BREAKING: Ohio utility company FirstEnergy signs deferred prosecution agreement with feds, including a $230 mil penalty for wire fraud and criminal forfeiture of $6.4 mil
~40 page stipulation of facts attached. Will update
FirstEnergy was the sole funder of dark money group Partners for Progress, which was used as a pass through between FirstEnergy and Gen Now (Householder's account)
Dan McCarthy, a principle to P4P, is now a top legislative aide to Gov. Mike DeWine
Larry Householder, before becoming Speaker, emailed wiring instructions to FirstEnergy executives for getting their money to Generation Now -- an entity he legally must be independent of
FirstEnergy paid eventual PUCO chairman Sam Randazzo's companies $22 million between 2010 and 2019, including $4.3 million right when he was appointed as PUCO chairman
Prosecutors aren't using the word "bribe" here, but these descriptions are coming awfully close
Under Randazzo's PUCO, Feds say the regulators scrapped a required rate review for 2024, boosting FirstEnergy's revenue forecasts
uh.
who is "Federal Official 1" at this "presidential roundtable" in August 2018
hard to be sure but this looks like Wayne Boich, coal guy, who donated $100k to Gen Now (dispatch.com/story/news/pol…) and a 501c3 solely funded by AEP, which gave $700k
What a text thread between Speaker Householder and two top FirstEnergy executives after House Bill 6 passed
"We made a bbiiiiiiiig bet and it paid off. Actually, 2 big bets. Congrats to you and the entire team!"
This is new: In 2020, with HB 6 in the rear view, First Energy made $2 million in payments through Partners For Progress and Generation Now to push Householder's "term limit" proposal that could allow him an extended tenure as Speaker
Randazzo details. While taking FirstEnergy's money as a consultant, he -- representing heavy duty industry interests which can clash with FirstEnergy's -- agreed to back off FE in a PUCO case
FirstEnergy had no legal obligation to pay Randazzo the final $4.3 million on his contract.
But then their execs had a private meeting with him and began pushing for him to run PUCO.
That payment eventually went through
House Bill 6 passes.
A FirstEnergy exec photoshops Randazzo's face on Mount Rushmore alongside energy execs and lobbyists. Text:
"HB 6 FUCK ANYBODY WHO AINT US.”
Randazzo commented that his picture was smaller than the others and then responded, “funny.”
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FirstEnergy admitted last summer to bribing both the Ohio House Speaker and the state’s former top utility regulator.
I went back through the record produced in those related cases to see where Gov. Mike DeWine was in all this. Here’s what I found: ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/08/15/tex…
DeWine's calendars show he met with FirstEnergy repeatedly to discuss "energy policy" or the nuclear plant bailout bill itself. He met with Speaker Householder at least once on HB 6 specifically. He even visited one of those bailed out plants on the campaign trail.
The bill in question was, in brief, a nuclear bailout, a coal bailout, a revenue guarantee for FirstEnergy (decoupling) and a clean energy rollback.
The DeWine admin came together after some long opponent testimony hearings in committee for a "Nuclear Bailout Bill Discussion"
Ohio Supreme Court issues overturns state legislative redistricting map, finding lawmakers violated new constitutional proportionality requirements adopted by voters. New maps due in 10 days. supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0…
Still remarkable that the governor explicitly said he would not judge the map one way or another before *voting in favor of it*
Majority opinion finds the redistricting commission didn't even "attempt" to draw maps in compliance w/ the Constitution.
This process was driven by the Senate President, a lawyer who championed the new const. language, and the House Speaker, a former Supreme Court justice
“Due to the limited time available and the serious nature of this announcement, we will be limiting questions to those directly related to the announcement. Reporters are asked to submit questions in advance of the question and answer session”
Translated: the Governor wants to control the kinds of questions reporters can ask about at a *remote* video conference and also have a chance to read them over beforehand.
DeWine, in my personal opinion, is usually pretty decent to the press. But this is weak.
Ohio Supreme Court today dismissed a lawsuit alleging Ohio's vaccine lottery/distribution were, among other things, a violation of the Nuremberg Code.
Suit was dismissed on esoteric legal grounds without ever addressing the lie that vaccinated people are biological weapons
If you're unaware, the Nuremberg Code developed after the Holocaust when human experiments were conducted on unconsenting Jews in concentration camps. It really is a sick claim ushmm.org/information/ex…
The court just didn't even bother touching this one, which besides being nonsensical health information, was a pretty aggressive way to talk to Supreme Court justices when you're asking them to do something
Caveat: this bill has been amended since I wrote this story, there have been negotiations for a while on other amendments, and we're talking about more amendments. So consider details fluid.