Husted met with man later charged with bribery 2 days before HB 6 was introduced, schedule shows

Two days before House Bill 6 was introduced in the Ohio legislature, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted had a scheduled phone call with Sam Randazzo — the veteran utility lawyer and lobbyist who was later indicted on federal charges of taking a $4.3 million bribe from FirstEnergy — according to official calendars from the Ohio Office of the Governor.

That April 10, 2019 call is among at least eight previously unreported meetings tied to HB 6 documented on Husted’s official schedule, a review of the records shows. The meetings span the full arc of the bill’s passage: from its introduction through its signing and into the period when FirstEnergy was working to prevent a referendum that would have repealed it. They include a separate in-person meeting with FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, who faces felony charges including bribery, money laundering, and federal racketeering related to the HB 6 scheme.

The records contradict Husted’s repeated public denials of any meaningful role in the passage of HB 6, which U.S. Attorney David DeVillers called “the largest bribery money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.” When asked in 2022 what role he played in the legislative process, Husted replied, “none.” When confronted in 2024 with text messages from FirstEnergy executives describing his involvement, he told reporters, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, we weren’t involved.” In a January 2026 interview with NBC 4 Columbus, Husted said his role “was very clear” and that he was “happy to talk about what my role was at any time.”

The meetings

The eight meetings documented on official calendars span from April through September 2019 — the precise window during which HB 6 was introduced, passed, signed into law, and survived an early repeal effort. None were previously disclosed publicly.

On April 10, 2019 — two days before HB 6 was officially introduced in the Ohio House — Husted had a scheduled phone call with Sam Randazzo, then a veteran utility lawyer and lobbyist who would soon be appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). Randazzo was later indicted by a federal grand jury on federal charges including bribery and embezzlement related to an alleged $4.3 million payment he received from FirstEnergy. Husted had helped recruit Randazzo to the utility commission, according to Randazzo’s own confirmation hearing testimony. Randazzo was found dead of an apparent suicide in April 2024.

On April 15, 2019 — the day before HB 6 was referred to the Ohio House Energy and Resources Committee — Husted’s calendar shows a meeting titled “nuclear subsidies” at the Ohio Governor’s Residence. DeWine’s calendar for the same day shows a 4–5 p.m. “Energy Discussion” at the same location.

On April 24, 2019, Husted held another meeting at the Governor’s Residence, listed on his calendar as “nuclear energy.”

On May 10, 2019, Husted met with DeWine, and Dan McCarthy — DeWine’s legislative affairs director and a former FirstEnergy lobbyist — at the Governor’s Residence for what calendars describe as a “legal meeting.” Before joining the DeWine administration, McCarthy had founded Partners for Progress, a dark money group that funneled money to Generation Now, the dark money nonprofit that later pleaded guilty to its role at the center of the HB 6 bribery scheme.

On June 7, 2019 — one day after HB 6 was referred to the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee — Husted’s calendar shows a meeting with Randazzo in his lieutenant governor’s office.

On June 18, 2019 — one day after HB 6 passed the Ohio Senate — Husted’s calendar shows a “nuclear energy” meeting in his office.

On August 29, 2019 — the same day the Ohio Attorney General’s Office certified revised language for a proposed referendum seeking to repeal HB 6 — Husted’s calendar shows a meeting with House Speaker Larry Householder, who was later convicted of leading the $61 million bribery conspiracy and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

On September 23, 2019 — as FirstEnergy was asking the Ohio Supreme Court to block the referendum effort to repeal HB 6 — Husted’s calendar shows a meeting with FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones. Jones faces felony charges including bribery, money laundering, and federal racketeering, and is listed as a defendant in the criminal trial for which Husted has been named as a potential defense witness, according to a January 2026 court filing reported by Signal Ohio.

What the text messages showed

The calendar records add to a documented pattern of involvement that text messages and internal emails from FirstEnergy executives had already established.

According to the Plain Dealer, on July 1, 2019, FirstEnergy Senior Vice President Michael Dowling texted CEO Chuck Jones: “Just had long convo with JHusted just now. All is well. JH is working on the 10 years. He’s afraid it’s going to end up being 8.” Jones later texted a subsidiary executive that Husted and others “are fighting to the end” to extend the nuclear subsidy period. A separate Dowling email to Jones, reported by the Ohio Capital Journal, stated that DeWine “left the details of H.B. 6 to others — John [sic] Husted and Danny,” referring to McCarthy.

Jones himself described Husted as “a good friend of FirstEnergy” and Dowling called Husted “highly engaged” on the bill. Court filings identified Husted as “State Official 2” in connection with the scandal.

FirstEnergy had also funneled $1 million in dark money to a nonprofit backing Husted’s 2017 campaign, part of the same corrupt scheme that led to federal indictments, according to reporting by Cleveland.com. A lobbyist involved in the FirstEnergy case referred to Husted as the company’s “golden boy.”

The cost to Ohioans

HB 6, described by the Ashland Times-Gazette as a “billion-dollar-plus bailout” of two nuclear plants and two coal-burning facilities, imposed surcharges on ratepayer bills. By the time the subsidies were repealed under House Bill 15 in 2025, Ohio consumers had contributed nearly half a billion dollars to prop up the coal and nuclear plants the bailout protected, according to the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.

Husted, now a U.S. senator and a candidate in a competitive 2026 election cycle, has not answered detailed questions about the meetings documented on his official calendar.