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ICYMI: Cleveland.com Editorial: DeWine, Husted Need to Come Clean on Their Roles in HB 6 Passage

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Cleveland.com Editorial Board joined Nan Whaley and Ohio Democrats’ calls for Mike DeWine and Jon Husted to tell Ohio voters what they knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. The editorial comes after bombshell reporting disclosing messages confirming both DeWine and Husted (State Official 1 and 2 in federal court documents) took an active role in pushing legislation at the center of an $60 million bribery scandal.  

“At issue, plainly put: What did DeWine and Husted know, and when did they know it, about the circumstances surrounding the 2019 passage of HB 6, a consumer bailout of FirstEnergy Corp.’s nuclear power plants? What did they do to influence what was in that legislation and to advance its passage? And were they improperly influenced by the Akron-based utility to get DeWine to choose Sam Randazzo as head of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio,” asks the Cleveland.com Editorial Board. 

Earlier this year, the Ohio Democratic Party announced a lawsuit against DeWine and his office to get answers about what DeWine knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Nan Whaley has called on DeWine, Husted and their administration to release all private emails, text messages and other communications related to the FirstEnergy scandal. 

Since October, Ohio Democrats have been working on getting answers to who knew what and when about the FirstEnergy bribery scandal – which Ohioans continue to pay $287,000 every single day for – but have been stonewalled at every turn by the DeWine administration, leaving public records requests unanswered for over a hundred days. The lack of accountability from DeWine is leading Ohioans to wonder what he’s hiding and why.

Read more from Cleveland.com HERE and below:

  • Ohioans deserve straight talk from Gov. Mike DeWine and his lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, about the House Bill 6/FirstEnergy scandal, the biggest corruption case ever to engulf Ohio. But they’re not getting it.
  • Ohioans haven’t gotten clear answers to these questions — answers to which they’re entitled, particularly as November’s gubernatorial election nears, with DeWine and Husted seeking re-election.
  • Some information is already scarcer than it should be because of the snaillike pace of the PUCO in reviewing FirstEnergy’s conduct. The PUCO probe may further slow at the request of federal prosecutors, who don’t want the PUCO’s review to interfere with the apparently continuing federal investigation of the HB 6 corruption case, with trials of former House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges slated for early next year.
  • Among those cheering on HB 6 and reviewing its provisions: Randazzo, whom DeWine had appointed to chair the PUCO in early 2019 and to whom FirstEnergy later revealed it had paid a $4.3 million bribe.
  • A text message between FirstEnergy executives recently described by Karen Kasler of the Statehouse News Bureau speaks of then-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones having “forced DeWine/Husted to perform battlefield triage” to get Randazzo named to the PUCO.
  • DeWine has said he chose Randazzo because of his utility expertise and that he had no knowledge of any bribe being paid.
  • The DeWine administration’s credibility isn’t helped by other text messages that suggest Husted misled the public when he told reporters late last year that his role in House Bill 6′s passage was “none.”
  • A recently revealed July 1, 2019 text from then-FirstEnergy Senior Vice President Mike Dowling to Jones referenced Husted’s efforts to extend the HB 6 nuclear bailout to 10 years, rather than the seven years ultimately included when the bill passed.
  • Husted recently conceded to Columbus’ NBC4 TV station that he “did share information that I believe is important for policymakers to consider,” but only as a middleman relaying information, adding, “I was advocating for the policy of saving the nuclear power plants.”
  • Even after HB 6′s semi-repeal in March 2021, parts of the original bill are costing consumers both money and clean air. Still in effect are consumer-paid subsidies for two coal-burning power plants – one in Indiana. Also still in effect is HB 6′s evisceration of Ohio’s one-time energy efficiency and renewable energy requirements.
  • Ohioans have a right to get clear answers to their questions about HB 6. And Mike DeWine and Jon Husted have an obligation to provide them – sooner rather than later.

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ODP Statement Regarding J.D. Vance And RonDeSantis’ Visit To Youngstown

Columbus, OH — Following the news that San Francisco Vance and Florida Man Ron DeSantis are visiting Youngstown, Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Michael Beyer released the following statement: 

“Ron DeSantis and J.D. Vance deserve each other – they both flipped on Trump on a dime and abandoned their states in order to promote themselves.” 

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The Lever: J.D. Vance’s Wall Street Tax Dodge

Columbus, OH – A new report from The Lever finds that multimillionaire J.D. Vance, who said it is “objectively true” he is a member of the elite, appears to have “structured his income to exploit” an elite tax loophole benefiting the wealthy few. Vance is a Big Tech-backed Silicon Valley millionaire who owns a D.C. townhouse, enjoys tasty brunches and wine tastings in San Francisco, and titled his own blog “The Hillbilly Elite.”  

“J.D. Vance is a multimillionaire fraud who is running for U.S. Senate to pad his pockets and those of his fellow coastal elites. Ohioans can’t trust a phony like Vance, who has shown he’s only out for himself,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more below: 

The Lever: J.D. Vance’s Wall Street Tax Dodge
Julia Rock
August 19, 2022

  • The supposed populist Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance has structured his income to exploit a controversial tax loophole that almost exclusively benefits the super-rich, according to financial disclosures reviewed by The Lever.

  • Vance’s opponent, Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, has co-sponsored legislation to close the so-called carried interest loophole, which lets many Wall Street moguls pay an artificially low tax rate on their income.

  • Politicians in both parties have denounced the tax dodge — but if they ever get serious about trying to eliminate the maneuver, Vance could stand in their way. If Vance wins in November, the Senate’s arcane rules could empower him to stall any initiative to close a tax loophole from which he stands to personally benefit.

  • Only an elite few are eligible for the notorious carried interest loophole, which allows private equity and hedge fund moguls to pay a capital gains rate of 20 percent on some of their income, rather than the typical 37 percent tax rate for top earners. In contrast with regular investors, only general partners — the firms’ top executives, who have become some of the richest people in the country — benefit from the loophole.

  • Vance, according to a newly filed personal financial disclosure, seems to count himself among this elite few, having structured his compensation to take advantage of the tax dodge. Indeed, his disclosure explicitly shows him classifying his ownership stakes in investment funds as carried interest.

  • Such financial maneuvers contrast with Vance casting his campaign as a populist crusade against elites. Having risen to fame thanks to his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, Vance has positioned himself as a “conservative outsider” — despite the fact that he is being backed by his former boss, billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, as well as former President Donald Trump.

  • Vance’s campaign is being boosted by a GOP super PAC whose largest donors include moguls from the equity industry that benefits from the carried interest loophole. Among them is Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who gave the super PAC $10 million as his firm has been lobbying on “issues related to carried interest.”

  • The past three presidents — Joe Biden, Trump, and Barack Obama — all campaigned on closing the carried interest loophole, as have lawmakers in both parties. Vance, who has not taken a stance on the tax break from which he is positioned to benefit, did not respond to a request for comment.

  • Earlier this year, when asked by Huffington Post what he would do with his assets if elected, Vance replied, “I think probably put it in a blind trust is the thing that would make the most sense.”

  • In this case, though, he wouldn’t be blind to his stake in preserving the carried interest loophole.

  • Vance has not named many policy specifics on the campaign trail, but has alluded to imposing higher taxes on corporations that offshore jobs or engage in certain types of politics.

  • He has not, however, specifically taken aim at the carried interest loophole.

  • Vance reported on his disclosure forms that he is a general partner at two different private equity funds, and says he has carried interest stakes there.

  • One of the firms where Vance lists himself as a general partner is “Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.”

  • In 2017, Vance launched that venture capital fund with AOL co-founder Steve Case to back startups outside of New York, California, and Massachusetts. Big names invested in that fund including Jeff Bezos, the Kochs, the Waltons, and billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio.

  • His disclosure lists Vance as a “general partner of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP,” adding in a comment: “Filer is entitled to carried interest from the general partner of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP.”

  • Vance also runs a private equity firm, Narya, which he started in 2019 to provide venture capital to Ohio companies. The firm raised money from prominent investors including Thiel, as well as billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

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It’s a Day That Ends in Y, So Mike DeWine is Campaigning on Ohio Democrats’ Victories

Columbus, OH —  For the second time this week, Mike DeWine is set to tout critical funding for law enforcement that he opposed, this time in Willard. DeWine has repeatedly taken credit for money that was passed by Ohio Democrats and that he’s on the record opposing. Today, DeWine will yet again shamelessly turn a critical Democratic victory into a political photo op to make it look like he’s got law enforcement’s back. He doesn’t.  

“Time and again, Mike DeWine tries to make it look like he’s got Ohio law enforcement’s back, but the truth is local law enforcement would not have this important grant funding if it were up to DeWine. Mike DeWine is doing little more than once again shamelessly campaigning and claiming credit for the hard work of Ohio Democrats who secured these critical resources for Ohio law enforcement,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Just over a week ago, DeWine campaigned off the hard work of Democrats, using ARPA money to local police agencies to fight violent crime. And back in May, DeWine similarly used Ohio law enforcement officers as political pawns when he announced funding for the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab and Cleveland’s critical Real Time Crime Center, also made possible by the American Rescue Plan.   

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New Polls Show Nan Whaley is Within One Point of Mike DeWine

Two Polls of Likely General Election Voters Show Whaley and DeWine Virtually Neck-and-Neck

Columbus, OH — Today, new polling shows that Mayor Nan Whaley is within one point of Mike DeWine in the race to be Ohio’s next Governor. The two polls, conducted by Lake Research Partners in early August among 1200 likely general election voters, show the race is neck and neck.   

  • Read Poll 1 results HERE.
  • Read Poll 2 results HERE. 

“Today’s polls confirm what we already knew: Mike DeWine is deeply underwater in Ohio and Nan Whaley is gaining momentum. More Ohioans voted against DeWine than for him in his own primary election, and his numbers continue to plummet with just weeks until the November election. We look forward to continuing to draw the contrast between Mayor Whaley, who is looking out for the interests of working families, and Mike DeWine, who is only looking out for himself,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

The polls also show Mayor Whaley with much stronger favorability numbers (+6) than DeWine, with the sitting governor’s unfavorability numbers ten points higher than his favorability numbers. 

These latest polls follow the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and DeWine’s comments that he wants to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights in Ohio. They also come as the Republican Governors Association dumps big money into Ohio, signaling their concern about the race. 

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