ICYMI: Ohio Democrats Sue DeWine over FirstEnergy Scandal
May 6, 2022
ICYMI: Ohio Democrats Sue DeWine over FirstEnergy Scandal
“We’re not going to let DeWine stonewall his way out of responsibility for this scandal.”
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Ohio Democratic Party this week announced a lawsuit against Mike DeWine and his office to get answers about what DeWine knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. Since October, Ohio Democrats have been working on getting answers to who knew what and when about the FirstEnergy scandal, a scandal Ohioans continue to pay $287,000 every single day for, but have been stonewalled by DeWine at every turn.
“We’re not going to let Mike DeWine stonewall his way out of responsibility for this scandal. Ohioans are looking for justice, and we’ll work to get it for them however we can. We’re also offering a better way forward: cleaning up corruption and putting working families first,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters.
The lawsuit is gaining traction across Ohio, making news across the state. Read more below:
Cleveland.com: Ohio Democratic Party sues Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration over redacted records
“The Ohio Democratic Party announced Thursday it is suing Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, claiming a copy of the governor’s schedule it received via a public-records request was full of illegal redactions.
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“The Democratic Party’s lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, questions the DeWine administration’s reasoning for redacting parts, and, in some cases, entire entries, of the governor’s schedule from January 2019 until the present.
“The redacted schedule, among other things, shows that DeWine met on June 10, 2019 with Mike Dowling, who then led FirstEnergy’s lobbying efforts, for half an hour at the governor’s mansion in suburban Columbus. The calendar entry doesn’t say what the meeting was about, though DeWine signed HB6 the following month.”
“This is the biggest corruption scandal in the state’s history. $60 million in bribes, billions of dollars at stake of our money in our pocket. And it does point to the governor’s office.”
“In January of this year, the Ohio Democratic Party submitted an extensive public records request to the governor’s office for documents ranging from communications between DeWine and FirstEnergy executives, to DeWine’s daily calendar. Many of the dates and events that DeWine sent back were redacted.”
WJW-TV: Ohio party sues Governor Mike DeWine
“The party says that 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.”
WEWS-TV – Ohio Democratic Party Sues Governor Over Records
“It’s been almost two years since the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history was brought to light, and the state’s Democratic Party says it still has not received all the answers it’s looking for, so it’s suing Governor Mike DeWine.
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“The party says it wants to know what the governor knew about the $60 million bribery scandal over Ohio’s nuclear bailout bill and when he knew it.”
WTAM Radio: Ohio Democrats Taking Governor Mike DeWine To Court
“Ohio Democrats taking Governor Mike DeWine to court.
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“The party requested the governor’s calendar from that year, and when they received the calendar, most of the names and information about the meetings were crossed out and blacked out.”
WSYX-TV: Democrats sue Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine hoping to link him to House Bill 6 scandal
“Democrats are working to link Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to the scandal, which toppled former House Speaker Larry Householder. On Thursday they launched an opening volley, suing DeWine for the release of more official records.
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“The controversial House Bill 6 provided taxpayer bailouts for utility company FirstEnergy to shore up its aging nuclear power plants. Federal investigators said it also led to what they called the state’s largest corruption case, alleging the utility bribed state officials to get the bill passed.
“Thursday the Ohio Democratic Party sued DeWine, demanding access to an unredacted version of DeWine’s official calendar. The party is looking to see if it can link DeWine to meetings with FirstEnergy officials.
“The Ohio Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, saying they’re breaking the state’s public records law in turning over documents with information blacked out.
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“Facing public pressure, DeWine released redacted documents that didn’t follow the law and refused to release the rest,” Walters said. “We’re not going to let DeWine stonewall his way out of responsibility for this scandal.”
WCMH-TV: Ohio party sues Governor Mike DeWine
“Attorney General candidate Jeff Crossman and Auditor candidate Taylor Sappington say they plan on releasing records that were finally secured from DeWine, and Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters will announce legal action against the governor for illegally rejecting records requests filed by the Party.”
“‘Frustrated by what it calls ‘stonewalling’ tactics from Gov. Mike DeWine, the Ohio Democratic Party announced that it has filed a lawsuit seeking redacted records from the governor’s office regarding the FirstEnergy House Bill 6 bribery scandal.
“According to a statement by the party, Democrats in Ohio have been working since October to get ‘answers to who knew what and when about the FirstEnergy scandal – which Ohioans continue to pay $287,000 every single day for.’”
Spectrum News: ODP sues Gov. Mike DeWine over HB6 scandal“The Ohio Democratic Party is suing Republican Governor Mike DeWine. The lawsuit claims that a copy of the governor’s schedule was full of illegal redactions.
“This lawsuit stems from the House Bill 6 investigation. Frankly, we don’t know what’s been redacted on the governor’s schedule and that is what the Ohio Democratic Party is basically saying that they want the full unredacted schedule so that they can see who the governor is meeting with and when.”
WTVN Radio: Ohio Democratic Party Suing Governor’s Administration
“Democrats say a copy of the governor’s public schedule from a public records request had multiple redactions, redactions Democrats claim are illegal.
“Cleveland.com reports one was a meeting the governor had months before he signed the $2 billion HB 6 bailout bill into law, with a man FirstEnergy has named one of the people who paid millions in bribes to get the law passed.”
Toledo Blade: Democrats sue for DeWine records
“Ohio Democrats on Thursday announced the filing of a lawsuit to force Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to release records they contend could show what he may have known about the bribery scheme that led to the enactment of a consumer-financed $1 billion nuclear plant bailout.
“State party Chairman Liz Walters said they are frustrated that they received highly redacted copies of the governor’s meeting schedule in response to their public records requests. One thing they did receive, however, was what they characterized as hundreds of letters warning Mr. DeWine not to appoint former utilities consultant Sam Randazzo as chairman of the powerful Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
“‘We deserve to know what did Mike DeWine know and when did he know it,’ said state Rep. Jeff Crossman (D., Parma), Democratic challenger to Republican Attorney General Dave Yost.”
“They [Democrats] want to know if the Governor had any knowledge of what was happening behind the scenes when this scandal was unfolding…That scandal surrounded House Bill 6 which bailed out struggling nuclear power plants including the Davis-Besse plant in Ottawa county.
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“Democrats want to know if Governor DeWine was involved. Last year they sued him for various public records. They say the records they received were incomplete and highly redacted. They are going back to court to get the unredacted documents.”
WTOL-TV: Ohio Dems sue over HB6
“The Ohio Democratic Party is suing Governor Mike DeWine — seeking redacted records from the governor’s office about the FirstEnergy HB6 bribery scandal. according to the lawsuit — democrats have been working since October to get answers.
“The $60 million dollar scandal came to light in July 2020 when then-Ohio House speaker Larry Householder, was indicted on racketeering charges.”
WNWO-TV: Ohio Democrats suing Governor Mike DeWine
“Ohio Democrats have asked for the governor’s calendar but are not happy with the redacted versions they got back.”
WDTN-TV: Ohio Democratic Party sues Gov. Mike DeWine
“The party says that Ohioans continue to pay $287,000 every single day for the FirstEnergy scandal – but have been stonewalled at every turn by the DeWine administration, leaving public records requests unanswered for over a hundred days.”
WRGT-TV: Ohio Democrats sue Governor DeWine over First Energy Bribery Scandal
“The Ohio Democratic Party announced Thursday a lawsuit against Governor Mike DeWine and his office in what Democrats claim is the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio’s history.
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“The party says this marks the next steps in the ongoing battle with DeWine and his administration.”
WKBN-TV: Ohio party sues Governor Mike DeWine
“Ohio Democrats say they have been working on getting answers to who knew what and when about the FirstEnergy scandal.”
WTRF-TV: Ohio party sues Governor Mike DeWine
“Ohio Democrats said they took the next steps in the ongoing battle with Mike DeWine and his administration in what they call the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history.”
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