Convictions in Ohio Bribery Scheme Show That Energy and Policy Nexus Attracts Cheaters and That Personal Integrity is the Antidote

 

     As an Ohioan, I like many others was appalled by the revelations of a $60 million bribery scheme to ensure House Bill 6 passed so that two nuclear plants and two smaller coal plants owned by FirstEnergy could be bailed out with $1.2 billion to be paid by all Ohio electricity ratepayers. The defendants stated that there was no racketeering or criminal activity, it was just good policy. Now, I agree with bailing out the nuclear plants but not the coal plants. Nuclear plants provide very low emissions/very low pollution baseload energy vs. coal plants which provide the same kind of energy but with much higher carbon emissions along with much higher air and water pollution. Gas can replace the coal plants, but the nuclear plants should be kept in operation for as long as possible.

     The recent trial showed without a doubt that this set of high-level Republican operatives in Ohio were as corrupt as they come. They engaged in mob-like bribery and threats and flexed their powers and charms for the sake of personal profit. One of the potential defendants committed suicide long before the trial. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder boldly proclaimed his innocence when the cards were stacked against him. He had to be forced out after he ran for re-election and won, even though he was indicted with strong evidence. Our political divisions are such that many would rather vote for a criminal than for someone from the other team. Republican Party Chair Matt Borges was also convicted in this case, the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history. The defense argued that the defendants were merely engaged in normal hardball politics and not racketeering but the exchange of money, the evidence from FBI informants, and evidence of the setup of shell companies and dark money transfers strongly suggested otherwise.

     I wonder what will happen with the FirstEnergy executive(s) that may be implicated including former CEO Chuck Jones. FirstEnergy was able to funnel hidden dollars into Householder’s election campaign. He was selected to be House Speaker in January 2019. Evidence in the trial included secretly taped phone conversations that show the power these men wielded against anyone that would consider crossing them. FirstEnergy even bribed the state’s then top utility regulator, PUCO chairman Sam Randazzo. Their goal was to stop a repeal of HB6 referendum from reaching the ballot and they were successful in that regard. Having state regulators in one’s pocket is certainly an advantage to a large corporation. These kinds of pay-to-play and bought loyalty schemes are unfair to the spirit of the laws and to the people of the state. We need better and fairer relationships between companies and those who regulate them, not corruption schemes. Randazzo, a top utility law expert, helped write the legislation for the bailout.

     From what I have read and heard I think justice was served. We need relationships between companies and regulators to be professional, without corruption, and always demonstrably in line with all applicable laws. Backroom deals and bribery need to be discouraged, pushed back against, and called out whenever possible. The world is full of corruption, and it generally hurts everyone and sets up systems where fairness is replaced by mob-like rules. This hurts everyone. We certainly can’t root out all corruption but high-level corruption involving millions and billions of dollars on this scale should not be tolerated at all. To let such actions go unattended sets up bad precedents and leads to more of such behavior. People are tempted by money and payoffs but if they are in high positions, they especially need to have the personal integrity to resist them. Anyone who doesn’t needs to be rooted out of those positions of power. Personal integrity should be a prerequisite to those with powerful positions. People entering those positions should be warned and taught the consequences of such behavior as well as screened for vulnerabilities in a fair way. I know I would certainly prefer that the politicians and corporations in my state do not act in the ways these men have acted.

 

References:

 

Ex-GOP Ohio speaker, lobbyist guilty in $60M bribery scheme. Julie Carr Smyth. AP News. March 8, 2023. Ex-GOP Ohio speaker, lobbyist guilty in $60M bribery scheme (msn.com)

 

TAKEAWAYS: Ex-utility regulator had outsized role in scheme. Mark Gillispie. AP News. July 22, 2021. TAKEAWAYS: Ex-utility regulator had outsized role in scheme | AP News

 

CEO, Speaker worked closely to pass tainted energy bill. Mark Gillispie. AP News. July 30, 2021 CEO, Speaker worked closely to pass tainted energy bill | AP News.