Local Political Leaders React to Householder Arrest

July 28, 2020 by Amy Patterson

In the week since Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) was arrested on federal racketeering charges relating to a $60 million scheme to promote a 2019 nuclear bailout bill, politicians and candidates across the state have scrambled to respond.

The scheme was laid out in an 81-page Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit presented by the FBI at a press conference July 21. In it, federal agents allege “Company A” — utility giant FirstEnergy — and its entities paid Householder and his associates over $61 million in secret payments over a three-year period in exchange for a “billion-dollar-bailout” to keep two nuclear power plants open, including one in Perry.

Among the earliest to respond was state Sen. Sean O’Brien (D-Bazetta), whose district covers eastern Geauga County and the Mahoning Valley. O’Brien began drafting a bill July 22 to repeal House Bill 6, which he voted against last May, telling WFMJ in Youngstown the bill’s increase in costs to ratepayers in exchange for keeping the Perry plant open made it a bad idea.

Almost every state politician has received donations from FirstEnergy, including O’Brien. However, his last donation from the company was $5,500 in August 2016, before the bailout bill came before the House.

His colleague in the Senate, John Eklund (R-Munson Township), is so far not one of six Republican state senators calling for Householder to resign.

“In 44 years of practicing law, it has always been my practice not to make comment about ongoing investigations or cases — civil or criminal,” Eklund said by phone July 27. “And people will agree or disagree, but my view of it is to proceed otherwise is unfair to the process, unfair to the accused or the parties, and I think it’s always appropriate not to make comment.”

Eklund drew criticism in 2017 during debate over the FirstEnergy-backed Zero-Emissions Nuclear Resource Program, a legislative effort to save the troubled utility which failed in 2017. Eklund, who sponsored the ZEN bill, is an antitrust and trade attorney with Calfee, Halter & Griswold, whose list of government relations clients includes FirstEnergy. A 2017 article in Energy News said the firm also employed two attorneys registered as lobbyists on behalf of the energy company.

Campaign reports show Eklund’s campaign recieved $32,500 in contributions from FirstEnergy between 2014 and 2019.

The FBI report details large donations from Householder-controlled PACs to candidates in the 2020 Republican primary, including State Rep. Diane Grendell (R-Chester Township), whose campaign received more than $400,000 for her successful run against Chardon football coach Frank Hall. Her largest donations were nearly $43,000 from the Ohio Republican State & Central Executive Committee, and over $350,000 from the House Republican Candidate Committee. The FBI alleges Householder maintained control of the HRCC fund until his arrest.

“It is with a heavy heart that I learned of the allegations against my colleague, House Speaker Larry Householder — a husband, a father and a grandfather,” Grendell said in a July 22 Facebook post. “Unlike others, and as a retired appellate judge, I choose not to jump to conclusions and instead will wait for due process to play out. Just like any American who faces charges, he is considered innocent until proven guilty. This principle is of utmost importance to ensure the constitutional right of freedom for all Americans.”

Grendell’s campaign committee also received a $1,000 donation from Grant Street lobbyists in February 2020. The firm’s founder, Neil Clark, was one of four Republican officials and lobbyists arrested July 21 in connection with the Householder scheme.

Grendell said while her predecessor, state Rep. Sarah LaTourette, was in office when the alleged events took place, some may make false claims against her for political reasons. Grendell said she is 100-percent transparent with her campaign finances, and copies of her finance reports can be found on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website.

State Rep. John Patterson (D-Jefferson) also represents Geauga County and voted in favor of the legislation in 2019. In a statement on his Facebook page, as well as in a statement released to local media, Patterson said he agreed with Gov. Mike DeWine and other leaders who have called for Householder to step down.

Patterson said he voted for the bailout legislation because nearly 30 percent of the 700 permanent jobs at the plant are held by residents of Ashtabula County, which makes up the majority of his district.

“Though I am loathe to bail out corporations on the whole as, typically, they are subject to the vagaries of business cycles, there are rare instances when this is essential for the overall good of the whole — our insatiable appetite for electricity demands its constant, uninterrupted production,” Patterson said. “Therefore, at the time and given the information I had, I was one of 10 Democrats who supported HB 6.”

Patterson added while he received a $500 donation from FirstEnergy in 2018, his campaign wrote a matching $500 check July 22 to the Home Energy Assistance Program, to help those needing assistance with their utility bills.

“Currently, amongst my colleagues, there is a sense of betrayal, of frustration, of despondency with Speaker Householder,” Patterson said. “But I also see an opportunity, a rare one at that, for us to birth a new spirit of cooperation in the House — one filled with an urgent sense of trust, of a desire to restore integrity to the institution and to renew a rightful relationship with all who call Ohio home.”

Rader, Cirino Spar over FirstEnergy Donations

Lake County Commissioner Jerry Cirino took to social media the evening of July 21 to condemn Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who was arrested earlier that day for his involvement in a $61 million racketeering scheme involving the bailout of ailing FirstEnergy nuclear plants through House Bill 6, passed last summer.

“While we always give the accused the presumption of innocence until ‘proven’ guilty, know that I abhor this behavior. I stand on my record and commitment to my community,” Cirino said. “Householder should immediately resign and allow the Legislature to get back to work.”

However, Russell Township Lawyer Betsy Rader, Cirino’s opponent in the race for the Ohio Senate seat soon to be vacated by termed-out John Eklund (R-Munson Township), slammed Cirino July 23 for taking part in “pay-to-play culture” in his backing of the bailout deal.

In a press release, Rader said Cirino publicly backed HB 6, including telling followers on his campaign Facebook page he planned to meet Householder in early 2019 to discuss keeping the Perry nuclear plant open.

Reached by phone July 28, Cirino said he championed the legislation because the loss of the Perry nuclear plant would have been “cataclysmic” not only for Perry, but for all of Lake County. Taxes from the power plant, he said, go to fund county-wide levies.

Cirino said he acted only to protect his community and never even met Householder.

“So (Rader) is wrong if she ever tries to accuse me of anything,” Cirino said. “If she was actually an elected official … she would understand what our responsibility is, as an elected official, to serve the best interests of your community.”

The Cirino campaign reported a $5,000 donation in June 2020 from FirstEnergy, Rader said, adding the campaign has also reported donations from David Griffing, the executive vice president of government affairs for FirstEnergy, a political action group for which Neil Clark — named as a criminal defendant in the Householder case — is a lobbyist, as well as from Anthony Alexander, the retired former CEO of FirstEnergy Corp.

“His corporate PAC support also includes Dominion and NiSource, both gas companies, despite his membership in the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance, a FirstEnergy advocacy group,” Rader said.

Cirino announced July 28 his campaign would donate $5,725 — to cover both the FirstEnergy donation and donations from the named employees — to the McKinley Community Outreach Center food bank in Willoughby.

He and his wife are making an additional $1,000 donation, he said.

Rader said Householder’s arrest shows the need for campaign finance reform and called upon Cirino to pledge not to take money from FirstEnergy PAC or any PACs related to FirstEnergy in the future.

“This pay-to-play culture in politics must stop and that’s why I have never taken corporate PAC money. Mr. Cirino should do the same so that the citizens of Ohio can be confident that he is working on their behalf and not on behalf of his corporate donors,” Rader said.