Ohio Democratic Party Statement on HB6 Bribery Scandal Indictments
February 12, 2024
Columbus, OH – Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement in response to the indictments announced related to the $60 million bribery scandal.
“For four years, Ohioans have waited for state officials to hold anyone accountable in the largest public corruption scandal in state history. Today’s announcement is long overdue. But just because Dave Yost wants to act tough now, make no mistake: he and his fellow statewide Republicans with higher political ambitions have deep ties to this bribery scheme. And Ohioans still deserve answers from Dave Yost, Jon Husted and many other Ohio Republicans on their involvement in this historic scandal,” said Matt Keyes, Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson.
At the federal trial on the bribery scandal, Matt Borges – who was convicted in the scandal – was quoted as saying that Yost believed the bailout was a bad law but wanted to help FirstEnergy. Borges added about Yost: “If there’s any way the law will allow him to reject the language, he will do it.”
Borges, sentenced to five years in federal prison for his role in the scandal, served as a campaign manager for Yost, and Yost took $10k from Borges before he eventually caved to public pressure to give it back. Yost once said, “It would be foolish for anyone to accept campaign contributions from these defendants.” Yost also received a subpoena to testify in the trial.
###