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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Brent Larkin for Cleveland.com laid out how harmful recent revelations in the largest public corruption scandal in state history are for Mike DeWine and Jon Husted. Larkin outlines the various ways that DeWine’s longstanding ties to FirstEnergy as well as his connections to the GOP bribery scandal spell trouble for DeWine’s political future. 

“It would have been the height of naiveté for DeWine to think he was incapable of being tainted by decades of catering to the dark and dirty influence of the heavy-handed electric utility. And he surely knew FirstEnergy would want something in return for the $1 million it spent on DeWine’s behalf since 2017,

“Knowing the risks, DeWine nevertheless built a gubernatorial team top-heavy with FirstEnergy acolytes. And he gave FirstEnergy what it wanted – the chairmanship of the all-powerful state agency that regulates public utilities,” writes Larkin. 

Last last month, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio outlined various ways that DeWine is connected to the scandal, including top-level staff with direct ties to the scandal that DeWine continues to stand behind even today. DeWine has tried to avoid answering questions on his ties to the scandal and what he knew and when, but Ohio voters deserve full transparency and accountability.  

The connections between DeWine and the scandal run deeper, however, as he also took hundreds of thousands of dollars from FirstEnergy and even more from executives tied to the scandal. He also took part in a private meeting with FirstEnergy executives in both Oct. 2018 and Dec. 2018, two meetings which he has not discussed the contents of publicly. He also solicited campaign donations for his daughter’s Greene County Prosecutor’s race, and appointed individuals directly connected to the HB 6 scandal to high-level state positions, including Michael Dowling, a former FirstEnergy VP, and Matt Borges and Juan Cespedes, both of whom were charged in the case. 

Read more from Larkin HERE and below: 

• DeWine’s relationship with FirstEnergy Corp. dates back to the early 1990s. He surely knew support from the Akron-based energy giant, once known to all of Northeast Ohio by that smiling Reddy Kilowatt face, always comes with a price.
• It would have been the height of naiveté for DeWine to think he was incapable of being tainted by decades of catering to the dark and dirty influence of the heavy-handed electric utility. And he surely knew FirstEnergy would want something in return for the $1 million it spent on DeWine’s behalf since 2017.
• Knowing the risks, DeWine nevertheless built a gubernatorial team top-heavy with FirstEnergy acolytes. And he gave FirstEnergy what it wanted – the chairmanship of the all-powerful state agency that regulates public utilities.
• But it’s now indisputably clear the governor’s 2019 appointment of Sam Randazzo to the powerful post as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio was an enormous mistake.
• Most damaging to DeWine was that, in its admission of wrongdoing, FirstEnergy said it paid a $4.3 million bribe to Randazzo weeks before DeWine named Randazzo to the powerful PUCO job.
• And as detailed in a July 25 story by Plain Dealer and cleveland.com reporter Andrew J. Tobias, Justice Department documents include damning text messages between former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and Randazzo that provide circumstantial evidence of motives that were far less than pure.
• Strangely, DeWine has consistently stopped short of criticizing Randazzo, at times praising him and regularly saying he was unaware of the $4.3 million payment from FirstEnergy when he named Randazzo the state’s top utility regulator.
• But FirstEnergy’s admission that it paid a $4.3 million bribe to the man DeWine put in charge of the Public Utilities Commission and, by extension, of the state Power Siting Board will surely complicate his path to a second term as governor.
• DeWine has put himself in political peril. If the indictments continue, it will only get worse.

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Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement following the news that the Ohio Redistricting Commission will be convened this Friday. Ohio voters have twice voted for fair representation, a rejection of the GOP gerrymandered maps that don’t allow Ohioans to have their voices heard on critical matters like education, healthcare and voting rights that affect their daily lives. Ohio Democrats will be fighting for fair maps that accurately reflect the will of Ohio voters.

“Every critical issue facing our state comes down to fair districts – from education to the economy to healthcare to voting rights. For too long, Republicans in charge of the process have allowed politicians to choose their voters rather than the other way around. And because of that, our state is more polarized and divided than ever. The best way to serve Ohio voters and to move our state forward on issues important to working families is by creating fair districts that represent the will of the people. And that’s what Ohio Democrats will be working to do,” said Chair Walters.

“Any political gamesmanship that seeks to ignore the will of the voters and push through four-year, partisan maps is unacceptable and will only further delay us from tackling other important issues like education, healthcare and the economy,” Walters continued. 

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Governor Facing Questions on Whether He Can Lead with Scandal Looming over Him

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, State Representatives Jeffrey Crossman (D-Parma) and Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) hosted a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse yesterday to demand accountability from Mike DeWine following last week’s revelations further tying him and Jon Husted to the largest public corruption scandal in state history.

Reps. Crossman and Weinstein called for a full accounting from DeWine and Husted to the press and the public about what they knew about the scandal and when. Rep. Weinstein further called for the firing of Laurel Dawson and Dan McCarthy, two top-level aides connected to the scandal.

Throughout the scandal, DeWine has refused to take accountability for the scandal and his deepening ties to it. That continued again yesterday, as DeWine refused to take any action to punish Dawson and McCarthy and provided no further details about any role he may have played in the scandal, as he faces questions about whether he can effectively lead with the largest public corruption scandal in state history looming over him. Ohio Democrats will continue to pressure DeWine to give a full accounting of what he knew about the scandal and take meaningful action to address his Administration’s connections to it.

See more of what Ohio voters are reading below:

Cincinnati.com: Gov. Mike DeWine won’t fire staff with FirstEnergy ties despite Democrats’ demand

Jessie Balmert

• Gov. Mike DeWine won’t fire two staff members over their ties to Akron-based FirstEnergy, which recently admitted to bribing state officials, despite Democratic demands.
• “It’s past time for them to go and for DeWine to come clean,” Weinstein said. “It’s a privilege to serve in a taxpayer-funded job. These two don’t deserve it.”
• Democrats also sought documents on how DeWine and his administration handled the passage of House Bill 6, a $1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants, and the appointment of Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo.
• “It’s up to DeWine and (Lt. Gov. Jon) Husted to come forward with all the information and let the public judge for themselves whether or not they engaged in any wrongdoing,” Crossman said.
• Randazzo told Dawson about the payment on Oct. 30, the day after FirstEnergy fired three executives, a DeWine spokesman said. But Dawson didn’t tell DeWine about the payment until Nov. 16 when the FBI searched the utility regulator’s home. Randazzo resigned four days later.
• Dawson, who previously served as DeWine’s chief of staff, also disregarded concerns about Randazzo’s close ties to FirstEnergy during his nomination process.
• Randazzo isn’t the only person in DeWine’s orbit with close ties to FirstEnergy. McCarthy, a former FirstEnergy lobbyist, led a FirstEnergy-funded dark money group before joining the administration. McCarthy worked with lawmakers to pass the nuclear bailout in House Bill 6, legislation that DeWine signed the day it hit his desk.

Cleveland.com: Ohioans fed up with unemployment system turn to lawmakers for help: Capitol Letter

Andrew Tobias

• Democratic state Reps. Jeff Crossman and Casey Weinstein said during a Thursday news conference that Gov. Mike DeWine should provide a fuller accounting of how he and people in his administration interacted with figures in the House Bill 6 scandal, while Weinstein went further and said DeWine should fire two top aides, Laurel Dawson and Dan McCarthy over their ties to FirstEnergy and other actions related to the federal investigation into the bill.
• The event was sponsored by the Ohio Democratic Party, showing that Democrats — no surprise – hope to make the complex scandal a campaign issue heading in 2022.

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Democrats focusing HB 6 scandal attention on Gov. DeWine

Tyler Buchanan

• Attention is shifting further toward Gov. Mike DeWine as the investigation continues to develop.
• Democratic state Reps. Jeffrey Crossman of Parma and Casey Weinstein of Hudson are calling for the administration to provide better transparency of its work to get the nuclear bailout bill passed in 2019.
• A deferred prosecution agreement signed by federal prosecutors and FirstEnergy, made public last week, has shed further light on a scandal described as the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history.
• The court filing offered new details on the connections between FirstEnergy and Sam Randazzo, the former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) chairman appointed by DeWine in early 2019.
• The critics are also miffed at a subsequent claim from the governor that “everybody” knew at the time Randazzo was appointed PUCO chairman that he’d worked for FirstEnergy.
• “Ohioans deserve to know the truth,” Weinstein said. “There’s a lot of truth left to uncover.”

Spectrum News: House Democrats call for accountability from Gov. DeWine surrounding HB6 scandal

Josh Rultenberg

• Ohio House Democrats called for more accountability Thursday from Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, as news of his administration being potentially tied to the House Bill 6 bribery scandal has come out.
• Representatives Jeffrey Crossman, D-Parma, and Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, took shot after shot at DeWine, and said he isn’t responding seriously enough. The Democratic duo also said heads need to roll.
• “Gov. DeWine has surrounded himself with folks who are deeply involved in this scandal. It’s past time for them to go and for DeWine to come clean,” said Weinstein.

Statehouse News Bureau: Ohio House Dems Call For DeWine To Fire Staff Members

Andy Chow

• Democrats in the Ohio House want Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) to fire two members of his staff in response to new information to come out related to the nuclear bailout bribery case. But DeWine’s office says that’s not going to happen.
• DeWine said Monday that Laurel Dawson, his chief of staff at the time, was informed by Sam Randazzo that he was paid $4.3 million by FirstEnergy before becoming chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Dawson was told in October 2020 but did not reveal this to DeWine until November 2020, when the FBI raided Randazzo’s home.
• Crossman says the information in FirstEnergy’s deferred prosecution “further intensify the need for unprecedented amounts of transparency and accountability.”

Toledo Blade: Governor rejects Democratic call for staff firings

Jim Provance

• State Rep. Casey Weinstein (D., Hudson) targeted the Republican governor’s former chief-of-staff, Laurel Dawson, and his legislative lobbyist, Dan McCarthy.
• That’s not going to happen, Gov. DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said.
• Ms. Dawson played an integral role in selecting former utility lobbyist and consultant Sam Randazzo to head the powerful Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Mr. McCarthy is a former FirstEnergy lobbyist who had headed one of the non-profits linked to a Statehouse bribery scandal prior to joining the DeWine administration.
• Democrats see opportunity in last week’s court revelations that have brought the federal investigation closer to Mr. DeWine’s inner circle.

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Columbus, OH — Today, State Representatives Jeffrey Crossman (D-Parma) and Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) hosted a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse to demand accountability from Mike DeWine following last week’s revelations further tying him and Jon Husted to the largest public corruption scandal in state history.

Reps. Crossman and Weinstein called for a full accounting from DeWine and Husted to the press and the public about what they knew about the scandal and when. Rep. Weinstein further called for the firing of Laurel Dawson and Dan McCarthy, two top-level aides connected to the scandal.

“Since this scandal first broke, it’s been clear that Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted have deep connections to the ringleaders of this massive bribery scheme. Last week’s damning revelations only further intensify the need for unprecedented amounts of transparency and accountability for wrongdoing that resulted in the transfer of billions of dollars from the pockets of hard-working Ohioans to wealthy executives and shareholders at FirstEnergy.” said Rep. Crossman.

“The more we hear from Mike DeWine, the more questions we have. Every time he’s pressed on his connection to the scandal, DeWine seems to have a different answer. Ohioans deserve to know the truth. DeWine has surrounded himself with folks who are deeply involved in this scandal, and it’s past time for them to go and for DeWine to finally come clean,” said Rep. Weinstein.

Late last week, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio outlined various ways that DeWine is connected to the scandal, including top-level staff with direct ties to the scandal that DeWine continues to stand behind even today. DeWine has tried to avoid answering questions on his ties to the scandal and what he knew and when, but Ohio voters deserve full transparency and accountability.

Dawson has admitted to knowing about a $4.3 million payment to Sam Randazzo and hiding this fact from DeWine for several weeks. Dawson had also pushed for Randazzo to be nominated as Chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, ignoring concerns raised about his close ties to the industry and the possibility of his corruption.

McCarthy, DeWine’s now Legislative Director, worked as a FirstEnergy lobbyist and helped found Partners for Progress, a dark money group that FirstEnergy funneled money through to politicians they were trying to secure the support of as part of the scandal.

The connections between DeWine and the scandal run deeper, however, as he also took hundreds of thousands of dollars from FirstEnergy and even more from executives tied to the scandal. He also took part in a private meeting with FirstEnergy executives in both Oct. 2018 and Dec. 2018, two meetings which he has not discussed the contents of publicly. He also solicited campaign donations for his daughter’s Greene County Prosecutor’s race, and appointed individuals directly connected to the HB 6 scandal to high-level state positions, including Michael Dowling, a former FirstEnergy VP, and Matt Borges and Juan Cespedes, both of whom were charged in the case.

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Columbus, OH — The first round of expanded Child Tax Credit payments — part of the American Rescue Plan that passed in March — are already making a real difference in the lives of Ohio’s working families. The middle class tax cut steers hundreds of dollars per month directly into the bank accounts of the vast majority of families with children, including as many as 94% of kids in Toledo, as the Blade reported this weekend.

With some calling the expanded CTC Washington’s “biggest anti-poverty program in decades,” expect working families to remember Democratic efforts to put money back in Ohioans’ pockets — and how every single congressional Republican voted against the new tax cut.

From WOUB: Families Receive Sorely Needed Child Tax Credit Payments

BUCHTEL, Ohio (OVR) — The Robsons, like the vast majority of U.S. households with children, began receiving the Child Tax Credit last week – the latest part of the American Rescue Plan to be put into action. Jaclyn Robson says it was sorely needed.

“I don’t want to have to work 60 hours a week just to make a decent wage,” Robson said. “I want to be able to stay at home with my kids more, but I don’t want to not work.”

The Robsons live in Buchtel, Ohio. Jaclyn works long hours as a direct support worker – often taking extra shifts to help them get by. Her husband, Harold Robson stays at home with their three young children, two of whom have autism and require extra care.

The American Rescue Plan, signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, was designed, in part, to help families like theirs. The package builds upon the mid-pandemic economic relief of 2020’s CARES Act.

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Some have argued the expanded Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan is the biggest anti-poverty program deployed by the federal government in decades.

Biden spoke at the White House last Thursday to celebrate the launch of the payments.

“It’s our effort to make another giant step toward ending child poverty in America,” Biden said. “I think this is one of the things that the vice president and I will be most proud of when our terms are up.”

Experts expect the improvements in the Child Tax Credit will pull millions of kids out of poverty. Researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimate that the American Rescue Plan would likely cut child poverty by more than half.

Families qualify based on their 2019 or 2020 tax filings. Those who did not file taxes and still wish to receive the credit may fill out a form on the IRS Child Tax Credit portal.

Prior to this increased credit, families received a yearly credit of $2,000 per child, ages 0-16. Now qualifying families will receive $3,600 for each child under age 6, dispensed in monthly payments of $300. Families will receive $3,000 for children aged 7-17, in monthly payments of $250.

Jaclyn Robson says while the credit isn’t enough to live off of, it’ll make a big difference for her family and families like hers. They plan to use the funds for new school clothes for the children and potentially vehicle repairs. She says later in the year it will help families give their children a nice Christmas.

From the Toledo Blade: The kids are all right: Child tax credit aids 94% of Toledo families

While Chartise Williams oversaw well-seasoned hamburgers grilling at Wildwood Preserve Metropark, her four children, ranging in age from infancy to adolescence, weaved through the park’s picnic tables.

When the Internal Revenue Service began distributing child tax-credit checks last week, Ms. Williams, a single mother, used her money to cover bills, groceries, school supplies, and uniforms for her brood.

The child tax credit offers monetary relief to working parents, and Congress expanded the benefit in February as part of its massive coronavirus stimulus package. Now, the Williams household falls into the 94 percent of Toledo families eligible for tax-credit payments, and many parents across the city are feeling the relief.

“I just think it’s an amazing idea,” Ms. Williams said. “I love it. It’s helping out the community. A lot of kids go without both parents so the money helps out a lot.”

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“Ohio is a state that has a lot of children living in poverty, so a lot of families stand to benefit from the program,” said Emily Campbell, that organization’s associate director. “We generally tend to think programs that support families to make ends meet can break generational cycles of poverty.”

Nationwide, 65 million children will see this money. In Ohio, 92 percent of minors are eligible for tax credit payments; 93 percent of children in the state’s Ninth Congressional District — the “Snake on the Lake” that stretches from Toledo to Cleveland — are eligible, as are 94 percent of kids in Toledo itself.

“This is a life-changer for many families,” said U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo). “It’s certainly going to help them recover from the pandemic.”

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