Ohio Democratic Party: The Cost of Republican Corruption is Too High a Price for Working Ohioans to Pay
February 10, 2022
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) along with Rep. Jeff Crossman, candidate for attorney general, held a statewide virtual press conference explaining to hardworking Ohioans how much money the House Bill 6 corruption scandal is costing them every single day.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, a consumer advocacy agency, shows Ohioans have already paid nearly $180 million in coal plant subsidies alone, including propping up a plant that isn’t even in Ohio, and that’s not all:
“Ohio taxpayers are footing the bill for a federal investigation, multiple federal court cases and all of the costs associated with holding Ohio Republicans accountable for the largest public corruption scheme in state history. While working Ohioans are worried about putting food on the table or covering the costs of prescription drugs, Ohio Republicans are forcing those working families to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each day for a corrupt bribery scheme,” said Rep. Crossman
“While Ohioans continue paying more than $230,000 every day, $9,500 every hour and $159 every minute for this corruption scandal, Ohio Republicans like Mike DeWine and Dave Yost can’t even be bothered to answer questions about what exactly happened and why we’re still paying for it,” said Crossman.
You can watch the full news conference HERE:
In addition to the coal plant subsidies Ohioans continue to pay, taxpayers are also footing the bill for:
- $460 million that FirstEnergy customers paid in bill riders without any evidence that money was used for its stated purpose, raising questions about if that money was ultimately funneled to pay for the $60 million bribe.
- Four years of FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice investigations into the largest public corruption scandal in state history. While the full cost of the investigation is unknown, it’s safe to say the wide scope and long length of the investigation is costing taxpayers a significant amount of money.
- Separate federal court cases that are set to take place later this year.
Since October, the party has been working on getting answers to who knew what and when about the HB 6 bribery scandal, but has been stonewalled at every turn by the DeWine administration, leaving public records requests unanswered for over one hundred days.
Public records requests recently submitted by the party include:
- Any communications among Mike DeWine, Jon Husted, their staffs and special interest groups tied to the HB 6 scandal.
- Any communications between those individuals and individuals who are implicated in the scandal.
- Any communications involving Sam Randazzo’s appointment to the Public Utilities Commission.
- Any communications between DeWine/Husted and statewide officeholders regarding HB 6.
- The demotion of Laurel Dawson & the resignation of Dan McCarthy.
The party also resubmitted previous public records requests that include: a visitor’s log from the governor’s office and the governor’s mansion; any vetting of Sam Randazzo; and communications between Mike DeWine’s staff and FirstEnergy.
The party will provide updates to the media and Ohio voters as the process plays out and as we continue to demand accountability from people in power.
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