In July 2020, U.S. Attorney David DeVillers announced the indictment of the speaker of the Ohio House, Republican Larry Householder, and four of his associates, on charges of racketeering in what the federal prosecutor called “likely the largest bribery money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.”
The FirstEnergy scandal followed the signing by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019 of House Bill 6. The law allowed public funds to be used to prop up aging nuclear and coal facilities. FirstEnergy, a major Ohio utility company, admitted in a 2021 settlement that it had paid millions of dollars to public officials to get the bill enacted and had hidden those payments. Other energy companies, including American Electric Power, were also involved in making payments to public officials.
Investigations and legal proceedings in the case are continuing in Ohio.
Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio, issued a press release on Aug. 19 that lists executive orders she would issue on her first day in office if elected. They include measures intended to prevent future corruption in the state government.
Acton’s plan includes three executive orders: one to create an anti-corruption task force, one to prevent state appointees from jumping back and forth between government regulatory agencies and lobbying positions for the regulated companies, and one to increase campaign finance disclosure requirements for state contractors.
Civic leaders fighting to root out corruption in the state say such measures are long overdue.
“We have had some real challenges with ethical government in the state of Ohio,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of the nonpartisan good-government group Common Cause Ohio.
“There were the FBI arrests, and in fact, our former speaker is currently in prison because of shenanigans involving dark money and corruption in the Public Utilities Commission,” she told the Ohio Independent. “So Ohioans are very aware that corrupt activities actually end up ripping us off,” she said. “It ends up affecting our pocketbooks.” The scandal left Ohio ratepayers paying more for electricity, Turcer said.
Turcer said Acton’s proposals could help change the way Ohio’s government operates.
“You can’t study away a problem, but she plans to create an anti-corruption task force, and I think that’s incredibly important,” Turcer said. “Analyzing all the different ways that there’s corruption or fraud or abuse of power, where government isn’t functioning well, is a really good beginning to an administration.”
Turcer said at a moment when Ohioans are struggling to pay their bills, ethics reform is especially important.
“This is a time for candidates to step up with new ideas that really focus on ways to improve people’s lives. It is really clear that people are hurting, and they are hurting because of a variety of policies,” she said. “If they do not choose to address corruption, they are not getting at the heart of what is wrong.”
Acton is running against Republican biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in the Nov. 3 election. Incumbent Republican Gov. DeWine is term-limited.
The policy plan on Ramaswamy’s campaign website does not mention government corruption. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
