWine, his team, and FirstEnergy.

Messages show that DeWine and his staff communicated with FirstEnergy regularly, including meetings and phone calls on a whim with [CEO] Jones during the campaign. And after DeWine was elected, communication allegedly continued regarding the bailout legislation.

[VP] Dowling texted Jones and explained DeWine was doing background bidding for the company to get lawmakers to pass H.B. 6.

“We know that DeWine called Senate President to express support for HB 6,” Dowling texted on June 4, 2019.

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Jones texted Dowling saying, “Got a strange call from DeWine. Wants to meet on 9/16 to talk about a ‘private personal issue.'”

We asked [DeWine spox] Tierney what this private one-on-one was about. He wasn’t sure and said he would check.

We asked how frequently the governor has private conversations, and Tierney said it is common.

“Very frequently,” he said, listing off how he has been in meetings where the governor has met with sports team owners, heads of colleges and more.

We emphasized we were asking about private one-on-ones without staff. Numerous lawmakers said they would never meet with a CEO alone, plus a multitude of political staffers said they would not let their candidate or elected official meet with someone by themselves.

“I would think that in a position such as the governor, there would be more than just the governor and the CEO of a company in a private meeting,” Trau said to Tierney.

“That would generally be the case,” he responded. “The governor always has security with him.”

“So if that’s generally the case, why is he requesting private personal conversations with Chuck Jones?” she asked.

Tierney reiterated he would look into it.