Ohio Democrats Introduce Anti-Corruption Legislation While Ohio Republicans Stick with Anti-Voter, Anti-Protest Bills
May 18, 2021
In Case You Missed It, Ohio Democratic State Reps. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) and Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) re-introduced anti-corruption legislation that would shine a light on dark money in Ohio and make political spending more transparent. Reps. Russo and Sweeney’s bill, supported by 24 fellow House Democrats, follows the HB 6 scandal that led to the arrests and federal charges against several top-level Ohio Republicans who allegedly took bribes to raise Ohioans’ energy bills.
“Mired down by corruption scandals, Ohio Republicans’ answer is to clamp down on Ohioans’ right to hold them accountable. Meanwhile, Ohio Democrats are working to empower Ohioans and crack down on corruption. Democrats are offering a better way forward after decades of one-party Republican rule,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.
While Ohio Democrats are taking action to crack down on taxpayer-funded corruption, Ohio Republicans are instead vocally championing legislation that rolls back Ohioans’ most fundamental rights, including the right to vote and the right to protest.
Read the story from Ohio Capital Journal HERE and more below:
- State Reps. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, and Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Cleveland, have reintroduced a bill nicknamed the “Ohio Anti-Corruption Act.” Two-dozen Democrats in the Ohio House of Representatives have co-sponsored the bill.
- The House Bill 6 scandal, which led to the July 2020 arrests of House Speaker Larry Householder and several other Republican operatives, helped draw attention to a noteworthy exception in Ohio’s campaign finance laws.
- Nonprofit 501(c)(4) organizations, known as “social welfare groups,” are not required to report their donors.
- This was a key component to the House Bill 6 scheme, prosecutors have alleged, with corporate money being funneled through a 501(c)(4) group secretly controlled by Householder. This money then supported the 2019 passage of a $1.3 billion nuclear bailout bill and was also used to defeat a ballot initiative to overturn the bill.
- Householder, a Glenford Republican, awaits trial on corruption charges. As the Ohio Capital Journal has reported, two Householder associates have already pleaded guilty — as did Generation Now, the dark money group at the center of the HB 6 scheme.
- The House Majority Caucus has declined to take a vote to expel the former speaker from the chamber.